The Ever Evolving Coffee Drinker’s Landscape

It is safe to say the past year has been an unusual one. Lockdowns, furlough and having spare time to do things for a year has been most unusual. The way we have been consuming coffee as a culture has changed massively. Our daily trip to grab that favourite cup of coffee was taken away from us for the most part and we had to resort to other means to scratch that caffeine itch.

The rise of the home barista has been rapid and seen us invest in our home brewing setups like never before. The ability to make drinks that match the quality and consistency of our favourite coffee spot has never been easier. It seems now everyone you speak to is tucking into a well crafted flattie or beautifully extracted pour over at home. That idea of “I control the outcome of what happens in the cup” is an interesting and vital one for the future. The “dark arts” of making coffee are no longer the preserve of baristas. We have seen a huge uptake in people engaging hugely in the process of grabbing a bag of beans, dialling in their own recipes and coming back to us with feedback and tasting notes. We love seeing people get into tweaking and tinkering with brew ratios and then trying a new coffee after they’ve mastered their usual favourite.

With the return of takeaway drinks and being able to sit in places, albeit restricted numbers, has seen an interesting shift again in home brewing. There has been no real let up in the coffee explorers at home getting their weekly fix and drinking at home, even though coffee shops and bars have slowly emerged from the fog of lockdown. Instead we are seeing a hyrbid mix of still taking time to make yourself excellent coffee at home but then still treating yourself to a coffee when out and about. The wholesale trade has started to become busier and busier week by week, it has been great to see the familiar haunts back and running again.

The coffee drinking landscape has certainly changed and we feel it is for the better. A better informed home drinker is now emerging. That pursuit of quality drinks at home is pushing coffee shops and bars to go further in their pursuit of quality. We always liken it to going out for a meal. Cooking food at home makes you appreciate going out for a meal more, the same can be said for coffee. Upping the comittment in terms of training and skills is the aim of the game now for hospitality, with so many people becoming better at making coffee at home. We are excited to be a part of both camps, anyone wanting to drink better coffee is always something we love being part of.