Sintercafé 2025 opens with a robust and expansive agenda

Sintercafé 2025 returns to San Jose but this time in a new venue, the Marriott Hacienda Belén Hotel. Backed by a tradition that began in 1987, the annual event in Costa Rica aims to bring together key decision-makers from the coffee world to discuss, innovate, and develop solutions to the challenges facing the coffee industry.

Taking place 12-15 November, this edition of Sintercafé will place special emphasis on financial topics, tariffs, and the challenges along the coffee value chain. Over four days, national and international participants will explore tariff models, financing structures, logistical impacts, market risks, collaboration mechanisms, and strategies to open new markets without leaving producers behind.

Among the featured activities is the Field Day – taking place over two days this year – which will offer an immersive experience with direct visits to farms, micro-mills, and dry mills to learn about best agricultural practices, innovative processes, and traceability mechanisms that are setting new trends.

The conference program will offer a diverse, high-level agenda. Keynote speaker Scott Clemons from Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) will provide deep insights into these unprecedented times for both the industry and the world, where the rules of international trade and economic policy have shifted. His presentation will aim to make sense of this new global context, anticipating what lies ahead and analyzing the opportunities and threats it presents for investors and businesses.

ICAFE will present “Café de Costa Rica: A Safe, Reliable, and Traceable Origin,” highlighting the traceability and trust that distinguish Costa Rican coffee. Together with Euromonitor International, a study will also be shared, featuring data and strategic insights into the US coffee market, offering an updated overview of trends and consumer behaviour.

Additionally, a Supply and Demand Panel will aim to decode the complex realities of the global market, addressing topics such as logistical disruptions, changing consumption patterns, and production challenges.

The program will also include presentations on the challenges of coffee in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, the growing Hispanic market, trends in the capsule and instant coffee segments, the evolution of the Brazilian market, and advances in regenerative agriculture.

Sintercafé recently launched the Next Gen Council, an initiative designed to promote and increase the participation of new generations in coffee trade and within the conference. This new chapter represents the sector’s future: a space where experience meets innovation, fostering youth leadership and intergenerational knowledge exchange.

Aligned with this vision, Sintercafé has partnered with VUNA to host the Coffee Champions League (CCL) during the event — a competition that celebrates knowledge, passion, and expertise, introducing a fresh, dynamic, and participatory format to the Sintercafé experience. Both initiatives reaffirm the event’s commitment to developing new leaders and continuously evolving the global coffee ecosystem.