Originally posted on Marco’s Website.

At the beginning of any year, many coffee shops and foodservice businesses around the world understandably take stock of the biggest emerging trends in the global food and beverage sector. It should come as no surprise that 2022 isn’t an exception.

With innovation high on the agenda for the wider coffee sector, this means there are plenty of café trends on the horizon to get excited about. But which trends are going to define 2022? 

Answering questions like these can often be easier said than done, so to learn more, we spoke to Shawn Tseng. Shawn is the business development manager at Cojaft International Co, the sole distributor of Marco products in Taiwan. Read on to find out what he told us.

Cold coffee sales are soaring 

Whether it’s iced coffee, cold brew, or nitro coffee, we’ve seen a huge increase in cold beverage popularity over the past few years. In fact, some coffee shop owners have reported that cold coffee beverages now account for up to 75% of their total sales. 

In 2019, Allegra’s Project Iced USA found that the cold coffee drink product category had an annual growth rate of 7.3% and was valued at US $10.4 billion. 

Shawn says that the popularity of cold beverages is skyrocketing in coffee-consuming markets around the world, including Taiwan.

“Cold beverages have always been popular here, including iced coffee,” he explains. “As specialty coffee culture has developed over the years, people have found that some coffees taste outstanding when they’re brewed cold, such as those from Ethiopia and Kenya.”

According to global foodservice and ingredient source Lyons Magnus, younger consumers are the main consumer group driving this increase in cold coffee drink sales. However, the firm also recognizes that this beverage category resonates with the wider coffee sector.

Growth in the coffee concentrate market

Alongside the growing popularity of cold coffee, we’ve also seen a renewed focus on convenience in the past few years. 

As part of this, we’ve seen the growth of coffee concentrates, thanks to the ease at which they can be brewed and consumed. Research suggests that millennials have driven this shift as they’ve demanded ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee products.

Regionally, this has been most popular in the US and Canada, but the European market is also expected to see significant growth as the demand for high-quality and single-origin coffee concentrates grows.

As part of this, coffee shop owners should anticipate continued growth in the cold coffee beverage and coffee concentrate markets into 2022.

We’re proud to be a part of this growth with our POUR’D system. POUR’D is a space-conscious dispensing solution that can serve cold or hot coffee from a single tap, using coffee concentrate. The system is compact and versatile enough to be installed in a variety of café spaces.

A growing focus on quality 

Over the past five years, we’ve seen a growing niche in the coffee industry for artisanal, high-quality, and ethically sourced coffee products. This can be traced back to an increase in consumer education and the rapid growth of the specialty coffee market.

“Paying attention to the flavour of coffee and understanding how origin affects flavour represents a lifestyle or attitude,” says Shawn. “Consumers have started to become more and more aware of coffee quality as a result.”

As a result, demand for single-origin specialty coffees has risen. Single-origin coffees cost much more than most blends, but research also indicates coffee drinkers are willing to pay 200% more for beans with a traceable origin.

In addition to this, customers want to know more about the coffee they’re drinking. They want to engage with the entire coffee supply chain, from growing to roasting, and the more information they can have, the better.

With this growing focus on quality, we’ve seen more people start brewing their coffee in a different way. In the US in particular, there’s been a shift from “diner drip coffee” to the use of manual pour-over coffee brewers like the V60 and Chemex. 

The Ottomatic by Marco and CHEMEX® – an automatic pour-over coffee machine – is a great example of how this trend is taking shape and a perfect way for café owners to capitalise on it

The Ottomatic combines all the convenience of an automatic drip coffee brewer with the art of a pour-over setup, taking the legwork out of preparing high-quality filter coffee. This brewer manages key brewing variables for you to guarantee even extraction and yield a balanced, delicious cup every time. 

Coffee, sustainability & the environment

As the environment and climate change continue to be major talking points for consumers, coffee consumers around the world are also adapting and changing their behaviour.

One of the clearest areas where we can see this is the growing demand for alternative milk products. This poll from Morning Consult shows clearly that 56% of those who drink alternative milk do so because of its diminished impact on the environment. 

As a result, we’ve seen explosive growth in the demand for plant-based milk in cafés, which seems set to continue into 2022 and beyond.

Another key part of sustainability is cutting waste and maximising energy efficiency. This is one of the main areas of focus for our eco boilers, which help coffee shop owners save money, cut waste, and decrease their carbon footprint.

“Reducing waste helps with sustainability,” Shawn explains. “For coffee shop owners, there are many ways to do this, such as choosing energy-efficient equipment like Marco’s MIX boilers.”

Alternatively, he suggests using automated coffee brewers like the Ottomatic to ensure that less coffee gets wasted when dialing in.

But sustainability doesn’t just mean talking about the environment. For coffee shops and roasters, it also means sourcing beans in a way that ensures coffee farmers receive a sustainable income.

While coffee that is certified as being good for the environment and equitable for the farmer is more expensive, consumers are becoming more willing to pay a premium for truly sustainable coffee.

Shawn explains that coffee shops need to understand and appreciate this.

“Coffee shop owners always need to stay close to consumers,” notes Shawn. “We need to listen to clients’ feedback and understand what they really want.”