The landscape of specialty coffee consumption in the United States is a patchwork of many regional and cultural customs. Despite the challenges of categorising such a large and diverse market, one aspect that has been consistent across the country and its coffee-drinking subcultures is the precipitous rise in the number of micro-roasting companies in recent years.

The presentation will address how the Brazilian Instant Coffee Industry Association (ABICS), has been branding its products to appeal both to the different consumer segments; from quality to price-sensitive; from specialty to conventional; and to the supply chain that provides the products to them. ABICS’ goal is to increase Brazilian consumption and exports of instant coffee, and to add value to the product. A Sensory Analysis Methodology for Instant Coffee will be introduced as an instrument to create product differentiation and market value. Recent consumption and figures, including those during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be reviewed, as well as future trends and developments.

The growth of Korea’s specialty coffee market over the past decade has been a subject of much excitement – the country’s consumption has grown quickly in both volume and per capita terms, which leads many observers to wonder whether this rapid development would be possible in other markets. Is this a new normal? What lessons might the specialty coffee industry learn from Korea’s successes?

Specialty coffee consumption in the UK has been on the rise in recent years, and despite steady growth in the number of total cafés – including both chains and independent shops – demand for lower-grade instant coffee has been difficult to unseat. In addition to the changes wrought by COVID-19, Brexit offers its own set of challenges to businesses operating in the UK and those doing business with UK-based companies.

Europe's largest-volume importer of green coffee — because it re-exports a substantial portion of that volume as roasted coffee, anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of European specialty coffee markets should examine the country’s purchasing tendencies. The domestic market also warrants exploration, with its comparatively high proportion of in-home consumption of specialty coffee versus some of the other countries profiled in the first Green Coffee Summit.

In 2019 coffee prices reached 12 year lows and although the last year has seen a welcome reversal of this trend, producers need to find ways of improving their resilience to market forces beyond their control.

This presentation, based on a recent study into how East African producers could better position themselves to improve their returns from coffee, will look at the needs for capacity building in origin, the skill sets required for success, and the different value addition models that could better equip producers to improve their livelihoods