• Plant milks and chilly espresso are extra well-liked than ever, as prospects more and more worth the next stage of selection and customisation.
• The liberty to alter flavour, mouthfeel, and look with totally different non-dairy choices quenches prospects’ thirst for distinctive beverage experiences.
• Extra menu objects inevitably reshape barista workflow, probably impeding the pace and high quality of service. Starbucks reduce 30% of its US menu in early 2025 to cut back confusion and lengthy wait occasions.
• Espresso retailers will preserve including plant milks to their menus – and also will want to seek out new methods to adapt as workflow modifications.

Plant milks have cemented their place in café tradition, with oat milk now the default choice in some specialty espresso retailers. Many extra have accepted that dairy alternate options shall be in everlasting, excessive demand, particularly as chilly espresso proliferates, and have scrapped their upcharges in response.

However extra expansive menus inevitably reshape barista workflow and improve operational complexity. Moreover, customisation could cause overwhelm and confusion throughout ordering, prolonging wait occasions. 

Switching between various kinds of milk requires baristas to refine steaming temperature, texture, and timing. This not solely slows service and complicates workflow, but additionally requires considerably extra coaching for brand new employees.

Optimising workflow is due to this fact important for espresso retailers to deal with these calls for. I spoke to Dhan Tamang, six-time UK Latte Artwork Champion and a model ambassador for Latte Artwork Manufacturing facility, to be taught extra.

You might also like our article on whether or not customised drinks push us away from specialty espresso.

Plant milks & chilly drinks are reshaping the espresso business

Plant milks and iced drinks have lengthy been on espresso store menus. However they have been typically an afterthought in specialty espresso retailers – not often ordered, and thereby largely ignored – as baristas centered on pour overs and conventional milk-based drinks.

Nonetheless, as customers more and more worth selection and personalisation, there was one thing of a “chilly espresso revolution”. Iced drinks are main orders at main espresso chains internationally; in its 2023 third-quarter monetary report, Starbucks acknowledged that they represented a powerful 75% of gross sales within the US.

Chilly espresso notably resonates with Gen Z, who order these drinks all year-round at any time of day. Matcha has additionally develop into a go-to base for customisation and a worldwide viral pattern, with its vivid inexperienced hue capturing the eye of social media customers. Black Sheep Espresso, in the meantime, reported a 227% year-on-year surge in iced beverage gross sales in Might 2025 following the launch of its Peaches & Cream Matcha and Matcha Lemonade traces.

A contributing issue to this shift is, paradoxically, the rising prices of residing; extra customers are much less prepared to spend cash on “merely espresso” or different easy drinks. The liberty to customize drink flavour, mouthfeel, and look meets the demand for worth and a singular expertise in ways in which black espresso typically can’t. In flip, customisation has catapulted espresso and matcha past simply drinks into cultural symbols of self-expression and identification.

Coinciding with the explosive development of chilly espresso is the rise of plant milks. The 2 typically go hand-in-hand, permitting customers to increase their customisation choices. 

Within the mid-2010s, oat milk emerged because the undisputed champion of plant-based drinks in specialty espresso. In accordance with knowledge from World Espresso Portal, over 28% of shoppers at UK-branded espresso retailers have ordered oat milk, which makes it the preferred plant milk within the nation.

Oat milk continues to outperform different plant milks – and dairy in some instances. The information that some well-known roasters and low chains within the US and UK defaulted to oat – and even upcharged for cow’s milk – was a transparent signal of its mainstream recognition.

Nonetheless, after experiences that oat milk might spike blood glucose ranges, the traditionally “wholesome” drink got here below hearth. This has opened up extra market alternatives for different plant-based milks, as customers proceed to point out curiosity in dairy alternate options.

“Many shoppers are lowering their dairy consumption for well being, dietary, or moral causes,” says Dhan, a World Latte Artwork Championship finalist, the founding father of Kavi Espresso, and a model ambassador for Latte Artwork Manufacturing facility. “Plant milks like oat, almond, soy, and coconut are thought of more healthy or simpler to digest than dairy.”

Why espresso retailers are turning to automation for assist

Permitting prospects free rein in constructing their good beverage has been a profitable technique for espresso retailers. Nonetheless, as new elements and milk alternate options pop up on café menus, the observe turns into extra demanding on employees.

Extra expansive menus inevitably reshape barista workflow and improve operational complexity. This will impede the pace and high quality of service to such an extent that, within the case of Starbucks, it reduce 30% of its US menu in January 2025 to reclaim its conventional coffeehouse tradition.

Switching between various kinds of milk requires baristas to re-optimise steaming temperature, texture, and timing. This cannot solely decelerate service and complicate workflow, but additionally requires considerably extra coaching for brand new baristas.

“Many chilly drinks are often simpler to organize than sizzling drinks as a result of chilly drinks might be pre-made,” Dhan says. 

However within the limelight of chilly espresso and plant milks is chilly foam – an ethereal but dense and steady layer of milk that’s showing atop a broadening array of chilly drinks. Chilly foam has gained traction since its debut in a number of chains over a decade in the past. 

In accordance with Google Developments, search curiosity within the time period “Einspänner” – a sizzling espresso topped with sweetened whipped cream – has climbed to new heights worldwide previously three years. In flip, the variety of cafés providing Einspänner-inspired cold and hot drinks has skyrocketed, as espresso retailers have discovered new methods to create visually beautiful drinks with chilly foam that entice Gen Z customers who worth aesthetics and high quality equally.

Chilly foam’s “Instagrammable” visible attraction and creamy texture – which might be achieved with dairy and any kind of plant milk – create a drink expertise that feels premium.

Nonetheless, making chilly foam by hand is arduous and time-consuming – a process that many baristas now not have the capability for. Moreover, as a result of milk’s foam construction is influenced by its protein-to-fat ratio, plant milks are usually trickier to grasp with this technique.

This has opened up new alternatives for café operators to leverage automation, together with techniques just like the award-winning Latte Artwork Manufacturing facility. The compact, automated milk foaming machine makes use of patented no-steam know-how, exact temperature management, and absolutely customisable settings to optimise milk texture for each cold and hot drinks. 

“The Latte Artwork Manufacturing facility reduces cognitive load, ensures high quality consistency, and permits baristas to concentrate on hospitality as an alternative of operational complexity,” Dhan says.

He explains that the system can dispense as much as 1.6 litres of sizzling or chilly milk foam per minute in as much as three predefined foam textures, aiding baristas with workflow. It might probably additionally customise textures for as much as two totally different liquids in the identical recipe – together with plant milks and chilly brew – permitting for simple transitions between drink sorts, in order that cafés can serve oat milk cappuccinos, nitro lattes, and extra with out dropping tempo or high quality.

How espresso retailers can improve capability for brand new chilly drinks and plant milks

Espresso retailers might want to preserve including new chilly drinks, plant milks, and customisation choices in the event that they wish to thrive in an ever-increasingly aggressive market. 

However this implies cafés want to seek out new methods to adapt. Extra plant milks, chilly drinks, and beverage personalisation inevitably imply extra operational complexity – all of which creates the potential for disjointed service.

On high of efficient barista coaching – serving to reassess workflow to include extra elements and even totally different actions – automation can present assist by dealing with repetitive duties, enabling employees to focus extra on customer support. 

“Baristas use the Latte Artwork Manufacturing facility as a precision instrument to use their experience, guaranteeing each drink has the fitting temperature, quantity, and texture tailor-made to each the milk kind and buyer choice,” Dhan says.  

The system presents exact, steady, and customisable temperature management, starting from 4°C to 75°C (40°F to 167°F), to serve all kinds of various milks and drinks constantly. 

“It offers baristas the precision and adaptability to experiment, innovate, and ship constant high quality whereas staying forward of chilly espresso and plant milk developments,” Dhan says. “Café employees can have the boldness to ship consistency at the moment whereas unlocking creativity for the espresso developments of tomorrow.”

Automation can also be offering assist to baristas in new methods, permitting them to utilise and enhance their abilities and data to customize temperature, quantity, and texture for various milks and drinks.

Options just like the Latte Artwork Manufacturing facility also can cut back waste, probably rising income by as much as 30% and saving greater than 10 litres of milk per day, and reduce wait occasions by half.

The system’s computerized cleansing cycle – an vital consideration when utilizing automated beverage dishing out gear – additionally frees up baristas’ time to concentrate on different duties.

The way forward for espresso is seemingly chilly and versatile, with customers persevering with to demand extra choices than ever earlier than. As plant milks and iced drinks proliferate on menus, cafés might want to faucet into the rising developments.

However concurrently, high quality and consistency are paramount, and low retailers can’t afford to compromise on both. To search out success, operators should adapt their service routines, put money into supportive gear, and empower baristas to carry out at their finest.

Loved this? Then learn our article on innovation in chilly milk foam for espresso.

Photograph credit: Latte Artwork Manufacturing facility

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