Quality and convenience are driving major coffee trends in 2022. The coffee market needs to provide options that taste great, are easy to prepare, and are healthy for customers’ bodies and the planet.
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After a year of silence, shopkeeper bells rang again as customers returned through the cafe doors. They came slowly at first, then in droves, but they arrived with different tastes and expectations than before. Enduring an ongoing pandemic has heightened public health awareness.
Customers are cutting out coffee drinks loaded with artificial colors, sugar and cow’s milk in favor of simple, ethical coffee and tea drinks fortified with plant-based ingredients.
When people choose to visit a cafe in 2022, they will make up for lost time by staying longer and ordering more. However, quarantines have cemented the importance of offsite business models.
Many of today’s coffee and tea consumers drink their beverages at home or on the go, so businesses need to diversify their e-commerce and on-the-go options. From beverage trends to evolving café culture, find out what’s in store for the coffee and tea market in 2022.
Quality and convenience are driving major coffee trends in 2022. The average American drinks two cups of coffee a day. They make at least one of these two cups at home, and many want quick options they can grab on the go for cup #2. People aren’t willing to sacrifice long-lasting supply and flavor, though. The coffee market needs to offer options that taste great, are easy to prepare, and are healthy for customers’ bodies and the planet.
Here are the top five coffee trends of 2022:
1. Instant coffee
Once upon a time, coffee pods were the answer to quick and convenient homemade coffee. However, when dalgona coffee recipes overtook popular social media app TikTok during coronavirus quarantines, the focus shifted to instant coffee. Fast forward to 2022, and people are using various forms of instant coffee as eco-friendly coffee pod substitutes.
Consumers looking for instant coffee have different interests and needs than pourover enthusiasts. Before switching to remote work, this crowd grabbed a coffee at a drive-thru or used the Keurig in their break room.
They want speed, savings and convenience, but they don’t want to sacrifice flavor. Premium instant coffee in the form of liquid coffee concentrates, ready-to-drink coffee cans and coffee powders will be the hottest coffee trends of 2022.
2. Locally roasted coffee
People are looking for a premium experience when visiting a coffee shop, and that starts with freshly roasted beans. Raw coffee beans have a green tint and a grassy taste. Roasting coffee involves heating and browning coffee beans to bring out their aroma and flavor. Once roasted, coffee beans lose their freshness.
The sooner you grind and brew your roasted coffee beans, the better. While working with a local roaster is a great option, the freshest cup of coffee is the one you roast yourself. You can tap into the homebrew market by selling your roasted beans both through your business and on your website.
3. Flavored coffee beans
Flavored coffee beans are on the rise in 2022. Faced with the health crisis that we have been experiencing for the past two years, people want to preserve their well-being by improving their diet. However, changing eating habits can frustrate coffee drink lovers. How can they enjoy the beloved flavor of a pumpkin spice latte without the sugar and artificial colors? Enter flavored coffee beans.
Roasters add flavoring oils to their coffee beans to mimic nuts, spices, and fruits without the sugar. In the past, companies used flavorings to mask inferior grains and only offered unimaginative staples like French vanilla. Today, artisan roasters use premium beans to create whimsical flavors such as food banana, pistachio ice cream and bourbon pecan.
4. Single-origin coffee
Single-origin coffee, also known as single-source coffee, is harvested from a single crop, country, or region and carries the unique flavor notes of its origins. Today’s coffee consumer cares about ethical sourcing, unique taste experiences, coffee tourism and sustainability. Tracing beans back to their producer allows you to confirm that they are fair trade, sustainable and organic.
Single-origin coffee beans cost more than blend coffees, but their retail value is much higher. Coffee drinkers will pay 200% more for roasts with a clear country of origin. The more information you can provide about your single-origin selections, the better. Customers want to engage with the region and culture that made their drink, and they appreciate seeing their purchase support a small farm.
5. Instant coffee
As the name suggests, snapchilling turns coffee from hot to icy cold in minutes. Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumnus David Dussault developed Snapchill technology for his cold beverage company, Elemental Beverage Co. Think of Elemental instant coolers as tabletop instant coolers for liquids.
Operators set the snapchill machine to the cold temperature that works best for their roast, add water, and it will brew and cool the coffee to the prescribed temperature in 60 seconds per 12 ounces.
The advent of Snapchill technology presents a welcome alternative to iced coffee and cold brew.
Pouring coffee over ice dilutes its flavor and chilling coffee in the refrigerator oxidizes the beans. While cold brew coffee avoids these weaknesses, cold water poorly extracts the full flavor of the coffee beans and takes a long time to brew.
Preparing coffee with hot water and cooling it immediately preserves its flavor and saves time. You can serve glasses of fresh coffee to customers in their break rooms, or you can bottle fresh coffee and sell it in the booming RTD market.