The Next Wave of Consumer Coffee Preferences

One of my favorite things growing up was sitting with my extended family over the holidays huddled together on a sun porch to start every day. Everyone grabbed a seat and had the same three things: a blanket, something to read, and a cup of Folgers Coffee. The Coffee wasn’t great, but it was light and there always a fresh pot brewing throughout most of the day.

Back then I’m not sure any of us had a second thought about where the coffee was originally from, when it was roasted, the roast profile, or whether any of these things should have any bearing on what we thought of the quality of this coffee. We drank it because it was warm, cheap, stimulating, and a great communal beverage. With an abundance of caffeinated beverages on the menu in today’s world, it’s clear that those things are simply no longer enough.

Growing Categories

When it comes to coffee there are numerous options available now to meet the consumer wherever they are in their coffee journey. Exposure to growing national or regional brands like Starbucks, Pete’s, or Caribou were the first exposure most American consumers had to a more premium coffee beverage. These brands have expanded across a number of categories and consumers have grown accustomed to a variety of different options:

• Canned Beverages - fast & on the go options

• Instant Coffee - Powder form, soluble in water, quick and portable

• Blends - mixture of origins combining flavor profiles

• Single Origin - sometimes micro lots from smaller producers

Many of the options across these categories represent the growing Espresso Based Beverage trend. Survey estimates from groups like the Specialty Coffee Association say that this particular trend is growing 4% year over year. However, if you’ve seen the average wedding registry or Saturday morning crowd at the local hot spot boutique coffee roaster, then you might be inclined to think that there is a greater shift than one might think.

New Considerations Pushed by Price

The average price of a Starbucks Grande Brewed Coffee has risen 49% since 2020. In an age where consumers now demand more transparency and react to growing choice when it comes to their morning coffee fix, smaller local roasters have begun to educate more coffee consumers and introduce them to selections with higher quality for comparable prices. For a premium out of home beverage, coffee drinkers are asking more questions about where their coffee is from and what’s the story behind it? The world is a smaller place than ever, and awareness around sustainability and supporting small farmers and local businesses are easier choices to make when they cost the same as your local Starbucks, but offer you more than just a beverage.

As a group of Data Scientists who care about quantifying these kinds of trends, we’ve taken a stab at just that. We’ve browsed over 3,000 web pages and compiled data from over 70 small, medium, and large Specialty Coffee Roasters across the state of Texas. If you’re interested in learning more about what we’re seeing, subscribe to our newsletter to see the data as we prepare our State of Texas Coffee Report.