The Best Coffee Trends at the 2022 New York Coffee Festival

We had a full weekend meeting the New York coffee community and exploring the rest of the festival booths. Here are some of the best (and our favorite) coffee trends we saw from this year’s New York Coffee Festival:

1. New Coffee Brewing Technology

From at-home espresso machines to commercially sized brewers meant for cafe spaces, there were plenty of coffee brew technologies being showcased at this year’s New York Coffee Festival. Throughout the weekend, booths such as Slayer Espresso were showcasing their machines by brewing from a variety of local roasters (including Nguyen Coffee Supply). One of our favorite technologies was from Terra Kaffe – their TK-02 machine is the latest innovation in at-home coffee machines. With fully customizable levels of personalization ranging from temperature, type of drink, extraction metrics, and beyond, this machine also allows you to create coffee profiles via a mobile app that will automatically brew your cup with the press of a button on the machine.

2. Boozy Coffee Products

Coffee liqueurs and cocktails were prevalent at New York Coffee Festival this year! From espresso martinis by Mr. Black to White Russians from Kahlua, alcoholic coffee was a large part of the programming and vendors at the festival. Expanding upon the notion that coffee is strictly a morning time beverage, more companies and brands are showcasing the ways in which coffee can serve as a cocktail enhancer, a nighttime energy booster (have you tried our Classic Black Cold Brew?), or a general evening beverage outside of a post-meal espresso.

3. Non-Dairy Milks

Coffee and milk are a classic combination. This year, we noticed that non-dairy milks were still as prominent as ever. Some booths even offered solely non-dairy milks like oat or almond with their brewed espresso. In the last few years, non-dairy milk companies have proliferated to comprise a significant portion of the milk industry and have become commonplace in coffee culture. From Oatly to Minor Figures to smaller brands like Tache offering pistachio milk, non-dairy milk is all the rage as evidenced by its usage in cartons, ready-to-drink coffee beverages, and even desserts (Oatly debuted oat milk ice cream bars)!

4. Games and Competitions

We love a good game (our skeeball machine was a hit) and it was apparent that many others at New York Coffee Festival did as well. Variety Coffee Roasters’ booth included a ball toss game, and the Festival also had a number of latte art competitions throughout each day during the weekend. Additionally, the Festival’s partner charity, Project Waterfall, had a spin-the-wheel game for sponsored prizes from vendors and exhibitors. Everywhere you looked throughout the weekend, there was a game or activation to be played and enjoyed.

5. Minority-owned Coffee Companies

The 2022 New York Coffee Festival was a refreshing foray back into in-person community events as it was the first since 2019. This year was nothing short of energetic, innovative, and fun. Most refreshing to witness, however, was the sheer number of minority-owned coffee companies at this year’s coffee festival from Asian and female owned companies like Coffee Project NY and Nguyen Coffee Supply to the Dominican American owned Don Carvajal Cafe and Hatian owned CariBrew. As the coffee community continues to grow with diversity and cultural integrity, we will only see more representation from other coffee regions and producers – a win for us all!