Over the last decade, I have had the privilege of watching the US retail coffee market unfold and it has been quite a journey. Today, I invite you to sit back, relax and open a can of your favourite coffee as we reflect on where the market has been, where it is now and where it’s going next. 

RTD coffee was first introduced in the US in the 1950s but didn’t fully resonate with consumers until forty years later. In the mid-1990s, an icon was born: the Starbucks bottled Frappuccino. This sweet, creamy, indulgent coffee beverage set the tone for what would be the RTD coffee space for over two decades. 

The early 2000s saw a surge in the popularity of RTD coffee, with consumers increasingly interested in convenient on-the-go coffee options to fit busy lifestyles. Companies such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé began to invest heavily, launching products and acquiring existing brands. This helped the market nearly double from USD $450 million in 2001 to $850 million by 2005 (market size of canned and bottled RTD coffee from 2001 to 2015. Statista.com. 2017, February). 

By 2013, the market was valued at $1.5 billion (per Nielsen) and was still exhibiting decent growth rates. But change was in the air. Consumers were becoming more health conscious and seeking alternative canned or bottled coffees that offered less sugar, less dairy and more coffee-forward flavour. Enter cold brew. What many predicted to be a passing fad quickly exploded into a multi-million-dollar segment of the category that transformed the RTD coffee landscape. 

Cold brew has proven itself to be more than just a fad and has gained market share currently at over 20% of the total RTD coffee market. In just ten years it has gained nearly a quarter of an entire category. In fact, in recent years we have seen multiple variations: flavoured, nitro, dairy alternatives and most recently the explosive growth in multi-serve (32 ounces or above) cold brew coffee. 

What does the future hold? As consumers become increasingly educated about coffee and interest in new products grows, we expect to see impressive year-on-year growth and – importantly – increased opportunities for brands. Here are three trends I think you should keep an eye on: 

1. Multi-serve momentum carries on. Multi-serve coffee has been on the market for a decade, but its popularity exploded during the pandemic. As consumers have begun to realise they can get great coffee at an affordable price to enjoy at home, expect this segment to see even more growth in the coming years. 
2. Natural energy will continue to steal share. With younger consumers becoming increasingly proactive over their health and wellness, they are turning to more ‘natural’ products for cleaner ways to consume food and beverage. This creates an opportunity for more coffee-based ‘energy’ drinks to steal share from the traditional products in this market. 
3. Private label potential. Private label coffee is sometimes equated to lesser quality. Yet consumers have started to see the potential across categories in private label and coffee is no exception. As shoppers become increasingly cost-conscious and aware of the premiumisation of private label coffee, they will start to seek out these products to fill a gap as a cost-effective solution. 

• Stacy DeMars is marketing manager for Finlays Americas, a division of Finlays, a leading independent B2B manufacturer and supplier of tea, coffee and botanicals.

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Waitrose will become the first supermarket to stock Caravan products and as of 16 October, Caravan’s Daily and Market Blend coffee pods will be available in more than 120 Waitrose stores across the UK. Caravan’s The Daily – All Day Blend and No Boundaries – Female Farmed Blend coffee will be stocked in more than 250 Waitrose stores nationwide. The range will also be available to purchase online from waitrose.com.

The new listing comes at a time when coffee overtakes tea as the UK’s number one drink, according to research conducted by Statista Global. Caravan’s supermarket debut marks the next step in the London-based brand’s mission to make great coffee accessible to all, with on-pack taste profiles, strength indicators, plus online brew guides.

The Daily – All Day Blend is a Caravan customer favourite and is developed to taste great brewed as both espresso and filter. The Daily – All Day Blend has tasting notes of dark chocolate, hazelnut and shortbread, a classic coffee thick bodied with low acidity and a clean finish.

No Boundaries, one of Caravan’s signature craft coffee blends, is grown by women as part of Caravan’s Female Producer Programme. Tasting notes feature brown sugar, vanilla nougat and raspberry with plenty of sweetness and a burst of balanced acidity.

The Market Organic Coffee pods are inspired by the first Caravan restaurant and roastery on Exmouth Market. It’s a timeless organic coffee blend crafted for sweetness and vibrancy with milk chocolate, honeycomb and red apple tasting notes. The pods are Nespresso compatible and home compostable plus the ground coffee also comes in 100% recyclable packaging.

Laura Harper Hinton, Caravan co-founder and Chief Executive Officer said, “ We are so excited to see Caravan coffee stocked in Waitrose stores across the country and share our passion for good quality coffee. From creating signature blends fit for morning, noon and night in our very own roastery in North London, we want to make it easy for people to choose great coffee in local stores.”

Coffee has been at the heart of Caravan ever since it started roasting beans in the basement of its first restaurant in Exmouth Market. Caravan now sources coffee beans from across ten different countries, including women’s associations and cooperatives to support their labour in the coffee industry through its Female Producer Programme.

Caravan’s Waitrose range is available to buy in-store and online from 16 October from RRP £7.50.

Product Information

No Boundaries – Female Farmed Blend Ground Coffee (200g) – RRP £7.50

The Daily Blend – All Day Blend Ground Coffee (200g) – RRP £7.50

The Daily Blend Coffee Pods (Pack of 10 pods) – RRP £5.00

Market Organic Coffee Pods (Pack of 10 pods) – RRP £5.00

For more information, contact caravan@wcommunications.co.uk 

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So, it’s no wonder realtors might want to highlight the best and worst cities in the US for coffee drinkers. Hence, in its Best Coffee Cities in America 2022 report, Clever Real Estate analysed publicly available data from the US Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Numbeo, Google Trends, National Coffee Association, and Database USA to rank the 50 most populous metro areas in the United States from the best to the worst cities for coffee.

The weighted rankings evaluated various criteria such as:

• 3x: The average price of a cappuccino in each city.
• 2x: The average number of coffee shops per capita in each metro.
• 1x: The number of coffee shops per square mile in each metro.
• 1x: What percentage of their income locals are willing to spend on a daily weekday cup.
• 1x: The Google search trends for coffee-related terms in each metro.

The real estate firm’s rankings consider two measures of affordability: metros with an affordable cost of living encourage residents to open shops and try new ideas with lower risk; while higher-than-average prices for a cup of coffee reflect just how much residents value a quality cup.

The report reveals that the 15 best coffee cities have an average of 18 coffee shops per 100,000 people — five more than the national average of 13. According to the report, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – quite surprisingly – is the coffee capital of the US. The average cappuccino costs only USD $3.56 in Milwaukee, where residents spend 1.5% of their annual income on their weekday cup.

Conversely, the worst city in America for coffee, according to the report, is Virginia Beach, Virginia with just eight coffee shops per 100,000 residents and only 33% as many Google searches for coffee over the last year compared to the most passionate metros. A daily cappuccino costs Virginia Beach residents $5.39. Portland, Oregon has the most coffee shops per capita averaging 27 per 100,000 people.

Overall, the report finds that the best regions for coffee drinkers are the North and West as six of the top 15 cities for coffee (40%) are on the West Coast, while 10 (67%) are located North and Northeast. The top 20 Cities in America for coffee per Clever’s findings are:

1. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2. Portland, Oregon
3. San Francisco, California
4. Buffalo, New York
5. Providence, Rhode Island
6. Boston, Massachusetts
7. Cincinnati, Ohio
8. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
9. Seattle, Washington
10. Hartford, Connecticut
11. Riverside, Calif.
12. San Diego, Calif.
13. Philadelphia, Penn.
14. San Jose, Calif.
15. Indianapolis, Indiana
16. Chicago, Illinois
17. New York, NY
18. Columbus, Ohio
19. Los Angeles, Calif.
20. Cleveland, Ohio

It is quite curious that Milwaukee and Buffalo rank in the top four for best cities and Ohio boasts three cities on the list, while Seattle, although within the top ten cities, is not higher on the list. And even coffee-loving New Orleans, Louisiana – which reportedly created the concept of the ‘coffee break’ – does not fall within the top 20 cities on the list.

Of course, for every ‘best’ there’s a ‘worst’, and the ten worst coffee cities in the US – that is, distinctively less inviting to café-goers – as noted in the report, are:

1. Virginia Beach, Virginia
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Louisville, Kentucky
4. Birmingham, Alabama
5. Las Vegas, Nevada
6. Richmond, Virginia
7. Phoenix, Arizona
8. Nashville, Tennessee
9. Jacksonville, Florida
10. St. Louis, Missouri

Per Clever, these metro areas offer an average of only ten coffee shops per 100,000 people – 44% less than the top 15 cities. Additionally, these cities have much higher cappuccino prices as a percent of annual income, averaging 2.29% compared with 1.60% for the top 15 cities. Virginia may be ‘for lovers’ as the state slogan used to say, but apparently it’s not for ‘coffee lovers’ as two of its cities fall on the worst list!

So, for those coffeehouse loyalists, the report might be worth a glance before considering a move to a new city…The full report can be viewed here.

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

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Tea growing and drinking is deeply rooted in Korea, at least since the Golden Age of Buddhism under the Koryo Dynasty (918 to 1392) with many monasteries harvesting tea and sharing the cups with the court. This flourishing tea culture lasted over several centuries but ended abruptly with the arrival of the Choson Dynasty, which reigned over Korea from 1392 to 1910.

The new rulers abandoned Buddhism as the state religion and adopted Confucian ways instead. Consequently, the monks moved quietly to the south of the peninsula, hiding away from the new power, taking their teas with them, and continuing to grow tea bushes, persimmon trees and lotus plants, all of them vital contributors to their concept of healthy living. A cultural revival of tea came through Buddhist monk Cho Ui (1786 to 1866), who lived as hermit in Daehung Temple and is still venerated as “Tea Saint” today.

The Choson Dynasty was overthrown by the Japanese who invaded Korea and annexed the country between 1910 and 1945. In order to improve their domestic supply, the Japanese launched intensive tea planting in the southern province, which are thriving again. Agonizing through the Korean War, the peninsula was finally divided into North and South Korea in 1953, with a communist regime in the North still in place today and military rule in the South lasting until 1987. Many historians report the incredible sufferings endured by the Korean people throughout the 20th century before gradually recovering and moving towards a highly efficient market economy in the Republic of Korea.

Buddhist Tea Traditions vs Western Coffee Craze

Today, the long history of tea in Korea, with its ups and downs spanning more than a thousand years, has turned into the basis for a successful revival of the peninsula’s continental tea-growing areas. Furthermore, a fully new tea region was created in the mid-1970s on Jeju Island, by farsighted Mr Seo Sung-Hwan, founder of Amore Pacific Corporation, the leading player in Korea’s cosmetics industry. With a land area of only 100,400km² (38,750 sq m) South Korea is one of the world’s most densely populated countries, with about half of its 51.7 million inhabitants living in the capital Seoul and the surrounding urban conglomeration. There seems to be a true gap between the older generations, who remember the hardships of occupation and war and cling to Buddhist traditions, and the millennials who were born with the booming economy and digital media and are keen on Western ways.

Over the past ten years, Western coffee habits, firmly driven by iconic Starbucks Coffee, have spread to the Asian markets, leaving tea consumption far behind. Although many Koreans are still tea drinkers at home, they go to the thousands of coffee shops for socialising. South Korea boasts 4,900 coffee shops with 1,800 of them in Seoul, per data by research firm Statista. Recently, however, Starbucks has introduced some Teavana teas and the local coffee chain Twosome Place has entered a partnership with Singapore’s TWG Tea, adding a selection of fine teas to meet consumer demand. Flavoured and blended teas, marketed by other foreign luxury brands like Mariage Frères or Thés Christine Dattner Paris, have also carved out their market niche. Recently, young consumers have started to queue for Taiwanese bubble teas, one of the latest trends.

According to Mina Choo, a professor at Gwangju’s Nambu University and initiator of the annual Boseong Tea Festival, the main trends for tea consumption in Korea today appear to be:

• On one side, premium profile, novelty blends and flavourful recipes provided mainly by several foreign brands;
• On the other side, local traditional terroir quality, health benefits and convenience, provided mainly by the domestic tea industry.

Discovering South Korea’s Fine Teas

Total tea output in 2018 stood at about 5,000 metric tonnes, according to the International Tea Committee, based in London, England. Although this shows a growth of 26 percent over the past 10 years, the volume remains below 0.1 percent of the world tea production. The total acreage for tea planting has remained stable at just under 4,000 hectares, more than half being located on Jeju Island.

Koreans are mainly green tea producers, using both the Japanese steaming and the Chinese pan- frying process. There is also some excellent black tea made in both Boseong and Hadong tea gardens and the manufacturing of green tea powder is also growing. Furthermore, some traditional teas, like ddok cha, a compressed dark tea, can be stored for a long time, and there are the many herbal teas that are grown for medicinal purpose, and sometimes blended with genuine camellia leaves.

The tea plants in Korea are from the camellia sinensis var sinensis type with a major share belonging to the Yabukita varietal brought from Japan to the Boseong region. There are also tea plant varietals that have been grown from the wild tea bushes around Jirisan, which were brought to the Korean peninsula by Buddhist monks travelling home from China from the 8th century onwards.

The quality grades for fine green and black leaf are derived mainly from the picking periods, which follow the Chinese lunar calendar. The best leaf are the early spring picks, called Woojeon, followed by Sejak in the later spring, by Joongjak in the summer, and the last one being the autumn harvest, called Daejak.

The tea-growing areas are all in the south west and close to the sea, thus benefitting from fresh and cool air. The most ancient tea plantations are located around Mount Jiri/Jirisan and the Hadong area, where the former tea cultivation, abandoned through politico-cultural changes, has yielded thousands of wild tea bushes grown spontaneously from the seeds, and left there to thrive in the forests for centuries. Here, some small family tea farms have revived traditional tea-making ways and are now hand-crafting some green and black premium teas, making exquisite and outstanding cups, tiny volumes and hefty prices, but treasured by Western tea lovers.

The Boseong tea fields, south of Gwangju, were created by Japanese occupants, with the purpose of supplying the Japanese home market. They are located in a beautifully scenic surrounding and about a six hour drive from Seoul. Some of them are even open for tourism and as an introduction to tea production. There are many small producers in this area, who grow about one third of the country’s teas, and many of them are already certified organic, with all the Boseong teas having obtained Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) since 2005. Boseong county has also established the Korean Tea Museum, which opened its doors in 2015 and attracts many Korean and foreign visitors. According to chief tea judge, Professor Park Keun-Hyung, himself also owner of a tea garden, most of the tea companies in this area have created premium brands with beautiful packaging. This is for selling the hand-picked early season teas, whereas the coarser later leaves are usually mechanically harvested and sold to the bought-leaf factories for making quality tea bags for the mainstream market.

Jeju Island, half way between Japan and Korea, in the Korea Strait, is the newest tea area, with planting having started in the mid-1970s. Designed from the beginning for high yield, state of the art industrial processing and mechanical harvesting, the volcanic soil, flat fields and tropical climate offer ideal growing conditions. As part of the Amore Pacific Corp these teas further benefit from smooth commercial logistics and some English-speaking staff, which enables access to the international market.

With significant volume at hand, most of Korea’s tea exports originate from Jeju under the O’Sulloc or Seokwang brand.

Focus on Promotion and Visibility

Since 2014, the Korean tea trade tea has run a professional expo in Seoul’s big convention centre, COEX, and there is also an important annual Tea Festival organized in Gwangju. Both are inviting domestic and foreign players and try to attract buyers and tea-sourcing people from all over the world.

In 2018, a delegation from Boseong attended the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was a tremendous experience thanks to the assistance of Sharyn Johnston, the founder of Australian Teamasters. Johnston also started the first Korea Tea Travel for tea professionals in 2018, after having successfully launched a Korean Breakfast Blend, made from organic teas harvested by 12 small but award-winning Boseong tea farmers.

As tea drinking is gradually becoming more casual, with more good cups now available in coffee shops, consumption is rising, and the younger generations are starting to care more for their home-grown cups. RTD teas and coffees are widely available in convenience stores, supermarkets and vending machines. Also, matcha-type tea powders are gaining ground, with good quality and many organic labels becoming more widely available.

With the mix of ladies wearing the traditional Hanbok garments, monks and nuns in Buddhist religious outfits and young people in Western style dress mingling in the street, it is obvious that the social blending continues. Tea seems to be on the rise with both the traditional and the innovative cups getting increased consumer attention. With the gaps narrowing year by year, the outlook for tea is bright.

• Barbara Dufrêne is the former secretary general of the European Tea Committee and editor of La Nouvelle du Thé. She may be reached at: b-dufrêne@ora

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Characterized by a fusion of technologies that blur the lines between the physical and digital, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is spreading across the manufacturing world. As a component of this revolution, a growing number of suppliers are using augmented reality (AR) to improve operations in workforce training and equipment maintenance. AR is a technologically enhanced version of reality created by using technology to overlay digital information on an image of something being viewed through a device, such as smart goggles or a smartphone camera. The goggles are often voice-controlled, leaving wearers with both hands free.

Market research firm Statista estimates the AR market was worth USD $5.91 billion in 2018 and that it will reach more than $198.7 billion by 2025. The technology naturally has a stronghold in the video games and entertainment sector. Now, a growing number of players in the beverage industry, including household brands and large automated equipment manufacturers, are utilizing the technology to provide their employees and customers with virtual hands-on instruction for operating machinery, troubleshooting and conducting repairs.

In fact, 10 percent of the Fortune 500 companies have already begun exploring shopping and operation applications for AR, according to “Building the Business Case for Augmented Reality” (published on Cognizant.com). Gartner predicts that by 2020, 20 percent of large enterprises will evaluate and adopt AR, virtual reality and mixed reality solutions as part of their digital transformation strategy.

Training and Maintenance

The “model-based digital twin” is an increasingly popular use for AR technology in manufacturing. The digital twin is a clone of the physical asset, providing a dynamic, self-teaching model to optimize performance in conjunction with an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform. The combination of machine learning and physics-based modelling enables engineers to create entire AR experiences that show technicians how to service factory floor machines. Using the digital twin, a technician can repair a faulty device in record time and with greater accuracy (per “Augmented Reality is Energizing Smart Manufacturing” on Aberdeen.com).

In-person training can be expensive and requires that the equipment be readily available for student training. Companies can use AR tools to provide real-time visual guidance and can connect students with teachers without the cost and logistics of getting everyone in the same room. For example, Bosch Rexroth, a global provider of power units and controls used in manufacturing, uses an AR-enhanced visualization called Hägglunds InSight Live to demonstrate the design and capabilities of its smart, connected CytroPac hydraulic power unit. The AR application allows customers to see 3D representations of the unit’s internal pump and cooling options in multiple configurations and how the subsystems fit together.

Technicians can also take advantage of smart goggles’ video and photo recording abilities to keep track of progress and keep tabs on errors. Goggles can capture hands-free photos in seconds, and those images can be submitted to off-site teams for troubleshooting help.

In addition, AR technology can allow workers on the plant floor or in remote locations to monitor the health of manufacturing equipment, anticipating failures in production and preventing or minimizing subsequent downtime. This ability to predict errors helps to ensure nothing is going to interrupt or taint production – critical for tea and coffee products, which often consist of delicate flavour profiles or feature distinct qualities that customers expect, especially when purchasing premium brews or roasts. Access to this type of information also helps to improve the speed of changeovers, anticipating and providing solutions when production switches between different SKUs or various packaging formats and sizes.

Improving Productivity

Incorporating AR into industrial processes has proven to boost worker productivity. For example, General Electric (GE) healthcare warehouse workers use Skylight, an industrial augmented reality application platform from Upskill, to kit and completely pick list orders up to 46 percent faster, according to a GE Healthcare Case Study.

In GE’s application, Skylight connects to warehouse systems to get real-time information on an item location by connecting to smart warehouse systems. It then gives workers easy-to-read instructions for where to locate items throughout the building. The previously paper-based process, where workers flipped through printed orders to locate parts and waded through depleted stock locations, is now efficient and digitized.

In another case, Lockheed Martin used Microsoft HoloLens headsets to view holographic renderings of an aircraft’s parts and the instructions on how to assemble them. The HoloLens offers mixed reality solutions to increase communication and improve efficiency. The AR technology reduced assembly time by 30 percent, and digitizing the workflow helped Lockheed Martin increase engineering efficiency to 96 percent (per an IntellectSoft.net blog entitled, “How Brands Like Boeing Use Augmented Reality in Manufacturing”).

Returning to the idea of the digital twin, beverage manufacturers can utilize AR technologies to test the validity of products before committing to them. Digital product models can compute a range of formulas and recipes and predict potential information for that particular blend, such as nutritional content or compliance with FDA restrictions. Having this full picture prior to implementation can confirm whether a product is going to fit into existing production methods – a valuable “try-on” tool for tea and coffee brands producing multiple roasts or brews in one plant and that want to experiment with new flavours or varieties based on customer demand.

Similarly, beverage manufacturers can create digital plant models to virtually test production methods or habits for new machinery, examining general process or specific functions and assessing viability. Leveraging these simulations can help inform plant design and significant equipment investments. For tea and coffee manufacturers, that foresight can also provide assurance that a specific production setup or process is going to meet unique needs, such as strict adherence to food safety requirements or flexibility for short runs of seasonal and small-batch offerings.

These case studies make a strong argument for AR’s ability to improve manufacturing operations, but manufacturers still may wonder if augmented reality is worth the investment.

Beverage companies considering investing in AR should be strategic, approaching the opportunity by establishing the bottom-line value first. Approaching digital with a clear vision and a phased roadmap, and with a focused ecosystem of technology partners, will help maximize the return on investment in new technology. Workforce training and equipment maintenance applications for AR have the potential to help companies get ahead of the capabilities gap and build the culture to sustain that lead.

While the era of AR technology is well underway, new technologies and solutions continue to emerge for beverage brands looking to leverage digital advancements.

• Bryan Griffen is director, industry services, at PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, based in Reston, Virginia

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The survey, commissioned by Newsweek in partnership with research firm Statista, asked more than 20,000 consumers in the US to evaluate brands across 141 retails categories based on five criteria: quality of communication, technical competence, range of services, customer focus, and accessibility.

Newsweek conducted the survey in response to a world where automation is increasing, and to highlight how human interaction is beneficial and makes consumer experiences better.

“The waitress who knows your coffee order; the dry cleaner who saves your favorite sweater; the bakery you visit every weekend whose manager gives your daughter an extra cookie – those aren’t merely transactions. They’re relationships. Your community,” said Newsweek global editor in chief, Nancy Cooper in the website’s report.

“As we examined the larger, impersonal forces that are transforming retail, it seemed like a good time to recognize a more personal factor in business success: the ways in which many companies nurture their relationships with consumers.

“The automated future is already upon us, and the hope is that we – as a nation and as individuals – can shape it to our advantage. ”

To recognize the more personal aspects that factor into a business’ success: the ways in which companies nurture their relationships with consumers, surveyed participants were asked to measure if employees were friendly and polite, whether questions were answered correctly and effectively, if expectations were fulfilled, personal concerns were addressed with solutions, and customer service was easily available.

“Delivering superior guest experiences has been at the core of our company culture since day one, and we’re thrilled to be named among the top three coffee chains for excellence in customer service,” said Sam Ferreira, president of Gloria Jean’s Coffees. “It’s our goal to make a visit to Gloria Jean’s the best part of our guests’ day and providing a delicious cup of coffee is only half of the equation. We’re proud of our team members who always go that extra step to ensure that all guests leave with a smile on their face.”

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