Why Are Coffee Festival Goers Disappointed by the Drinks?

Coffee festivals in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Luoyang and other cities drew large crowds during the National Day holiday, with guides and check-in photos filling social media. Regulars complain that specialty drinks made with syrups and juices dominate, the coffee tastes thin, prices run thirty to forty yuan per cup, discount coupons carry heavy restrictions and stall categories are jumbled together.

Some vendors even sell pre-made hand poured coffee and use non-standard practices, which veterans see as a departure from the events' original goal of promoting coffee culture. Many attendees say they now wander the grounds without spending much, while packages of three drinks can cost eighty or ninety yuan. On-site management and crowding add to the frustration for out-of-town visitors.

During the National Day holiday, coffee festivals in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Luoyang and many other places appeared simultaneously, drawing huge crowds, with guides and check-in photos flooding social media. Yet behind the bustle, complaints from regulars are piling up: specialty drinks dominate the lineup, the coffee tastes weak yet costs thirty to forty yuan a cup, discount coupons come with heavy restrictions, on-site management is chaotic, stall categories are jumbled together, and there are even pre-made pour-overs and non-standard practices. The coffee festival, once founded to promote coffee culture and foster exchange among enthusiasts, has in many people's eyes become a temporary market heavy with commercial flavor. This article, drawing on feedback from participants, sorts out the major pain points of today's coffee festivals and explores what coffee events enthusiasts hope to see.

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This National Day holiday, scenic spots across the country once again entered "sea of people" mode, and coffee festival venues were just as packed, drawing not only enthusiastic local residents but also many out-of-town tourists making special trips to check in.

Judging from photos tourists posted on social media, coffee festivals in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Luoyang and other cities all presented lively scenes of huge crowds. Some participants happy to share even compiled guides based on their experience of rushing to several events in a row, for others' reference.

Yet alongside the lively atmosphere comes a growing chorus of complaints from participants. Veterans who frequent coffee festivals admit their expectations for such events are declining year by year; once there, they simply wander around and see what's new, but no longer readily spend money.

Many point out that today's coffee festivals are almost entirely occupied by specialty coffee drinks made with added syrups, juices and the like, and that these beautifully presented drinks taste very thin of coffee.

What tourists grumble about even more is that these endlessly inventive "coffee-flavored beverages" are generally priced high, with thirty to forty yuan per cup hardly rare; some are even sold in packs of three, making a set cost at least eighty or ninety yuan.

They say that nowadays you simply can't drink much at a coffee festival: first, "your body can't take it, you can't drink that much," and second, "your wallet can't take it, you really can't afford that much."

In addition, some tourists who have attended multiple coffee festivals found after comparison that the "puzzling maneuvers" of certain organizers seriously drag down the visitor experience. For example, some organizers sell discount coupons in advance to warm up the event, promising benefits redeemable with the coupons; but on the day of the event, these coupons cannot be used normally due to various attached restrictions.

In the organizers' view, coffee-themed events can help merchants promote their brands and gain more attention, while also catering to young people's tastes and needs today. But the reality is that chaotic on-site management, unclear signage and too many non-coffee stalls are commonplace, to the point that visitors sigh that they are merely wandering through a cluttered market reeking of commerce, with the experience worsening year by year.

Beyond the above problems, coffee festival regulars often lament that the merchants participating in such events are of wildly varying quality. Some staff handle drinks in ways that violate food safety standards, some baristas are clearly not proficient enough with the machines and equipment, and others report that after ordering, what they drank was "pre-made pour-over coffee" poured from a thermos.

These unpleasant experiences make consumers worry about the quality of what merchants produce. They say their original intention was to try the signature drinks of several different coffee brands, but a single visit often requires stepping on several landmines before finding one satisfying cup; the cost of trial and error is truly high, and it greatly lowers visitors' expectations for such events.

The original purpose of coffee festivals should be to promote coffee culture, build a platform for enthusiasts to exchange and interact, and let more people come into contact with and understand coffee. Yet in recent years, at coffee-themed events blooming everywhere, the atmosphere of exchange has diminished while the smell of transactions has grown stronger. In some people's eyes, these events are more like something local cities hold to boost the economy, and are no longer what they remember from the beginning.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.