PRF El Salvador to host Global Coffee Awards World Championship & opens speaker applications

• The 11th edition of Producer & Roaster Forum (PRF) will take place on 26 & 27 March 2026 at the Hilton Hotel in San Salvador, El Salvador.
• PRF is one of the largest and most important events in the coffee industry, building direct connections between roasters and producers to facilitate green coffee sales.
• The event will also coincide with the Global Coffee Awards World Championship, which will announce the world’s best roasters.
• Speaker applications are open for the PRF Voices programme, featuring leading experts in the international coffee sector.
• PRF El Salvador will also host the fifth Global Roasting Contest, the seventh Cold Brew Coffee Championship, the second Soil of Excellence competition, and PRF Matchmaking.

On 26 & 27 March 2026, the 11th edition of Producer & Roaster Forum will take place at the Hilton Hotel in San Salvador, El Salvador. 

The event is one of the most prominent in the coffee industry. For over a decade, PRF has challenged the status quo of coffee trade shows, hosting the industry-leading events at origin and uniting producers, roasters, traders, and baristas.

Over 4,200 visitors and 350 international buyers are expected to attend next year’s edition, with an estimated US$15.7 million in business sales.

In addition to the PRF Voices programme, workshops, and cuppings, PRF El Salvador will host the fifth Global Roasting Contest, the seventh Cold Brew Coffee Championship, the second Soil of Excellence competition, and PRF Matchmaking.

The event will also coincide with the Global Coffee Awards World Championship. Winners of the US & Canada, Europe, and Origin (coffee-producing countries) editions will compete for the title of the world’s best roaster.

Read on to find out what’s happening at PRF El Salvador and how you can apply to become a speaker.

Learn more about PRF here.

PRF returns to El Salvador

Events play a critical role in the growth of the global coffee industry. Most major trade shows, however, take place in majority-consuming countries, limiting opportunities for producers and roasters to connect directly.

For over a decade, PRF has challenged this paradigm. Every year, the two-day forum takes place in a key coffee-producing country. Previous host countries include El Salvador, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia – five of the world’s most significant coffee origins.

“We’re proudly returning to El Salvador after the inaugural edition took place at a mill in Santa Ana a decade ago,” says Andrea Melo-Leon, the COO of PRF. “This is a valuable opportunity for the event to revisit its roots and acknowledge the impressive progress we’ve made over the last ten years.”

MTPak Coffee, a leading global supplier of custom-printed coffee packaging, is the PRF Diamond Sponsor, partnering on a multi-year deal to sponsor future events. The company will succeed Mayorga Coffee, which was the previous Diamond Sponsor for PRF.

MTPak Coffee will also sponsor the Becado scholarship programme, with more information to come in the following weeks. It will also host event activations that highlight and support both producers and roasters in producing countries.

“Meeting roasters and producers has become an essential part of our strategy to strengthen relationships,” explains Mark Zhou, the founder of MTPak Coffee. “PRF exists to serve this exact purpose: connecting producers, often underserved at coffee events, with roasters and green coffee buyers from around the world. 

“I’m incredibly proud to be part of another PRF event,” he adds. “It spotlights not only producers, but also roasters at origin, showcasing their commitment to excellence, from coffee quality to branding and packaging.”

Celebrating PRF’s ever-growing international reach

PRF’s unique format gives producers and roasters a platform to cultivate long-lasting relationships to source green coffee, address key industry issues, and drive innovation in the global coffee sector. More than 16,400 coffee professionals have taken part in previous editions, including over 4,300 green coffee buyers and roasters. 

The ten previous forums have generated more than US$64.8 million in green coffee sales, benefitting over 4,650 smallholder farmers in Latin America and allowing roasters from around the world to buy some of the region’s best coffees.

OBIIS (One Big Island in Space), a farm-direct model that buys coffee directly from producers, is a PRF Gold Sponsor. The company is a long-time partner of the event and previously provided funding to the PRF Seed Initiative.

Following its participation in PRF Honduras in March 2025, OBIIS will screen the La Fortaleza documentary during PRF El Salvador. The documentary, which spotlights the success and struggles of Mexican coffee producers, premiered in Honduras and will relaunch in El Salvador.

The Instituto Salvadoreño del Café (ISC) is also a PRF Gold Sponsor. The ISC is El Salvador’s national coffee association, responsible for guiding national coffee policy and supporting the country’s producers. The association will promote Salvadoran coffee excellence at PRF by showcasing high-quality varieties, including Bourbon, Pacas, and Pacamara.

Purity Coffee, a functional specialty coffee brand, is a long-term partner and the PRF Bronze Sponsor. Purity has spoken at previous events, offering insight into the thriving functional coffee market.

Producer Partners Catholic Relief Services, an international humanitarian agency, and Swiss Water, a decaf processing company, will also provide smallholder producers with free access to the event.

Volunteer Sponsor Copan Trade, a green specialty coffee importer, will once again host a special volunteer cupping session. At PRF Honduras, this cupping led to multiple lots being sold to participating green coffee buyers and roasters. Copan Trade will also organise exclusive networking activities for volunteers throughout the event, helping them gain valuable industry insight.

Over the last ten years, roasters and importers from more than 40 countries – including the US, Nigeria, Japan, France, Australia, South Korea, Uganda, Spain, the UK, Germany, Poland, China, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, and many more – have attended PRF events.

Some 4,200 attendees, including over 500 green buyers and international roasters, are expected to attend next year’s forum.

The event will also host the Global Coffee Awards World Championship and Awards Ceremony & Annual Dinner, bringing more roasters than ever before. 

Sub-category and overall category winners from the US & Canada, Europe, Origin editions, as well as the producers of the winning coffees, will attend. This will culminate in one of PRF’s biggest, most engaging events to date.

Roasters from the US & Canada, Europe, and Origin Global Coffee Awards competitions are confirmed to attend PRF and the Sourcing Trip Experience. Some of these include Sweet Bloom Coffee, Utopian Coffee, Lofty Coffee Roasters, Tree Artisan Coffee House, Kaffea Terra, Vero Coffee House, Mill Cross Coffee, Critical Mass Coffee, and many more.

Global Coffee Awards World Championship

The Global Coffee Awards World Championship will begin on 24 March 2026, with roasters competing for the title of the world’s best.

Designed to reward the roastery as a whole rather than an individual, the GCA is a prestigious competition that invited roasters in the US and Canada, Europe, and Origin to submit bags of their most exceptional coffees.

The competition focuses on roasted coffee rather than green beans to provide a comprehensive quality assessment. A panel of expert judges blindly assessed entries and provided constructive, actionable feedback to all entrants, enabling them to enhance their roasting skills.

The US & Canada, Europe, and Origin regionals took place in September and October 2025. The regional Gold, Silver, and Bronze overall category winners who qualify for the World Championship are here.

All Gold, Silver, and Bronze overall category winners of the US & Canada, Origin, and Europe events have been invited to participate in the World Championship, where they will compete for international recognition and the title of the world’s best roaster.

The World Championship will follow a format similar to the regional events, in which roasters submit a bag of roasted coffee for blind evaluation, maintaining the same rigorous judging standards and brewing protocols. Coffees will be prepared exactly as consumers experience them in cafés, using defined brew ratios and strict preparation guidelines.

At the World Championship, all entries will be awarded a numerical score across multiple criteria. A new Omni Roast category will also be introduced to evaluate roasters’ versatility, technical skill, and ability to develop roast profiles that perform well across multiple brewing methods.

On the evening of 26 March at the Hilton Hotel, there will be a GCA Awards Ceremony and Annual Dinner. During this celebration, all winning roasters from the three regional competitions, the producers behind each winning coffee, and the newly crowned World Champions will be formally announced, recognised, and awarded trophies.

The evening will offer an exclusive opportunity for roasters to network with fellow winners, for producers and roasters to build meaningful relationships, and for knowledge sharing and collaboration across the supply chain.

Winning producers will receive free tickets to the GCA Awards Ceremony & Annual Dinner. Confirmed winning producers who received multiple awards include Ana María Donneys of Finca La Paloma in Colombia, Diego Bermudez of Finca El Paraiso in Colombia, Heberto Rivas of De La Finca in Nicaragua, Wilton Benitez of Finca El Paraiso 92 in Colombia, Vishal Mehta of Tat Vam Asi Farm in India, Bekele Yutute of Kokose in Ethiopia, and many more.

Tickets to the Awards Ceremony & Annual Dinner will be open to all PRF attendees and will be available for purchase in the coming weeks.

Other competitions at PRF El Salvador

PRF hosts some of the most visionary competitions in the coffee industry, showcasing the skills of a diverse range of coffee professionals, not just baristas.

The championships that will take place in El Salvador are:

• The fifth Global Roasting Contest, sponsored by Cropster – top international roasters compete for the technical and people’s choice winning titles. Applications will open in the coming weeks.
• The seventh Cold Brew Coffee Championship, sponsored by Toddy – baristas and coffee professionals go head-to-head in developing cold brews and signature drinks, showcasing the booming popularity of cold coffee. Apply here.
• The second Soil of Excellence, sponsored by Belco – highlights the importance of soil health and regenerative agriculture in producing high-quality coffee, and this edition will focus specifically on coffees from El Salvador. Apply here and find out more about entry requirements here.

Speaker applications open for PRF Voices

Every PRF event hosts the PRF Voices programme. This specially curated lineup of lectures and panels is led by some of the industry’s foremost and well-known experts. 

Over the last decade, speakers from over 36 countries have participated, discussing various topics across the coffee supply chain. These include:

This edition will include fewer speaker slots to allow for deeper, more focused discussions. Confirmed speakers and topics so far include:

• What Coffee Can Learn from Craft Beer: Forecasting Trends & Future Challenges (Erik Busch – LongStory Coffee, US, plus a special guest)
• Quality vs Novelty: Integrating Tradition and Innovation in Specialty Coffee (Dakota Graff – Onyx Coffee Lab, US)
• Data-Driven Coffee: How Producers and Roasters Stay Ahead in 2026 (Griffin Hall – Verve Coffee Roasters, US)

English and Spanish-speaking candidates are invited to apply for PRF Voices. Ideal candidates should have a strong background in the coffee industry, over five years of experience in their topic of interest, previous PRF participation, public speaking skills, and fresh insight into key trends and challenges in today’s coffee sector.

English speakers can apply here, and Spanish speakers can apply here. Applications will close on 31 January 2026; as spaces are limited, they are likely to fill quickly.

What else is happening at PRF?

There will be an exhibition area at the two-day forum where attendees can network with leading Latin American and international companies and organisations, including producers, exporters, roasters, importers, and café owners.

The Producer-Roaster Matchmaking programme, sponsored by Algrano, will also return after its successful launch at the 2025 Honduras event. 

“During a time of price volatility, it’s never been more critical for roasters to find the right coffee and flavour profiles for their budget, as well as for producers to find stable buyers,” Andrea says. “The Producer-Roaster Matchmaking initiative gives both the opportunity to discuss different coffee options, develop more personal working relationships, and build trust.”

The programme is designed specifically to connect producers and roasters at the Matchmaking Zone, a space dedicated to curating meaningful conversations and building new relationships.

Roasters, producers, and traders will have the opportunity to meet potential partners in a quick, structured speed networking format. Algrano will help guide participants throughout the process, offering supply chain expertise, logistical support, key financial information, and live translations.

Like other PRF events, the 2026 forum will include workshops and cuppings, showcasing some of Latin America’s best producers and traders and highlighting the region’s coffee diversity. 

There will also be an Espresso, a Brew, and a Cold Brew Bar, sponsored by Toddy, where producers can showcase their coffees and micro-lots and connect with potential buyers.

Volunteers work at registration, cuppings, Bars, competitions, and other areas, playing a pivotal role in shaping PRF El Salvador’s success. Applicants need to be comfortable working with coffee equipment and have some customer service skills. You can apply to be a volunteer here.

PRF will return to El Salvador on 26 & 27 March 2026. The event will continue its legacy of facilitating meaningful connections between producers and roasters.

International tickets and Sourcing Trip Experience tickets are available to buy here.

You can stay up to date with all announcements for PRF here or by subscribing to the newsletter here.

Photo credits: Producer & Roaster Forum, Le Lab Production, Belco

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