With global warming (and other factors) affecting coffee production and prices, I’ve noticed a couple of interesting patterns in marketing strategies for household and white label brands.
Everything is extra intense, high intensity, intensity 11 (probably comes with a free Spinal Tap record)… Robusta roasted past 5th crack, no doubt.
I also spotted a bag of highly exclusive “100% Robusta.” At this point I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop and for them to market “0% cyanide” coffee.
How’s everybody else’s grocery shopping experience these days? Is this a big trend in your area?
Nothing like that, just more automated coffee machines with credit card terminals across the city. It’s a progress I guess.
I never understood “100% Arabica” trend. It’s just sour. The fancy expensive coffee made by a barista on a shiny manual espresso machine tastes acidic to me, and the best-tasting coffee is what our free office-provided automated machine makes from bottom-shelf beans. Am I supposed to fix it with cream and sugar? Do I have some rare gene mutation that makes me sneeze when looking at the sun and makes 100% Arabica coffee bad-tasting?
I love acidic specialty coffee that tastes like you squeezed half a lemon into the cup, but I also enjoy bolder, more classically intense coffee.
My main point isn’t so much about people’s different preferences, but the way companies seem to be pushing towards one end of the preference spectrum bit because of its value, but because of the cost and margins.
Coffee tends to not have any upper price range, you always can find something even more exclusive than beans pooped by a rainforest squirrel. So whatever marketing trend is occurring, it likely won’t impact most consumers, who drink it for the caffeine content not the taste. Maybe in 10 years when the trend soaks down to the bottom shelf of the supermarket, I will have a bit differently tasting beans in my free office-provided coffee. But it’s already 95% Robusta with 5% mystery beans to provide foam, not enhance the taste. They could add fried soy beans for all I care, it certainly won’t make the taste worse.
Anyway, to answer your original question, I’m not seeing any “100% Robusta char-fry” coffee ads in my city.
I think it’s an attempt to introduce apparent differentiation at a low price-point. I’m curious about future developments.
People tend to like what they are used to.