High quality is a trademark of specialty espresso. Roasters take pleasure in sourcing distinctive heaps that spotlight numerous flavour profiles – one thing shoppers are more and more searching for.
However as market competitors grows fiercer, connecting with new audiences and including worth to menu choices turns into more difficult. Rising espresso costs and inflation charges solely intensify these points, which means roasters should market their coffees extra successfully, particularly relating to high-end micro heaps and award-winning coffees.
These premium choices require a extra strategic strategy to storytelling and buyer engagement. I spoke with Weihong Zhang, 2024 US Brewers Cup Champion and the founding father of BlendIn Espresso Membership in Houston, Texas, to find out how his crew curates and communicates the worth of remarkable coffees.
You may additionally like our article on why espresso retailers must focus extra on milk high quality.
Regardless of rising prices, demand for distinctive espresso is rising
Over the previous 12 months, inexperienced espresso costs have surged, reaching document highs in February 2025. To handle money stream successfully, roasters must go a few of these extra prices onto shoppers, particularly whereas international power and meals costs stay excessive.
A latest UN FAO report initiatives that as much as 80% of rising espresso prices will attain EU shoppers inside 11 months and US shoppers in simply eight months. The consequences are anticipated to final for 4 years, signalling that additional will increase are forward. Current US tariffs will solely drive costs larger within the coming weeks and months, too.
For roasters and importers, this implies staying agile and adaptable is extra vital than ever – usually via diversifying origins to steadiness high quality and value. Some roasters, akin to BlendIn Espresso Membership, a specialty espresso roaster that operates two cafés in Houston, Texas, have lengthy served premium coffees, serving to market and drive demand for high-end varieties like Gesha. However the roaster additionally diversifies its choices to steadiness high quality and value accessibility, sourcing from a spread of origins.
New alternatives for roasters
Because the C value has risen, the hole between specialty and commercial-grade espresso has narrowed. This presents a chance for specialty roasters to draw new prospects who at the moment are keen to spend barely extra for considerably higher high quality espresso.
Information from the 2024 Specialty Espresso Transaction Information demonstrates that the demand for high-quality espresso stays sturdy, even amid value strain. The report exhibits that the median freight on board (FOB) value for 84+ heaps below 1,000 lbs rose from US $4 to US $5/lb between 2018/19 and 2023/24.
Many shoppers may also shift their shopping for behaviour to adapt to larger retail espresso costs, with a rise in at-home consumption anticipated. Specialty espresso roasters can then leverage the chance to develop their retail and e-commerce channels with high-end choices for house brewers.
World markets are driving demand for high-end micro heaps
In mature specialty espresso markets like North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan, shoppers are accustomed to paying extra for high quality – and consumption continues to rise.
In the meantime, specialty espresso is booming in main cities throughout Southeast Asia, Japanese Europe, and the Center East. In Shanghai, for instance, there was an explosion of high-end cafés in recent times.
“I journey so much to cities like Tokyo, Taipei, and Shanghai, and the specialty espresso scene has been rising quickly in these locations,” says Weihong Zhang. He’s the 2024 US Brewers Cup Champion, notably successful with a decaf espresso, and the founding father of BlendIn Espresso Membership. “In Shanghai alone, almost 70% of cafés now serve Gesha, which signifies the worth that customers more and more place on standing, high quality, and exclusivity.
“As a US roaster, we get frequent requests from Asian patrons to ship them high-quality coffees via our worldwide connections.”
Weihong attributes this development to the rising shopper appreciation for espresso as an artisanal product. Shoppers more and more need to find out about origin, processing, and varieties – in addition to how these elements contribute to flavour and worth.
BlendIn’s participation in high-profile auctions like Better of Panama – the place coffees fetch record-breaking costs – underscores this. However extra importantly, the model makes use of its public sale coffees to assist educate and encourage prospects.
“It’s turning into increasingly more vital for roasters to decide on the suitable platform for these coffees to drive shopper curiosity in high quality and their understanding of why these heaps value extra,” Weihong says.
The roaster’s Public sale Collection is a curated lineup of uncommon, competition-grade coffees provided in restricted portions via BlendIn’s cafés and on-line store, tapping into the demand for ultra-rare and premium coffees.
Introducing distinctive coffees to prospects
As curiosity in competition-winning coffees grows, roasters have a chance to face out by providing extra immersive, instructional experiences.
“Roasters are working extra intently with producers to develop distinctive flavour profiles that replicate terroir and selection,” Weihong says. “We’re seeing extra distinctive varieties like Wush Wush, Sidra, Laurina, and Ethiopian landraces akin to 74158, 74110, and 74112 turning into extra widespread in cafés, alongside traditional high-end coffees like Gesha.
“These coffees provide readability and complexity that stand other than commercial-grade choices. What finally makes high-end coffees really worthwhile is their distinctive origin, the producer’s craft, and the shortage that comes with distinctive terroir.”
Emphasising flavour
Weihong’s personal espresso journey started with a second of flavour discovery.
“Again in 2015, I had this ‘aha’ second with a cup of Kenyan espresso; I didn’t know espresso might style like that. It was like blackberry with brown sugar: intense, vibrant, and so clear. That one cup made me need to be taught the whole lot about espresso. The extra I explored, the deeper my ardour grew.”
As a result of many of those heaps are small in quantity and style totally different from conventional profiles, BlendIn focuses on buyer schooling and transparency.
“Prospects usually ask, ‘Why is that this espresso so costly?’ We clarify that it’s uncommon – utilized in or awarded at competitions – and never one thing you may simply discover. Our baristas are educated to dial these coffees in correctly and share that information with prospects. That means, they’ll learn to brew it at house and what sort of flavours to anticipate. It creates a extra significant expertise across the cup.
“With higher-quality coffees, you don’t normally get darkish chocolate notes due to the lighter roasting profiles. As an alternative, you get floral aromatics and extra citric acidity,” he provides. “If somebody’s not used to that, our baristas assist information the expertise so the acidity turns into juicy and balanced, not bitter.”
How can roasters showcase distinctive coffees?
In a café setting, design and repair play an enormous position in how distinctive coffees are perceived. At BlendIn Espresso Membership, high-end choices are served at a devoted gradual bar, the place baristas can interact extra deeply with prospects.
These coffees are additionally served in a particular set of drinkware, together with the Origami Sensory Cup that Weihong has utilized in competitions, to reinforce aroma, texture, and total sensory readability. Each component is designed to bolster the concept that these coffees are totally different and price savouring.
Weihong explains how BlendIn additionally takes a collaborative strategy to sourcing uncommon coffees – one thing that the roaster communicates to prospects.
“We participated within the 2024 Better of Panama public sale and efficiently bid on three unimaginable heaps,” he tells me. “We received GN-07 Absolu Adaura from Adaura Espresso at US $1,804.88/kg, GN-18 La Higa Non-public Reserve Janson Gesha from Janson Espresso at US $822/kg, and GW-17 Aptitude Gesha Washed from Mil Cumbres at US $569.65/kg. These heaps have been break up with two different roasters – oma Espresso Roaster in Hong Kong and Archers Espresso within the UAE.
“This type of collaboration helps make ultra-rare coffees extra accessible for all of us. It additionally prevents pointless competitors in the identical native market and introduces our model to new worldwide audiences. Now, prospects in Houston, Hong Kong, and Dubai can expertise the identical lot in numerous methods.”
Usually talking, public sale and competition-winning coffees are solely obtainable in small portions, making them much less accessible to shoppers. Weihong tells me that BlendIn Espresso Membership goals to bridge this hole via transparency by integrating schooling into its service mannequin for all coffees.
In the end, this information sharing can assist prospects really feel extra related to those coffees and supply direct perception into the work that roasters and baristas are so captivated with.
Leveraging trade occasions
Past cafés, trade occasions provide roasters an opportunity to showcase their best coffees and broaden their model presence.
On the 2025 Specialty Espresso Expo in Houston, BlendIn Espresso Membership will function coffees from 12 producers world wide at sales space 840. Every lot will showcase a special area, course of, or selection.
“What makes this 12 months much more particular is that a number of of the producers are becoming a member of us in Houston,” Weihong says. “It’s uncommon for shoppers and trade professionals within the US to listen to instantly from the folks rising these coffees, so we’re excited to host side-by-side tastings and share the tales behind every lot. It’s not nearly showcasing nice espresso; it’s about constructing actual connections between origin and cup.”
Distinctive coffees proceed to outline the higher fringe of specialty espresso, elevating high quality expectations and pushing the boundaries of flavour.
However merely serving these coffees isn’t at all times sufficient to introduce them to shoppers, particularly extra “conventional” drinkers. By leveraging totally different platforms, roasters can ensure these distinctive heaps stand out.
Loved this? Then learn our article on how demand for micro heaps is shifting.
Picture credit: BlendIn Espresso Membership
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