Greenville's specialty coffee scene is getting its own festival, and it's landing inside one of the city's most recognizable adaptive-reuse landmarks. The inaugural Greenville Coffee Fest will take over Judson Mill at 701 Easley Bridge Road on February 6, 2027, running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with more than 20 local roasters, coffee shops and curated vendors expected to set up shop for the day.
The event is being produced by LiveWell Greenville, a community health nonprofit, according to the Greenville Journal. Founded in 2011, LiveWell Greenville is led by Executive Director Sally Wills and runs several major community wellness initiatives, including the Greenville County Food Security Coalition, per LiveWell Greenville. Proceeds from the coffee festival will support the nonprofit's broader health equity and food security work across the county.
Kelly Weissmann, LiveWell Greenville's fund development director and co-director of the Coffee Fest, said the event is meant to spotlight the people behind the city's coffee culture. She said coffee shops foster social connections and that the festival will celebrate the people who make mornings better, per the same account. Weissmann also said the fundraiser could grow into an annual event that draws visitors to Greenville.
A Mill With a Century of History
The choice of venue is notable in its own right. Judson Mill originally opened in 1912 as a textile manufacturing plant and operated for more than a century before closing in 2015, after which it was redeveloped into an 800,000-square-foot mixed-use complex, according to CREDA. The mill was once among the largest textile operations in Greenville County, and the site now houses apartments, commercial tenants, and multiple event spaces alongside its industrial bones.
Among those event spaces is The Annex, a 5,600-square-foot indoor venue with 16-foot ceilings, exposed brick, and original maple floors that can hold 500 to 600 standing guests, according to Events at Judson Mill. Judson Mill has already established itself as a go-to community gathering spot this year — Hoodline reported that the indie craft parade was scheduled for September 11–13, 2026.
More Than 20 Roasters on the Roster
The Coffee Fest's lineup already includes a notable roster of local names, per the Greenville Journal's report. Announced roasters include Reunion Coffee, Bridge City Coffee, Cohesive Coffee, Leopard Forest Coffee Company, Unlocked Coffee Roasters, Phin+ Coffee, Grateful Brew, Due South Coffee Roasters, Other Lands, Flying Fox Coffee, Cryptid Coffee, Methodical Coffee, Third Place Coffeehouse, and Coffee Underground.
Several of the participating brands carry national and regional recognition. Bridge City Coffee, founded in 2017, was named Roast Magazine's 2024 Micro Roaster of the Year in October 2023 for both its coffee quality and its social mission of employing and mentoring at-risk youth, according to Roast Magazine. Methodical Coffee, which opened its flagship downtown Greenville location in 2015, was the subject of the 2022 Amazon Prime documentary Top Coffee, as reported by the Greenville Journal.
Unlocked Coffee Roasters, a Hispanic-owned specialty coffee shop in Greenville's West End, was founded in 2018 by Colombian natives Andrés Camargo and Rocío Salazar and specializes in single-origin Colombian beans, according to the Greenville Business Magazine. Due South Coffee Roasters, established in 2013 by Ricardo Pereira, relocated in 2018 to the Hampton Station development along the Swamp Rabbit Trail, per the Upstate Business Journal.
Tastings, Tickets and a Growing Coffee Reputation
Festivalgoers can expect complimentary coffee tastings, food, limited-edition merchandise, and live entertainment throughout the four-hour event, per the Greenville Journal's report. Tickets are set to go on sale in November 2026, and LiveWell Greenville plans to announce additional vendors and entertainment in the coming months.
The festival arrives as Greenville's coffee scene continues to draw outside attention. The city was named one of 22 top American coffee destination cities by Fodor's Travel in 2022, a nod to the growth of local roasters and guided coffee tours in the area. That reputation has built steadily as small operations like Due South and Unlocked have expanded alongside better-known names like Methodical, turning Greenville into a regional stop for craft coffee.
The festival also fits into a broader pattern of LiveWell Greenville partnering across the community to address food access. In July, the nonprofit teamed up with Loaves & Fishes and Feed & Seed to distribute free produce boxes to local families alongside summer youth meal programs, targeting childhood food insecurity across Greenville County. That work builds on a $1.5 million three-year grant LiveWell Greenville and its coalition partners received from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health in October 2022 to advance public health equity in the county, according to the Hispanic Alliance, with that grant supporting partnerships with Clemson University and Furman University.
