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More than 2000 people attended this year’s Glasgow Coffee Festival across two sold-out days in April at the newly opened Clyde Market Halls, with the show registering its most attended event in its 11-year history.
Founded in 2014 by Lisa Lawson, who also founded B Corp Dear Green Coffee Roasters, Glasgow Coffee Festival welcomed more exhibitors, workshops, and attendees than ever before despite the ongoing turbulence in global coffee trade.
Lawson says the interest emanating from the industry gives her hope that the coffee sector can continue to grow.
“The global cost of coffee is at an all-time high. It’s affecting producers, roasters, cafés – everyone in the value chain,” Lawson says. “What I saw this weekend gives me hope. We had record numbers through the door, people asking the right questions, willing to taste new things, and hungry to learn.
“Glasgow’s coffee culture is growing and evolving simultaneously. We’re seeing more adventurous processing methods on the market, more shops experimenting with brew precision, and a greater commitment to transparency. The industry is endlessly creative and resilient, and consumers are more passionate than ever before.
“Meeting the people at the festival, I know this industry will survive and thrive – because so many people continue to do things properly, even when things get hard.”
Glasgow Coffee Festival has celebrated its milestone event by being named the ‘Best Sustainable Event’ at the Scottish Event Awards.
It remained entirely single-use-cup-free thanks to partnerships with Borrow Cup, Reposit, and environmental charity Hubbub. It adopted its single-use cup-free policy in 2018.
Coffee grounds from the event were also collected and repurposed by Glasgow-based company Revive Eco, which aims to transform waste coffee into sustainable alternatives.
Lawson says Glasgow Coffee Festival is evidence large events can be run more sustainably.
“We’ve built this festival to celebrate Scotland’s incredible coffee scene, which continues to punch above its weight on the world stage, and to prove that events of this scale can be run responsibly,” she says.
“From composting and active travel to partnerships with social enterprises, it’s all designed to show what’s possible when you put values first. Sustainability is absolutely at the heart of everything we do.”
The final of the SCA UK Cup Tasters Championship was also held at the event, with Butterworths Coffee’s Will Greavner now set to represent the UK at the World Championships in Geneva in June 2025.
Cairngorm Coffee won the title of Roast Hero in a peer-assessed competition against roasters from across Scotland, while the 40th anniversary of the espresso martini was also celebrated through a session with Bea Bradsell, daughter of the drink’s creator, Dick Bradsell.
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