Do you own a coffee shop? Or maybe you sell coffee beans (like us)? Or maybe you just sell espresso machines? Whatever your niche is, there are some new statistics you may want to be happy to know about. These are all concerning the American coffee market, but even if that’s not your market, you may still be curious to know.
What the stats are saying is that if you like Intelligentsia Coffee you are not alone. In fact, you are part of a growing number of people who believe coffee is meant to be a treat. That’s to say: it should not taste like dishwater.
It appears more and more people are starting to find pleasure in being able to distinguish coffee from coffee and therefore they seek to buy coffee that appeals to a rather developed palate. It’s the so-called Starbucks generation – folks that grew up on take-away coffees, people who are used to having coffee as part of their lives – that is now demanding high quality. It’s understandable: if coffee plays a large part of your life, why not make it an enjoyable part?
Reuters report: U.S. craft coffee purveyors are getting less lonely. The segment is a small but growing slice of the $27.9 billion U.S. coffee market, which has increased in recent years at an annual average rate of 5.6 percent and is expected to reach $33.7 billion by 2018, according to research firm IBISWorld, though it does not yet separate revenues for high-end purveyors.
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Customers are willing to pay dearly for their java habit – $80 for a half-pound of rare, roasted beans and $3 and up for a cup of individually prepared “pour over,” high-tech “siphon” coffee, or old school espresso. Those prices are as much as triple the cost for an average cup of coffee and bean prices are at least 10 times more.
So there you go – good coffee is on the rise. It’s worth noting as well though that it’s not a product for everyone – many will still prefer a cup of coffee that is cheap and cheerful, made in seconds and available to give them their morning dose of caffeine without a paycheck headache.
