2014 Drink Trend – Premium Coffee
Independent restaurants across the country upgraded their coffee offerings this year as customers became more accustomed to the higher-end brews of specialists such as Portland, Ore.-base Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Oakland, Calif.-based Blue Bottle Coffee. Exhibitors at Coffee Fest in New York City in March reported a marked increase in attendees sampling straight-up black coffee instead of the sweetened, flavored varieties that were in demand just a year earlier.
Perhaps most tellingly, Chick-fil-A became the first mainstream quick-service chain that didn’t specialize in coffee to introduce a brew that meets the standards of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. The Atlanta-based chicken specialist is now sourcing coffee directly from farmers, and that coffee is then being custom-blended to go with the chain’s food.
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