Buon Ma Thuot, the central city of Dak Lak Province, one of Vietnam's coffee-growing regions, is heading to China to sell its prized specialty beans. The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association has teamed with Shanghai's Maiji Shanghai IT to hold the \u201cVietnam Amazing Cup 2026 China Roadshow\u201d\u2014a trial promotion in Shanghai in July 2026 and a full-scale B2B event in Guangzhou in August. Many people picture Vietnamese coffee as a sweet cup with condensed milk or a standard instant souvenir, but the growing region is now steering from \u201ccheap mass production\u201d toward \u201cbeans chosen for origin and quality.\u201dBuon Ma Thuot, the coffee capital named to National Geographic's '15 best food destinations in the world'<\/a>This movement ties directly into travelers' souvenir choices, too.<\/p>\n This roadshow takes on a different character in each of two cities. Shanghai in July is positioned as a trial introduction aimed at local coffee experts and buyers\u2014a place to gauge how the Chinese market receives Vietnamese specialty coffee and to lay the groundwork for the next move. Guangzhou in August is a more business-oriented format, with producers and exporters taking part directly\u2014the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association plus exporters, roasting brands, and top contest-placing growers.<\/p>\n At the venue, the plan runs in one continuous flow: displaying the top 10 Arabica and 10 Robusta varieties from the \u201cVietnam Amazing Cup 2026\u201d contest, offering cupping (tasting-evaluation) experiences, introducing the Dak Lak growing region, holding B2B meetings with Chinese importers, roasters, caf\u00e9 chains, and distributors, and signing memoranda of understanding (MOUs). Association chairman Trinh Duc Minh cites the aim of introducing high-quality specialty coffee \u201cmore closely\u201d to Chinese consumers.<\/p>\n Behind this is China's rapidly expanding coffee consumption. Market researchers estimate China's coffee market keeps growing at around 10% a year, with independent caf\u00e9s and third-wave culture spreading, mainly in cities. Now that specialty demand\u2014particular about origin, processing method, and brewing\u2014is growing, it's an opportunity for Vietnam, which wants to compete on origin names.<\/p>\n Vietnam's own circumstances are a tailwind too. Vietnam's coffee export value in fiscal 2024\/25 topped 8.4 billion dollars, a record high, with a sharp rise in unit prices pushing up the total. It's a form of the \"earn by quality and unit price, not volume\" line being borne out in the numbers, and following Europe, its biggest market, China has emerged as a new outlet \u2014 geographically close and with plenty of room to grow. Not only Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City, butThe overseas pop-up of Vietnamese coffee that drew lines in San Francisco<\/a>as with that, origin-based brands are starting to cross the sea themselves.<\/p>\n Here are the main verified figures. Market-size estimates vary by research firm, so read them as trends.<\/p>\nA two-step play: test in Shanghai, close deals in Guangzhou<\/h2>\n
Why China, why now<\/h2>\n
Vietnamese coffee and the Chinese market in numbers<\/h2>\n