A latte to think about: Coffee is coming home in 2024

Apparently that old personal finance advice about making your coffee at home finally stuck, because the newest trend in caffeine starts in your kitchen.

But it’s not just about penny pinching amid rising coffee prices — the pandemic had a lot to do with it:

• Around 30% of remote workers have bought a new coffee machine since the start of the pandemic.
• In 2022, the National Coffee Association’s Data Trends report found that 84% of coffee drinkers had coffee at home daily, up 4% compared to 2020.
• Espresso consumption has risen 30% since the pandemic — a signal that more people have machines at home.

And brands like Keurig and Nespresso have seen growth in North America over the last year. Keurig says it expanded to 38m+ US households in 2022.

But it’s not your average coffee…

… Consumers want premium, specialized experiences while at home.

This means recreating the coffeehouse aesthetic; Pinterest predicts that “cafe core” will be a 2024 trend across age groups. The app saw a 1.12k% increase in searches for “Coffee bar styling” and a 145% spike in “Coffee station decor” between 2021 and 2023.

To make their fancy-pants coffees, per Mintel, consumers will prioritize complementary products (e.g., flavored syrups or creamers) and high-end appliances like those from Fellow, which raised $30m in funding last year.

And, per usual…

… Gen Z is leading the charge on social media.

An estimated 49% of Gen Z consumers learn about coffee on TikTok, where the hashtag #coffee has 71.4B+ views and #coffeestationidea has 62.4m+ with users showing off carefully curated home coffee station setups.

The more influencers share coffee recipes and tools online, the less consumers will need to run to Starbucks for their iced brown sugar shaken espressos. (The chain lost 9.4% of its market value this month, a loss of ~$12B.)

Now, if we could just kick that Starbucks cake pop habit, we could finally buy that house.