64% of American adults currently consume coffee every day which is about 400 million daily cups (~146 billion cups of coffee per year). That makes the U.S. one of the leading coffee-consuming countries in the world.
What’s new in coffee industry trends?
Even during the pandemic, Americans continued to drink almost the same amount of coffee in the mornings as they did before the pandemic. Although interestingly, consumption levels dipped 4% in the afternoon—which is generally where coffee shops historically garnered their most significant sales.
“Coffee continues to be America’s undisputed favorite beverage, even with the entire country in various stages of lockdown and footfall in coffee shops down massively this year,” said National Coffee Association President and CEO Bill Murray.
At Skai, we’ve been fascinated to follow a viral coffee sensation: Shanghai’s MellowerCoffee’s Sweet Little Rain ($9.80). It’s a cup of Americano with a fluffy ball of cotton candy positioned over it on a tiny stand. It melts the cotton candy as the heat rises, so tiny sweetened drops fall into the cup. It looks delicious and super fun!
Other exciting ways right now to serve up a cup of joe with a twist include:
- Whipped coffee is trendy on TikTok now. Learn how to make your own.
- There’s a new Korean iced coffee viral video for an iced frappe hack. To make it, combine a large iced coffee and a vanilla ice cream cone from McDonald’s.
- The Guardian recently reported a new trend, “proffee,” a fusion of espresso and protein powder as coffee drinkers look to increase the benefits of their morning beverage.
Coffee Industry Insights: What’s Hot, Not, & Next
The number of new coffee products being sold online between July 2019 and July 2020 went up by 132% With so much competition in this growing industry, how can coffee brands stay ahead of the curve?
Consumer and market intelligence platforms like Skai are increasingly used by coffee brands looking to keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the category in real-time and get ahead of the latest trends.
Skai collects more data than anyone else relevant to coffee (social reviews, product listings, ratings, reviews, patents, etc.) so that brands don’t miss a thing. Then, we apply natural language processing so that it’s easy to extract what is happening in the coffee category and why — and what will happen in the future. And we visualize the data in a way that makes it easy to understand for anyone from Insights, Marketing, Brand, Product Innovation, and more.
Our Coffee category includes data from over:
- 125,000 products
- 10 million consumer discussions
- 18,000+ key opinion leader posts
- 11,600+ patents
So what is the data showing us? Let’s take a look!
What’s Hot
- Organic anything continues to be a significant trend in the beverage category. For example, 303 new coffee products were released in the last year that claim they are Organic.
- Sugar-free is another leading trend in beverages. There has been a 191% growth in consumer reviews, 48 new products, 38 new patents, and 3,417 existing Sugar-free coffee products in the last year.
- Single-serve coffee items are a key segment of this industry—especially during the pandemic where people were brewing cups themselves at home. There were 214 new Single-serve coffee products released in the past year and 210 Single-serve coffee patents filed over the last five years.
- Ready-to-drink coffees combine the trends of cold coffee drinks, single-serve, and convenience as they can be stored in the refrigerator or purchased quickly at stores. There has been a 270% growth in consumer posts related to Ready-to-drink coffee products last year.
What’s Not
- Cold Brew was all the rage a few years ago, but there has been a very noticeable 52% decline in social posts and just 29 new Cold Brew products released last year.
- Keto used to be everywhere but has a 50% drop in social media posts and a 32% decrease in new Keto coffee products over the last 12 months.
- Vegan has experienced a slow decline recently. In the last year, there has been a 39% decrease in social mentions for this attribute. In addition, while there were 47 new Vegan coffee products released in the last year, there has been only one new patent filed in the previous five years to mention Vegan coffee.
What’s Next
- LowPH coffees are suitable for those who may have sensitive stomachs and looking to avoid the acidity usually associated with the beverage. There are currently 1,296 coffee products sold online that mention LowPH. And, with 54 new coffee patents that mention LowPH, we should start seeing more of these products on the market soon.
- Carbonated coffees are a bit of a misnomer because they are generally standard espresso mixed with seltzer or another bubbly liquid. While only nine new Carbonated coffee products came out in the last year, 167 patents mentioned it. So, could this be the hottest new trend in coffee?
- High Fiber coffee would seem to be another way that coffee drinkers are trying to add more beneficial ingredients to their cup of joe. There seems to be some buzz brewing (pardon the pun) about High Fiber coffee with a 67% increase in consumer reviews. The truth is that coffee is already a source of soluble fiber that reportedly can help the body absorb vital nutrients and lower cholesterol. Today, there are only 127 High Fiber coffee products on the market, representing a 200% growth year-over-year.
Top Coffee Brands (by number of products available online)
The coffee trend to watch: could a pre-workout coffee be the next big thing?
Caffeine is a common ingredient in pre-workout supplements to help increase the energy and focus in those about to exercise. In addition, studies have been conducted that indicate caffeine may improve mental alertness, exercise performance, and fat burning.
The term Pre-workout in social media coffee posts has grown an incredible 164,400% in last year and has seen a 16,100% growth in consumer reviews.
But here’s the kicker:
- Zero Pre-workout coffee products came out in the last year
- And there are Zero Pre-workout coffee products currently available
- Zero new Pre-workout coffee patents were filed in the previous five years
- Zero Key Opinion Leader (KOL) coffee posts mentioning Pre-workout
It seems like there’s a major opportunity here!
To find out what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s next in your industry, please reach out today to schedule a brief demo of Skai’s market intelligence platform.
