7 Coffee Trends To Look Out For In 2020

Just like food trends or beverage trends, coffee is one sector that is constantly changing things up. With an industry full of passionate people and consumers who are equally as obsessed, the scene is always moving to the next best thing, building on its core tried-and-tested principles. Using our expertise, consumer insights and research, we’re highlighting some of the key coffee trends for 2020 that you’ll be seeing everywhere.

We’ve already had the TikTok-famous Dalgona Coffee, but these trends are here to stay…

Coffee Trends in 2020

1. Sustainablility

Both coffee shop owners and customers are becoming a lot more interested in making coffee as sustainable as possible. Here’s some things you can expect to see more of:

• Recyclable Cups
• Swap programs, such as the Huskee Swap exchangeable cup program
• Reusable Straws
• Coffee Bag Recycling

A Keep Cup isn’t the only thing you should focus on though, as energy consumption is actually the big carbon footprint driver. Recent research from Seven Mile’s Coffee Science & Education Centre showed that energy use made up 53% of the carbon footprint of an average café (compared to 0.6% contributed by disposable cups).

2. Ready-to-Drink Coffee

This coffee trend started to really kick off at the end of 2019, and we can expect it to surge even more throughout 2020. Ready-to-drink cold brews are becoming hugely popular, in all sorts of variations. With people all across the world at home due to coronavirus and cafe closures, consumers are looking to supermarkets and stores to get their caffeine fix.

3. Less Dairy – More Oat!

Almond milk might still be popular, but according to a Café Pulse report, oat sales have increased a massive 425% since June 2017.

Marcus Fehlberg from The Alternative Dairy Co explains “All the data indicates that non-diary milks are going to keep growing for the next 5 years +. A big part of that is because customers are now choosing them not only because they need to have them for dietary reasons, but also because they want to have them.”

4. Interesting Coffee Products

Sure, you can still drink your coffee if you want to. But what about eating it, or sipping it in a beer? Coffee-infused products are a huge trend for 2020. Both larger and small brewers are making some interesting coffee beers, while Coffee Pixels is an edible coffee bar that mixes coffee beans and cocoa butter for a caffeinated hit.

5. Cashless Cafés

Another trend that was beginning even before Covid-19 was contactless or card-only establishments. As coffee shops and cafes move to reopening under social distancing measures, cash transactions aren’t going to cut it. We predict that many cafes will permanently disallow cash transactions in order to provide a more seamless and safe coffee experience.

6. Coffee Subscriptions

With the majority of people still under lockdown measures, it’s becoming that bit more difficult to get a daily coffee. This is where subscriptions come in: many coffee shops are offering weekly bean subscription packages for delivery to customers. People can then make their daily coffees at home, and we think this will prove popular enough to continue.

7. Cold Coffee is Still Super Hot

According to recent research by the Allegra World Coffee Portal USA, cold coffee (in all its many tasty forms!) is growing at 7.3% per year, almost double the growth rate of hot coffee (4.6%). More than 80% of industry leaders surveyed in the US identified cold brew as the fastest growing product in coffee shops.