The United Nations has officially designated Oct. 1 as International Coffee Day, giving the long-running coffee holiday formal UN status for the first time.
The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution March 10, while inviting the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to help facilitate the annual observance in collaboration with relevant organizations, particularly the International Coffee Organization (ICO).
The ICO led the creation of the first International Coffee Day in 2015 with support from its dozens of member countries, including the majority of the world’s coffee-producing countries and many key coffee-consuming countries — the United States being a notable absence.
The embrace of the holiday by the UN does not create a new coffee fund, nor does it tie directly to policy changes. Yet it does elevate the ICO’s ongoing efforts to promote public awareness — particularly of issues affecting coffee production and sustainability — and government engagement.
Daily Coffee News photo by Nick Brown.
The involvement of the FAO is likely to connect future observances to the specialized UN agency’s ongoing work on traceability, climate adaptation, farmer training and investment mobilization.
In an announcement today, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said that coffee “sustains the livelihoods of millions of farming households” while connecting rural communities to markets all over the world.
“Recognizing the value of the coffee sector will raise awareness about its socio-economic importance and strengthen its contribution to eradicating poverty,” Dongyu said. “We look forward to celebrating the day and its values.”
The ICO has typically promoted a theme for the annual observance. In 2025, the group rallied the global coffee industry and other coffee-adjacent actors around the theme “Embracing Collaboration More Than Ever.”
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