At a Glance (China Coffee Network): On September 24, the opening ceremony of the 2026 International (Kunshan) Specialty Coffee Expo and the Kunshan Coffee Industry Development Promotion Conference was held at the Ku…
On September 24, the opening ceremony of the 2026 International (Kunshan) Specialty Coffee Expo and the Kunshan Coffee Industry Development Promotion Conference was held at the Kunshan International Convention and Exhibition Center.
The 2026 HOTELEX (China Tour Kunshan Stop) and the International (Kunshan) Specialty Coffee Expo officially launch (photo provided by the Kunshan Integrated Media Center)
At the opening ceremony, Fan Jianqing, Deputy Secretary of the Kunshan Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, presented the development of Kunshan’s coffee industry. In recent years, drawing on the broad market prospects of coffee and making the most of its location in the core hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta, Kunshan has seized the opportunity and followed the trend, building a globally known coffee industry chain “adapted to local conditions, created out of nothing.” Kunshan will keep deepening this “sweet undertaking” in coffee, using coffee as a medium to link city and countryside, industry and cultural tourism, work and life, so that “one cup of coffee, one city” becomes Kunshan’s most distinctive urban character and its brightest industrial marker. The city hopes more partners will place their beans in Kunshan, locate their projects in Kunshan and entrust their dreams to Kunshan, jointly letting “Kunshan Coffee” fragrance drift worldwide and polishing the city’s calling card as the “international capital of the coffee industry.”
Sha Xiaochuan, executive director of Centurium Capital and director of Blue Bottle Coffee, said in his address: “We will rely on Kunshan’s industrial supporting facilities to bring the Blue Bottle Coffee Global Specialty Coffee Innovation Center to Kunshan. Next, we hope to combine Blue Bottle’s experience in specialty coffee with Kunshan’s industrial strengths, developing new products and exploring new technologies together to bring consumers a better coffee experience. We will also use our global resource advantages to bring more professional talent and quality projects in the coffee field to Kunshan, and to exchange and cooperate with local enterprises.”
Signing ceremony for the Blue Bottle Coffee Global Innovation Center project (photo provided by the Kunshan Integrated Media Center)
At the promotion conference, the Blue Bottle Coffee Global Innovation Center project formally settled in Kunshan. Going forward, Blue Bottle Coffee will use its high-end brand momentum, cutting-edge roasting craft and innovative R&D capability to further raise the brand height and global reputation of “come to Kunshan to make coffee,” leading Kunshan’s full coffee industry chain toward branding and higher added value.
Also at the conference, the Kunshan Coffee Industry College was officially unveiled. In addition, representatives of leading enterprises, international judges and world champions joined the industry-university-research training system to form an industry-university-research cooperation alliance together.
The promotion conference venue (photo provided by the Kunshan Integrated Media Center)
At the event, the 2026 HOTELEX (China Tour Kunshan Stop) and the International (Kunshan) Specialty Coffee Expo were officially launched. Fan Haiyan, executive deputy general manager of Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co., Ltd. and CEO of the FHL division, explained that this edition adopts a “professional plus consumer” two-hall model to build a closed loop of “industrial R&D — trade matchmaking — market feedback”: the professional end supplies technology, the consumer end conveys market demand, and market feedback in turn feeds industrial upgrading. Kunshan possesses both a complete industrial ecosystem and an active consumer market, providing strong support for this model.
This edition focuses on strengthening, filling and extending the chains of Kunshan’s coffee industry. Drawing on mature exhibition resources, it deeply integrates international buyer resources and digital tools with Kunshan’s local industrial advantages, helping the city build an “international capital of the coffee industry.” It also hosts the Kunshan divisional qualifiers of the World Coffee Roasting Championship China selection, the World Barista Championship China selection and the World Latte Art Championship China selection, along with a World Coffee Events advisory group activity and coffee-plus theme park activities, pushing Kunshan from a “coffee consumption highland” up to a “source of coffee culture” and injecting fresh vitality into the city. (Source: Kunshan Integrated Media Center)
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