Ipoh Coffee Vibes festival aims to crown it ‘Coffee City’

Ipoh is getting its first dedicated coffee festival next week. Ipoh Coffee Vibes 2026 runs from 10 to 13 September at Riverfront Old Town Ipoh, right next to Jalan Sultan Iskandar. Entry is free for the entire four-day run.

Organisers are targeting around 40,000 visitors. Fifty food and beverage stalls will line the festival grounds along the Kinta River. The event spans coffee traditions across Malay, Indian and Chinese communities, alongside international brand Starbucks.

State tourism committee chairman Loh Sze Yee framed the ambition plainly. The festival aims to make Ipoh a more iconic “Coffee City,” building on an identity he says the town has held for generations.

A festival built around every kind of coffee

Ipoh’s white coffee takes centre stage, but it shares the spotlight. Visitors can explore its backstory through the “White Coffee Story Corridor,” tracing how the drink became tied to the town’s identity. The Kaw Kaw White Coffee Truck will hand out free samples throughout the festival.

Indian kopi tarik and Malay coffee styles both get dedicated space. So does Starbucks, sitting alongside far older brewing traditions. The mix is the point: one festival covering the country’s full coffee culture, not just Ipoh’s signature brew.

A new initiative called “Kopi Rakyat” adds an affordability angle. Participating coffee entrepreneurs will offer a range of coffee types at more consumer-friendly prices, specifically for this event. That keeps a heritage-driven festival accessible rather than premium-priced.

Across the four days, all of this plays out along the Kinta River. The riverside setting gives visitors somewhere to sit with a cup while performances run nearby, turning a food festival into more of a full afternoon out.

Music, performances and a flash mob

The festival runs 2pm to 11pm on opening day, then 4pm to 11pm for the remaining three days. Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming is scheduled to officiate at 9pm on 10 September, giving the launch some ministerial weight.

Entertainment leans into the coffee theme rather than sitting apart from it. A percussion performance is styled around a white coffee shop setting. A kopi tarik performance and a coffee-themed flying roti canai routine both double as edible showmanship.

The Kita FM Concert anchors the festival’s music line-up. A flash mob featuring multicultural musical instruments is also planned, tying the entertainment back to the “multi-racial coffee culture” framing organisers have used throughout.

For Ipoh, the ambition sits beyond just one weekend. A successful turnout would give the state fresh evidence for the “Coffee City” branding it is pushing, at a time when Visit Malaysia Year 2026 has put pressure on Perak’s tourism numbers generally.