The Exotic Bean

Current Trends in Coffee: How 2018 Will Become the Year of the Coffee Bean

2018 Is Going to Be a Huge Year for the Coffee Bean

2018 coffee trends

Despite what just happened in California (a judge ruled that coffee must carry a cancer warning), 2018 will undoubtedly be the biggest year yet for coffee internationally. Like with any other beverage, trends in coffee making and coffee consumption are set to drive interest in the bean and consumption of its many products. Here’s a quick look at the trends that will drive coffee’s popularity in the year to come.

Cold Brew

Beyond iced coffee in terms of flavor and potency, cold brew will continue to be a force in the coffee world for all of 2018. Once only produced in small batches and sold out of specialty coffee shops, cold brew coffee is now available in glass and plastic bottles and cans right at specialty retailers and big box stores, as well as specialty coffee shops. Brewed without heat and typically over several hours, cold brew offers great coffee flavor with significantly less acidity.

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

Coffee-flavored sodas are nothing new, but nitrogen infused coffee sure is. Many specialty coffee shops are installing nitrogen taps (like those that brewpubs use for stouts), and selling coffee connoisseurs cold brew effervesced with tight little bubbles of nitrogen.

Cascara

If you haven’t seen cascara on the menu at your local coffee house or in bottled form in the beverage cooler at your local health food store yet, don’t worry—you soon will. Cascara is a tea made from dried coffee cherries, after the coffee beans have been removed. It is tart, astringent almost, but refreshing and lightly caffeinated, with around a quarter of the amount of caffeine found in brewed coffee.

Flat Drinks

Flat espresso drinks, meaning lattes and mochas made with less or no foam, are another big trend for 2018. The flat white is nearing widespread distribution, with the flat mocha not far behind. One coffee retailer in the United Kingdom is even trying to sell a flat black (espresso with somewhat less hot water than a typical Americano), though they’ve received plenty of scorn for doing so.

Juiced Coffee: Coffee (Superfood) + Other Superfoods = !!!!!!!!!!!

Another hot trend for 2018 is bringing the juice bar and the espresso cafe together in a single cup. Espresso drinks mixed with maca root, medicinal mushrooms, grass-fed butter, MCT oil, and even avocado may be making an appearance on the menu of your local coffee shop.

Ethical Sourcing & Sustainable Coffee Growing

Also, consumers will be getting more deeply invested in ethical sourcing and sustainable

Coffee-growing practices in 2018. Direct trade, fair trade, organic, bird friendly, and shade-grown coffee claims will appeal to many consumers, while serious coffee zealots will be getting more deeply into single origin coffees.

2018 coffee trends

Coffee Growing in Worldwide Popularity

The popularity of the coffee bean and the literally hundreds of beverages that can be concocted from its produce, will continue to grow in the Americas, Europe, and particularly in Asia as more of East Asia’s countries continue to develop their own coffee cultures, with Thailand coffee culture standing out as a notable one.

Coffee shops are springing up everywhere humans live and will be developing the next wave of beverages that will drive the coffee bean’s popularity in the years to come.