9 Coffee Industry Trends To Watch In 2020

With the number of Americans who drink coffee daily increasing by 5% over the past five years, and the world changing faster than it ever has before, we put together a list of 9 Coffee Industry Trends To Watch In 2020.

Butter Coffee

Many coffee lovers have never heard of buttered coffee before, but it's a simple concept. A buttered coffee, also known as Bulletproof Coffee, is a black coffee with a tablespoon of butter, along with one tablespoon of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. Since coconut oil is largely MCT in composition, most people just use a tablespoon of high quality coconut oil in this coffee drink.

Mushroom Coffee

The global mushroom market is predicted to exceed $50 billion by 2022. What is the Mushroom Coffee Trend? Mushroom coffee is simply black coffee mixed with medicinal mushroom powder. On Pinterest, mushroom coffee has seen a 471% year-over-year jump in searches. There are also many health benefits of mushroom coffee.

Oat Milk

In 2019 Almond milk took over Soy as the most popular milk alternative in coffee shops. Almond milk is still a very popular choice, but a recent study showed oat sales have increased a whopping 425% in just the past three years. In general, milk alternatives are growing very rapidly. Some customers need milk alternatives, and others just want these alternatives because they prefer the taste. 4% of coffee drinkers use milk alternatives daily. Try some oat milk next time you think about adding almond or soy to your coffee drink.

Coffee Cocktails

A barista and a mixologist/bartender have a lot of similarities. Coffee and alcohol are two global drinks. It's no surprise that the two are mixed together in this trend. Coffee cocktails are growing in popularity and go well beyond your typical Irish Car Bomb. We recently selected our 5 Best Coffee Cocktail Recipes so you can hop on this trend and create your own.

Dalgona Coffee

The Dalgona Coffee Craze has been taking over Instagram and TikTok! Dalgona has become one of the biggest trends of the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is fun to make, tastes great, and poses great for your TikTok videos. Here is a recipe so you can spin up a Dalgona yourself.

Iced Coffee

This isn't a new trend, but it is certainly growing quickly. According to recent research by the Allegra World Coffee Portal USA, cold coffee (in all of it's many forms) is growing at 7.3% per year, almost double the growth rate of hot coffee (4.6%).

Coffee Subscriptions

Sure, you can download the Cortado App and grab a subscription to our network of local cafes, but many coffee roasters are offering subscriptions on their beans. Even coffee shops are starting to offer weekly and monthly subscriptions of beans that they feature, delivered straight to your door.

Mobile Ordering

Another trend we are seeing is ordering from your mobile device. Over 1/3 of all Starbucks orders come in through their mobile app and many local and smaller coffee shops are offering this convenient way of ordering to their customers. This trend was happening even before the COVID-19 Pandemic, but has increased since then. Social distancing and other precautions make this a safer way to make a transaction. Cashless transactions make up over half of all transactions in cafes. Some coffee shops may even permanently do away with cash transactions, forcing customers to pay by card or through their mobile ordering system.

Sustainability

Now more than ever, people are more conscious about what they consume and coffee isn't an exception. Both customers and coffee shop owners are trending towards sustainable options. Things like recyclable or reusable cups, reusable straws or getting rid of straws all together. 53% of coffee drinkers want to buy coffee that is good for the environment, for coffee farmers, and for communities.

62% of Americans drink coffee daily. As that percentage continues to increase, so will the different ways to consume coffee and stay caffeinated. Still, 20% of Americans take their Cup of Joe black.

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