Seoul Cafe Show: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Seoul)

Four days, two kinds of badge

The 2026 edition runs from November 11 to 14. It splits cleanly in half. Wednesday the 11th and Thursday the 12th are trade-only days, built for café owners, roasters, buyers and equipment distributors. Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th open to the general public.

That split shapes the floor. On trade days the aisles fill with lanyards, sample-bag negotiations and machine demonstrations aimed at people furnishing a shop. Public days bring a broader crowd: home brewers, dessert hunters and people who simply want to taste a lot of coffee in one building.

The show is one of Asia’s largest coffee and café industry expos, and it has been held in Seoul since the early 2000s. The organiser publishes the dates, hall layout and ticket links on its official site.

Finding your way into COEX

COEX sits in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, on the south side of the Han River. It is a huge complex: convention halls, the COEX Mall and hotels all join underground. Two subway lines put you straight inside:

• Samseong Station (Line 2): the underground passage leads directly into the mall and on to the exhibition halls.
• Bongeunsa Station (Line 9): it links to the opposite end of the complex, convenient from Gimpo Airport and Express Bus Terminal on the same line.
• Airport limousine buses: these stop at the City Airport Terminal and hotels attached to COEX.

Signs inside the mall point to the exhibition halls in Korean and English. The walk from the station gates to the halls is long enough that most first-timers allow ten minutes for it.

How the show floor works

The halls are a grid of booths, from espresso machine makers and grinder brands to green-bean importers, cup manufacturers, syrup companies and bakery suppliers. Tasting is the point. Booths hand out small paper cups of filter coffee, espresso shots and dessert samples, and queues form at the most popular roasters.

Here is what regulars usually do:

• Carry a tote. Booths give away brochures, sample packs and beans, and bags fill fast.
• Pace the caffeine. Visitors who taste everything by noon tend to regret it. Water and the mall’s food court help.
• Take a card or QR code. Many exhibitors sell online after the show, so attendees snap booth codes rather than buy everything on the spot.
• Pay by card. Card and mobile payment are standard at booths that sell. A few small vendors prefer transfer or cash.

Saturday is the busier public day, since it falls on the weekend. Friday suits visitors with flexible schedules.

Around the halls in Samseong-dong

A long tasting day leaves room for the neighbourhood. Inside COEX Mall, the two-storey shelves of the Starfield Library sit at the centre and are free to wander. The COEX Aquarium is in the same complex.

Directly across Bongeunsa-ro stands Bongeunsa, a Buddhist temple dating back to the Silla era. Its courtyards and giant standing Maitreya statue are a quiet contrast to the expo floor. A walk south-west brings you to Seolleung and Jeongneung, Joseon royal tombs set in wooded grounds.

Many visitors stay in Gangnam or around Samseong so they can split the show over two days. The café streets of Garosu-gil and Seongsu-dong are a short subway ride away, so many people carry on tasting there after the halls close.