24 Sep Coffee trends in the UK

Camper Cafe travels a few hundred miles a year serving gourmet coffee to people from all part of the UK. Since its inception in 2010 we have learned a thing or two about running a mobile coffee business. One of the most interesting is how such a small country like the UK can have such big variances in what coffees are trending.

To give you an understanding of our business we only run a weekend coffee business because we haven’t yet had the confidence of giving up the day jobs to find a weekday pitch. We therefore attend Volkswagen festivals, rowing regatta’s, village fetes, corporate events, weddings, product launches and film set locations as a few examples.

Before each event we have to make decisions about stock – mainly how much milk do we take, which teas will sell best, do we take cakes etc. We’ve analysed the drinks of choice from the following areas:

London – the Flat White is the most popular, with a rising trend of a Macchiato

Home Counties – The Latte is still a firm favourite

South Coast – The Latte and the Cappuccino come out on top

West of England – The Americano and Latte are the drink of choice

Wales – The Americano (although it’s just a “coffee”) is the hands down winner

Midlands – The Latte is the leader

Weddings – An espresso or macchiato is drunk by guests wanting a pick me up without the volume (as this is needed for more alcohol)

Film Set locations – a wide variety of herbal/peppermint/green teas, chai latte, americano and expresso. All trying to set their own trend.

Then there’s the teas. We serve a selection of 12 teas including liquorice and peppermint, Chocolate flake, Popcorn, Every day, Chamomile flowers, Superfruit, Peppermint, Chai tea, Rooibos creme caramel, Darjeeling Earl Grey, Green tea and yerba mate. Teas are an up and coming trend due to the health benefits – caffeine free, anti-oxidants, stomach settling, detoxing , energy boosting – all sorts of lovely benefits of drinking tea over coffee. And the most popular tea? The every day! How boring are we the brits that we have such a range of new experiences but we stick to what we know best? I guess it takes a lot to change our habits but once we have then maybe we’re loyal fans and there’s nothing wrong with that. All the trends within the mobile coffee business seem to come from Australia. With a sister who lives there, we have regular discussions about what’s the lates trend over there. Sure enough a few months later it starts filtering into the UK and grows in popularity. Last year’s fad in Australia? the Chai Latte. This year’s new drink over here? Exactly the same.

It’s fascinating stuff this mobile coffee business and we love serving each and every customer. Even more enjoyable is getting excellent feedback with compliments such as “best coffee in Marlow!” I would tend to agree……….