Coffee subscriptions

Packaged coffee in the US was 70% up on the previous year at the end of March 2020. Credit: New Africa / Shutterstock.

As the world closes its shutters to battle the spread of Covid-19, many businesses are taking a terrible hit; this is true of many coffee houses, the most notable being Starbucks. But there is something brewing in the coffee market that will keep many home prisoners awake and alert.

Coffee subscriptions are starting to show great promise as people are looking for safe ways to get their fix. As per an article in Financial Times, packaged coffee in the US was 70% up on the previous year at the end of March 2020, and in the UK coffee subscription companies, such as Rave Coffee, are taking on more staff to cope with demand.

Now extra coffee drinking is to be expected, and it is no surprise to anyone that people are drinking more at home, and this article isn’t announcing something extraordinary in that respect. But what is changing is the way we drink coffee at home. Consumers have been experiencing coffee made by baristas for many years now, and coffee shops have just been getting better and better, with new blends, new roasting techniques and a new wave of coffee experts each out performing what the year before brought to the table.

As coffee shops improved, so did the way we consume coffee at home, and therefore our expectations. Now add in Covid-19 and a global shutdown and you have far less ‘experts’ making coffee and a lot of consumers working from home – most likely not fully satisfied with regular instant coffee.

In comes coffee subscriptions, a service where you will be sent coffee (in your chosen format) by, yes, you guessed it, experts, where you can re-create a great coffee experience in your kitchen.

However, it is not just the experts that make coffee subscription appealing to consumers during the lockdown, it’s the safety aspect too; the Covid-19 pandemic has ensured we are all very nervous of public spaces right now (rightly so), so it is natural to want your items to be delivered. Using a subscription service also allows the consumer to make informed choices that may not be as easy in the supermarket; websites offer a lot of easily accessible information where a user can read about a brand’s sustainability practices, different roasts or flavour ranges, production and testimonials.

Using a subscription service is not new, and has shown legs in recent years; however, now that Covid-19 has taken hold and is here to stay (for a while), subscriptions will most likely accelerate in popularity and as they do, they will likely become a regular service for many people.

Everyone will be a coffee expert soon!

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