Last year we wrote a medium article predicting the coffee trends in Singapore for 2019, this prediction was done using Ai Palette’s proprietary Artificial Intelligence platform called the “Foresight Engine”. This year instead of making a fresh prediction we decided to review how we fared on the predictions made last year.
We had a great time doing this review as we gulped down several rounds of coffee ourselves while writing the post. Below is how we fared against the predictions made, to make the assessment easy we have provided growth curve for last 6 years for each of the predictions:
Blend Coffee:
Coffee blends were expected to grow because they provide a balanced taste compared to single origins. We saw a growth in the engagement for this type of coffee because of the launch of new blends by popular cafes in Singapore. For example, Dutch Colony Coffee launched Nutcracker Espresso blend — which is a mix of Honduras beans and Asian beans(Myanmar & Java), Starbucks launched it’s famed Kopelani blend (Hawaii & latin America beans) in Singapore.
Coloured Coffee:
The popularity of coloured coffee drinks continued because of its visual appeal and also functional benefits of the ingredients using which they are made. While we saw the growth of the now popular regular variants like matcha, beetroot, turmeric etc. We also saw new variants being launched like Red Velvet by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Black Sesame Matcha with Taro Foam by Starbucks.
Cold Brew:
Cold brew continued its amazing positive growth trajectory powered by launch of several flavoured cold brews like White cold brew, Vanilla cold brew and several other variants. Nitro Cold Brew Mint Latte by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was a popular launch in this category. The boutique cafes started packaging the cold brews in bottles contributing further to the uber cool image of the cold brew coffee. Nescafe also decided to take a slice of the growing popularity of cold brew coffee in Singapore by launching packaged cold-brew concentrate in 2019.
Indonesian Exotic Coffee:
Coffee connoisseurs in Singapore love the Indonesian single origins like Mandheling & Toraja. We predicted that there will be demand for more exotic variants of single origin Indonesian coffee beyond the popular Mandheling & Toraja beans. We saw a growth in the engagement for this type coffee mainly driven by the cafes and e-commerce channel offering single origin coffee from Papua, Florence , Kerinci etc.
Closing Thoughts:
It was very pleasing to see all the prediction come true. It is amazing how artificial intelligence can help us to identify areas of growth and potential opportunities. The potential is limitless and we are barely scratching the surface here.
AI Palette helps the FMCG companies with their product innovation.We use Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to help FMCG companies create consumer winning products.
