NOLA Coffee Festival continues to evolve

Louisiana has a long history with coffee – dating back more than 300 years – and yet, it never had an annual coffee show, until 2023 when the NOLA Coffee Festival was born. The show held its third consecutive event earlier this month (October 3-4) in a new venue. For the 2025 show, the NOLA Coffee Festival (NCF) moved from the Morial Convention Center in downtown New Orleans to the Pontchartrain Civic and Convention Center in the nearby suburb of Kenner. The NCF was created for small, independent coffee shop operators across the Gulf Coast who may never have attended a professional coffee show.

The new venue suited the still small but growing coffee show, especially the free parking, which benefitted both exhibitors and attendees. The attendance on the opening day, which was for professionals, was lower than the previous year. As it was a Friday, an always-busy day for the foodservice channel, it may have been difficult for operators to get away from their businesses since the show was in the suburbs by Lake Pontchartrain (at the Morial Center, given the location in the Warehouse District and the close proximity to the French Quarter and Garden Districts, it may have been easier for professionals to pop over to the show for a couple of hours). The second day was crowded — on par with last year according to organizers. Both exhibitors and attendees were pleased with the new location and believe the show will continue to expand.

While the show is geared to independent coffee shops, major players like JM Smucker (Folgers, 1850, and Café Bustelo brands), Ballard Brands (PJ’s Coffee) and Community Coffee continue to support the show, offering tastes of hot and cold coffee, as well as packaged coffee samples and other giveaways. There were several returning exhibitors such as Orleans Coffee, Northshore Specialty Roasters, Monin Syrups, and Current Crop Roasting Shop, green coffee importer Westfeldt Coffee, and Dupuy Storage, and many newcomers like CC’s Coffee House, Origen Coffee (Honduras), Vintage Coffee, and Reve Coffee.

The NCF introduced a tea program in 2024 and expanded it this year. New tea exhibitors included Rishi Tea, CatSpring Yaupon Tea, MatchaMoto Tea, and Fleur de Lis Tea Plantation, which is Louisiana’s only tea plantation. Fleur de Lis Tea not only has a retail shop on its grounds, but a bed and breakfasts and features monthly education classes and events.

This year’s event had tea classes for professionals (targeting coffee shop owners who wanted to improve their tea business) and consumers (I moderated both).  The consumer-focused tea had a healthy attendance. It was refreshing to see so many ‘enthusiastic tea drinkers’ attend the event on a Saturday morning simply because they love tea and wanted to learn more about tea. Much of the class, although all ‘diehard’ tea drinkers, didn’t know what Camellia sinensis was or the difference between standard tea (black, green, white) and herbals/botanicals, so it was a good educational experience for audience members, even those who consume multiple cups of tea a day. NCF plans to continually expand the tea segment.

Next year’s NOLA Coffee Festival is scheduled for October 2-3, 2026. There are also two new shoes in 2026: Jackson Coffee Festival (May 2^nd) and Lafayette Coffee Festival (June 20^th).

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, [email protected]