These 7 Top Coffee Trends Will Wake You Up

From cold brews to nitrogen-infused, the world is abuzz with coffee.

In 2019 coffee trends really took off — there are increasingly more ways (and places) to consume your favorite drink. In America, 40% of people are enjoying their morning beverage in the bathroom. In South Korea, you can enjoy a soluble cold brew in the comfort of your own home. For International Coffee Day, we sat down with award-winning barista and former Nescafé Gold ambassador, Lachlan Ward, to talk coffee trends — what he sees brewing in his home city of Melbourne, and worldwide.

Ready-to-drink iced lattes

These are really popular, with a lot of big movers in the specialty space, with companies like Blue Bottle Coffee selling ready-to-drink iced latte products in large volumes. We saw a lot of this in 2019, with products using great beans and excellent milk.

Cold Brew

“Cold brew is massive. It’s essentially coffee brewed with cold water. With that brew process, you pick up a lot of different nuanced flavors in the coffee. If you chill down a hot black coffee, it typically tastes horribly bitter. This doesn’t. A great summer drink!”

Are you in Malaysia or Singapore? You can chill out with Nescafé Cold Brew in a can, launched this year, and brewed with only coffee beans and water.

Nitrogen-infused coffee

“Another one of these cool things is nitrogen-infused coffee. With nitrogen-infused coffee it’s all about the mouth feel and that foamy head, it’s a different sort of sensory experience.”

Nescafé recently launched it as an ready-to-drink option in cans under its Azera brand, and the coffee is also on sale in UK bars and restaurants.

Restaurants up their game

“Restaurants are starting to take coffee a lot more seriously. We’ll move away from cheaper coffee, to higher-end specialty coffees and coffee menus, with suggestions on how to pair coffees with seasonal food or desserts.”

Nespresso has partnered with high-profile ambassador chefs including Edgard Bovier and Heiko Nieder to explore how the brand’s Grand Cru coffees can be used in haute cuisine.

Mocktails and cocktails

“These are huge. If you’re using great quality coffee that can be paired with different ingredients then you can do a whole bunch of exciting stuff. Think Coffee Lemonade, even Kombucha. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

If you’re visiting Thailand take time out to visit our Nescafé Hub café in Bangkok, where trained baristas will knock you up a Cha-Ka-Fe (refreshing iced lemon tea with an espresso shot, topped with foam and a slice of lemon) or a Café Mojito, with fresh mint and lime.

Chemex

“You use a kettle and pour water nice and gently over the coffee grounds in a glass flask. It’s closer to tea, in a way, than strongly brewed espresso coffee, because it’s much more dilute. There are gentler flavors and you can really enjoy the nuances. It’s also lower in caffeine!”

Chameleon Cold-Brew offers Whole Bean organic coffee that is best-served using the Chemex method, to release its ripe berry notes and wine-like flavors.

Sustainable sourcing

“People want more than just a caffeine hit in their cup nowadays. Companies like Nestlé can do positive things as we ride this specialty coffee trend. Because they deal with farmers directly, they can drive social change in coffee-growing countries across the world.”

We recently launched Grown Respectfully to demonstrate how our global Nescafé Plan initiative works to help farmers across the world grow more and better coffee, and to do so sustainably, with benefits for the communities where they live.

The Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality Program helps build resilient communities and landscapes, and supports responsible sourcing activities.

For many, coffee is much more than a drink; it’s a passion. As love and affection for your brew continues to blossom into new trends, we’re evolving and innovating to bring you the perfect cup of coffee — however you enjoy it.

Passionate About Coffee?

There’s no better time to join our coffee journey. Take a look at opportunities with Nestlé’s Starbucks brand teams in Seattle.