As a small coffee roaster we are always trying to keep up with trends to make sure we stay interesting to our regular customers but also to attract new potential customer. So how do we keep up with all these new "trends" that pop up everywhere?
Well, first of all you can´t jump on every new flashy tiktok trend and you really have to know what your specific clientel might be interested in. For us its sometimes a tricky balance since we are located in a small rural alp town with a seemingly traditional coffee culture, but it also happens to be strong tourist destination with visitors and guest workers from all over the world. Pretty much we have to cater to both; a more traditional coffee culture and an experimental, trend sensitive coffee culture.
Secondly, we really have to identify which trends are just... trends or hypes of the moment and what trends are actually long lasting trends that are in line with the general direction of coffee trends? For instance; certain coffee drinks and gadgets have an extremely short lifespan once the hype is over and some serious reviewing of the product has come in.
So what distinguishes a long lasting trend from a flaky short lived hype? We like to think of the trend cycles to begin with. What has been trendy or a big thing once, will likely come back at some point and with that in mind you can kinda see what trends might be on the verge of coming back. Take filter coffee for instance, was big before and has come back strong and much more as a delicate and deliberate way of brewing than the burnt filter brew you would find at highway gas station.
What you can also look at are trends in other similar trades, for coffee trends these might be found in other beverages. What is going on in the tea world or within beer brewing? In the last decade low or non-alcoholic beers have really boomed and almost every common beer brand as well as small micro breweries have a non-alcoholic beer. You like the taste but don't want to get drunk. Could this work in coffee? you like the taste but don't want to become over-caffeinated? If you've ever been over-caffeinated you definitely know its not always such a pleasant feeling. Well it seems like a large part of the coffee industry sees potential in this and we really do aswell. So much so that we have developed our own HalfCaff blend to offer to any of our customer who don't like too much caffeine in the evening or maybe just want to drink four cups of coffee a day instead of only two? A super tasty low caffeine blend that works
Our HALF CAFF blend that we appropriately named River Side is inspired by the water flowing down the Engelberg Aaschlucht. It is sometimes wild, other times slow but constantly washing the mountain rock into smooth formations. A balance between wild and calm - just like the caffeine level.
It is inspired by water since we blended a Swiss Water® Process Decaf coffee from PERU and two amazing washed coffees from GUATEMALA and ETHIOPIA.Â
If you want to know more about how this whole decaffeination process called the Swiss Water® Process works then check out this infographic below. The Swiss Water® Process is a 100% chemical free coffee decaffeination process.
Also, if you want to try the River Side before you buy some beans for home, we always keep this low-caffeine option in one of our grinders in the shop. Just ask for a low caff blend in your normal coffee order and you'll get to taste this delightfully sweet coffee. Of course you'll have to take yourself to Engelberg and the Roastery first, but that was most likely in your plans for the coming weeks anyway, right?
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