HR Coffee Equip at World of Coffee Panama 2026: see you at booth 1285

From October 23 to 25, 2026, Panama City hosts World of Coffee for the very first time — the world’s leading specialty coffee trade show. It’s the first edition the Specialty Coffee Association has ever held in Latin America, and the first time in the show’s history that it takes place in a coffee-producing country. For those of us who make our living from coffee in Panama, this isn’t just another trade show. It’s the industry coming home.

HR Coffee Equip is a sponsor of this edition, and you’ll find us at booth 1285 at the Panama Convention Center alongside our partner brands. Here’s what you can expect at our booth, what else is happening across the show floor, and how to make the most of three days that won’t come around again any time soon.

What World of Coffee is — and why it matters that it’s in Panama

World of Coffee is the Specialty Coffee Association’s traveling trade show. For years it was a European event; it later added editions in Asia and the Middle East, and in 2026 it finally crosses the Atlantic to the continent that grows much of the coffee the world drinks. Panama is no accident. The country produces some of the most sought-after coffees on the planet, and its community of farmers, roasters and baristas has spent two decades putting Panamanian Geisha at the top of auction tables worldwide.

The venue is the Panama Convention Center in Amador, right by the Canal. Organizers expect more than 13,000 visitors and over 370 exhibitors from around the world. Beyond the exhibition hall, the show brings together in one place what you’d normally have to chase across several trips:

• The 2026 World Barista Championship. The best baristas from each country competing in Panama, just a few steps from the booths.
• Roaster Village. Roasters from around the world serving their coffees and showing their craft.
• Producer Village. A space designed for producers to present their coffees and connect directly with international buyers, with a focus on fair trading relationships and supply-chain traceability.
• Cupping Room and talks. Cuppings, lectures and workshops throughout all three days.

For a café, restaurant, hotel or roaster in Panama, it’s a chance to see, taste and compare — in a single aisle — equipment you’d otherwise only know from a brochure.

Visit World of Coffee Panama 2026

Booth 1285: what you’ll find

Our booth brings together the brands we work with every day in bars, roasteries and coffee labs across the country. It isn’t a showcase behind glass: the equipment will be running, with our team on hand to show you how it works, what problems it solves and what it means to own it in Panama — with installation, spare parts and our own technical service included.

Mahlkönig: grinding as a science

For many baristas, Mahlkönig is simply what a professional grinder means. Made in Germany, its grinders are the benchmark in competition and in the world’s most demanding bars. At our booth you’ll find the espresso range and the iconic EK43, the grinder that changed how filter coffee and espresso have been prepared over the past decade. If you’re unsure which grinder fits your volume, your menu or your brew methods, this is the place to settle it with the machine right in front of you.

Link Roaster by Nucleus: sample roasting, automated

The Link is Nucleus Coffee Tools’ sample roaster. It roasts 50 to 100 gram batches on automated profiles, drawing on a library of more than 1000 profiles shared by its community, and it’s the official roaster of the World Coffee Roasting Championship from 2024 to 2026. In Panama, where every farm wants to evaluate its own lots rigorously, it solves a real problem: roasting samples repeatably without a large roaster or an expert operator. HR Coffee Equip is the official Link Roaster representative in Panama.

Reserve your Link and pick it up at booth 1285

DiFluid: measure to decide

DiFluid makes measurement tools for coffee: refractometers that read a cup’s extraction in seconds, and analyzers that measure the moisture, density and color of the bean. These are instruments that have put quality control within everyone’s reach — what once required a lab now fits on the bar or the cupping table. At the booth you can measure your own extractions and see, in numbers, why a cup tastes the way it does.

Origami: the ritual of pour-over

With their unmistakable folded silhouette, Origami drippers are among the most recognizable pour-over tools in specialty coffee. We’ll have the full Origami range of accessories, in every color and size, for anyone working manual brew methods on bar — or looking to take home a piece that’s as much a design object as it is a tool. Alongside them you’ll find the rest of the bar accessories we use every day: pitchers, scales, distributors and everything else that makes a difference to a barista’s daily routine.

Nuova Simonelli and Victoria Arduino: find us at our partner’s booth too

HR Coffee Equip is the official representative in Panama of Nuova Simonelli and Victoria Arduino, the two espresso machine brands of the Simonelli Group. In addition to booth 1285, we’ll be at our partner’s booth, where both brands’ lineups will be on display. If you’re weighing up a machine for your business, it’s the perfect chance to see them side by side:

• Victoria Arduino, the competition and high-end line: the Black Eagle Maverick, the Eagle One — designed for a new generation of cafés — and the compact E1 Prima.
• Nuova Simonelli, the workhorse of thousands of cafés around the world: the Appia Life, the Aurelia Wave and, for smaller spaces, the Oscar.

Whichever you choose, what comes after the purchase stays the same: delivery, installation, calibration, training for your team and maintenance from our workshop in Panama City.

Why stop by — even if you’re not buying yet

A trade show pays off when you go in with a plan. Here are four reasons to visit booth 1285 even if your purchase is still a way off:

1. Try before you decide. Grinders, measurement and brew methods running with real coffee. No catalog replaces five minutes in front of the machine.
2. Get a technical question answered. Which grinder for which volume, how to read a refractometer, how to standardize sample roasting. The kind of questions there’s never time to ask on a busy day.
3. Meet the team who’ll look after you. The people who install, calibrate and repair equipment in Panama will be at the booth. Putting a face to them is worth more than any written warranty.
4. Get a quote on the spot. If you already know what you need, we’ll put your quote together right there, with lead time and installation included.

Planning your visit

The show runs Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25. Tickets are sold through the event’s official ticketing system, and it’s worth buying ahead — it’s the first edition on the continent and it’s expected to sell out. A few tips:

• Make time for the competitions. The World Barista Championship runs in rounds; catching at least one final is well worth it.
• Visit the Producer Village. It’s where the region’s producers present their coffees and where direct trading relationships are built. If you roast or buy green coffee, it’s a must.
• Bring your questions — and, if you can, your coffee. At the booth we can measure extractions and roast a sample. Nothing makes the point better than your own product.
• Come with your list. If you’ve already shortlisted equipment from our catalog, bring it along and we’ll work through it with you at the booth.

Explore the Producer Village

And after the show

A trade show lasts three days; a piece of bar equipment, ten years. That’s why everything we show at the booth comes backed by what we do the rest of the year in Panama: café consulting and design, equipment trials before you buy, delivery and installation, maintenance plans to keep you from going down mid-service, technical service with our own workshop and spare parts, and training for baristas and coffee lovers. If you find the equipment you need at World of Coffee, we’ll make sure it reaches your bar, gets dialed in, and that your team knows how to get the best out of it.

What it means for Panamanian coffee

Holding World of Coffee in a producing country changes the conversation. For decades, specialty coffee shows took place far from the farms: producers traveled to Europe or the United States to sell what they grow. This time, the buyers are coming to origin. For producers in Panama and across the region, it’s an unprecedented showcase; for those of us in the equipment business, it’s confirmation that specialty coffee culture in Panama has reached the size and maturity of the world’s great markets.

At HR Coffee Equip we’ve spent years supporting that growth from behind the bar: cafés opening their doors, roasters professionalizing their quality control, hotels and restaurants realizing that a great espresso is part of the experience. In a way, World of Coffee Panama 2026 is a celebration of all that work — and we want to share it with the people who made it possible: our customers.

See you at booth 1285

October 23 to 25 at the Panama Convention Center. Mahlkönig grinders, the Link roaster by Nucleus, DiFluid measurement and Origami accessories running at booth 1285, and Nuova Simonelli and Victoria Arduino machines at our partner’s booth. Three days to try, ask and decide without rushing.

Already know what you want for your bar? Build your quote from our catalog and we’ll have it ready when you stop by. And if you have a question or thoughts about the show, leave us a comment at the end of this article.

Browse the catalog and get a quote

Prefer to talk now? Call us at +507 391-2020 or message us on WhatsApp. And if you can’t make it to the show, our showroom in El Cangrejo is open Monday to Friday to see everything in action.