What Happened at the Shanghai Coffee Festival This Year
A coffee festival held in a Shanghai park drew large weekday crowds, with entry waits generally over an hour unless visitors had bought the official Magic Box ticket for the fast lane. Inside, attendees described packed aisles, weak mobile signal that blocked payments, and specialty coffee prices some considered too high.
Merchants also dealt with freebie hunters who crowded stalls for giveaways rather than buying drinks. Longtime coffee enthusiasts said the event grows livelier each year but carries a heavier commercial feel, and that the relaxed atmosphere and clear taste of the coffee seem to be fading.
Shanghai, known as the "Coffee Capital," always draws a large crowd of coffee lovers to check in whenever a coffee festival comes around. However, a recent coffee event held in a park left many people with mixed feelings: queuing for over an hour to get in, crowds packed like Spring Festival travel rush, poor mobile signal making payment impossible, and some specialty coffee prices that visitors called too high. At the same time, some "freebie hunters" who didn't come for the coffee crowded around to grab giveaways, giving merchants and queuing consumers even more of a headache. Longtime fans sighed that the coffee festival gets livelier every year with a growing commercial vibe, but that sense of ease and the true taste of coffee seem to be fading.
▲\n\nClick to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop\n\nShanghai has long been known as the "Coffee Capital," with all kinds of coffee events popping up endlessly. Some coffee festivals are held year after year and have long become must-visit events in the hearts of coffee lovers. Taking advantage of the crisp autumn weather, a coffee event was held once again in a Shanghai park, and a large crowd of "coffee heads" sprang into action and rushed over to show their support.\n\nFrom photos posted by Shanghai netizens on social media, the event opened early that morning. Although it was a weekday, quite a lot of people still found time to visit the coffee festival. Around noon, a large number of visitors had already gathered at the entrance waiting to get in. Many people reported that entry was slow, with wait times generally exceeding one hour.\n\n
\n\nIf you had purchased the official "Magic Box" in advance, you could use the ticket inside to take the fast lane and get in within less than ten minutes.\n\nHowever, once you stepped inside, the scene was shocking—a sea of people. A casual phone snapshot captured nothing but densely packed heads. Netizens couldn't help but complain that the crowd was "on par with Spring Festival travel rush," "exploding with people," and "like queuing at Disney." Many helplessly said that after entering, they could only be pushed and squeezed forward by the crowd, afraid that an uncovered drink in their hand might accidentally spill on someone else.\n\n
\n\nBut for longtime visitors, this kind of scene was nothing new. They said the coffee festival had been held for many years and enjoyed high popularity and recognition. Even on weekdays, when there should supposedly be fewer people, the venue could still be packed to the brim.\n\nStill, this market-like, shoulder-to-shoulder experience greatly affected visitors' sense of participation. Many reported that even buying a cup of coffee on site required queuing in front of the booth, ranging from more than ten minutes to one or two hours.\n\n
\n\nWhat drove visitors even crazier was the extremely poor signal at the event. Even though the organizers provided free Wi-Fi, it was basically useless. Regulars said bluntly that "poor signal" had been a perennial complaint about this coffee festival for years, but there had never been much improvement from one edition to the next. Many people had encountered the embarrassment of being unable to pay by phone when choosing drinks.\n\nAs for the old topic of pricing, opinions varied. Some thought specialty coffee priced between 38 yuan and 68 yuan was still acceptable; others said that "some award-winning coffees are generally 88, 100, or 200 per cup" and that "even a mini small cup costs 4.50," feeling that drink prices at this year's coffee festival had risen somewhat.\n\n
\n\nIn addition, according to some visitors, besides the enthusiasts who genuinely had expectations for coffee, quite a few "freebie hunters" who knew little about coffee also mixed into the crowd. Some of them, in order to get the giveaways prepared by merchants, crowded around the booths, fishing in troubled waters and snatching things along the way, causing trouble for both merchants and queuing consumers and exhausting the staff maintaining order on site.\n\n
\n\nFor those who come to every coffee festival, they have witnessed it transform step by step from a local event into a "coffee market fair" that draws merchants from all over the country. The number of participating merchants and visitors has increased year after year, and the venue has become livelier and livelier, which cannot help but make one sigh with emotion.\n\nBut some longtime users said bluntly that after experiencing the squeezing and shoving this year, they returned empty-handed in disappointment. They said they had thought the coffee festival, criticized year after year, would learn from past lessons and get better and better, but that was not the case. With more people and a stronger commercial atmosphere, the coffee festival's sense of ease and coffee flavor had become diluted.\n\nImage source: Xiaohongshu\n\nDisclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large quantity, a few images and texts may not have been credited in time. Please understand. If the original author has any dispute, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is any infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!\n\n
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
