CAFFEINE habits change
New Zealand is a nation of coffee drinkers, but from the milk we use to whwre we get our beans, things are changing, writes Mikaela Wilkes
There is no doubt that it has been a hard year in cafe hospitality, with rolling restrictions and many city workers forgoing the commute (and city coffee) for a stay-at-home plunger bag. But trends don’t wait for pandemics to end, and there are changes brewing in your local brew.
Cafe owners say between one-in-three and one-in-five coffee drinkers now ask for oat milk because of environmental concerns. And more cafes are installing refillable milk taps, so they can ditch plastic bottles.
The bad news is that severe frosts in Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer, killed large numbers of crops earlier this year. Coffee makers are waiting to see the full effects of the damage, but expect prices to go up worldwide.
Oat milk is in
Plant-based milks began to take off in 2017, taking 25 per cent of total market share in all milk categories. Kiwis spent $52 million on them that year, and $144m in 2018. Almond milk was, by far, the most popular choice, followed by soy.
That was before we realised that it takes five litres of water to grow one almond, and Californian farmers were drilling into underground aquifers and inadvertently collapsing honeybee colonies. That isn’t very sustainable.
“Eighteen months ago, everybody was all about almonds,” says Belinda Cook, owner of central Christchurch’s Grain Coffee at 19 Southwark St.
“People are creatures of habit with their coffee, but we’re seeing a lot of support for Boring Oat Milk, which is made in New Zealand and has fully recyclable packaging,” Cook says. “That’s a big thing for us because a lot of plant-based milks come in cartons you can’t recycle.”
Boring Oat Milk (boringmilk.com) product is created using oats grown in the South Island, and is processed at Hawke’s Bay apple juice company, The Apple Press (theapplepress.co.nz).
Cook says it isn’t hard to talk customers out of almond or soy because oat milk has a stronger, more savoury taste, which pairs well with coffee (Grain uses Supreme). She thinks one in three people order plant milk. “It’s quite full on, definitely a lot more than you would think.”
Milk taps
Serety McCudden, owner of Scotts Epicurean, 181 Victoria St, Hamilton, says she would describe her clientele as “more traditional”, but even so “the biggest thing we’ve seen in the past 12 months is the move to non-dairy”.
Oat is her “big seller”, followed by soy and coconut. Looking at one morning’s sales, she says one-in-five customers had ordered it.
The next sustainable bandwagon McCudden is keen to jump on is installing milk taps. Kaipaki Dairies (kaipakidairies.co.nz) has developed a milk dispenser that can sit next to a coffee machine on the counter. “We started talking to cafes and realised there were a lot of milk bottles being used. Many cafes were using more than 50 two-litre bottles a week,” 29-year-old founder John Heskett previously told Stuff.
Heskett’s 10-litre insulated milk dispenser is fitted with a tap to ensure it has easy flow for making drinks. The milk is transported in reusable containers, and cafe owners can fill plastic package-free. “It is more expensive per litre, but it’s so much better from a sustainability perspective,” McCudden says.
Other Hamilton cafes, including Frank Food (220 Tristram St), The River Kitchen (217 Victoria St), and Homebrew Coffee (103 London St) already have them, she says.
A pricier brew?
Steven Hall, dispatch manager at Wellington roastery Flight Coffee (flightcoffee.co.nz), warns the “cost of coffee will definitely go up,” due to the severe frosts in Brazil. Brazilian beans are found in most coffee roasters’ blends.
“Brazilian coffee has been around a long time, and has a flavour profile that most consumers like,” Hall says.
The frosts are responsible for a 15- to 20 per cent drop in production, so other countries will have to replenish supplies. “Anything that happens in Brazil has a flow-on effect to other coffeeproducing countries.”
Hall doesn’t expect Flight to feel the impact as keenly because it buys most of its coffee from Colombia, Rwanda and East Timor, but whether this affects your local latte price will depend on how much the cafe sources from Brazil.
“We’re really pushing coffees sourced closer to home, from East Timor, Bali and Thailand. That cuts down on shipping carbon miles.”
In terms of what people will be drinking, 2021’s New Zealand Barista Championship winner, and Flight Coffee roaster, Luise Metelka reckons filter coffee is “getting more trendy”.
The 28-year-old says people are learning “filter coffee is not the dark roasted, stale coffee that you get in a diner in the [United] States”.
It is better known in European countries such as Germany, where she’s from, and Scandinavia. New Zealanders are getting a taste for it too, she says, and points to the success of “well-respected” Wellington cafe Pour & Twist (13 Garret St, Te Aro), which only serves hand brews.
“They made it work. Kiwis love their espresso based coffees.”