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Iced Coffee Becomes a Year-Round Menu Staple, While Coffee Roasting Goes Back to Its Roots
This week in the coffee industry brings two seemingly different yet related shifts: consumers are permanently switching to iced coffee, while roasters are starting to seek quality closer to the plantation. Both trends invite a fresh look at what "good coffee" means today.
01 · Consumer Trends
Gen Z Turns Iced Coffee Into a Year-Round Staple, Not a Season [1]
Until recently, cold brew and other cold coffees were treated as a summer menu add-on – something that disappeared from the board with the first autumn chill. As Wiadomości Handlowe points out, that's coming to an end. The driving force behind this shift is Gen Z: in North America, as many as half of its members had their first encounter with caffeine through iced coffee rather than the classic hot cup. For this group, cold coffee isn't a variation on espresso – it's the natural starting point.
The numbers confirm the scale of the phenomenon. The global cold brew market is set to reach nearly $4 billion in value in 2026, and to double by 2031. This is no longer a fleeting, Instagram-driven fad, but a lasting shift in the buying habits of an entire generation. For cafés and food service chains, this means iced coffee needs to be treated as a permanent, year-round menu item rather than a seasonal summer hit. For equipment manufacturers, it's a signal to invest in cold brew solutions just as seriously as in espresso machines.
02 · Coffee Roasting
Coffee Roasted "at Origin" – an Experiment from California [2]
A completely different, yet equally significant signal comes from Los Angeles. The local roastery Go Get Em Tiger has launched its "Roasted at Origin" program, under which selected coffees are roasted directly in their countries of origin – following roast profiles developed together with local producers, as Daily Coffee News reports. This reverses the traditional model, in which green beans travel thousands of kilometers before reaching a roastery in the consuming country.
The scale of ambition is considerable: the company plans to move 20% of its roasting to countries of origin by the end of 2026, and as much as 70% by the end of 2027. This is no symbolic gesture, but a real change to the supply chain and to the way the company works with growers – a closer, more direct relationship instead of anonymous raw material trading. If the model proves successful, it could inspire other roasters looking to shorten their supply chains and highlight quality "at the source."
What connects these two stories? In both cases, the industry is moving away from established patterns – whether menu seasonality or roasting geography – toward models better suited to the expectations of a new generation of consumers, and toward greater transparency about product origin.
Summary
Summary
From the habits of the youngest consumers to experiments in the supply chain – this week shows that the coffee industry is changing on many levels at once. Want to see how these trends translate into equipment, cold brew technologies, and the stories of roasters working directly with growers? Join us at Coffee Europe Expo – the International Trade Fair for Coffee, Equipment and Accessories for the Coffee Industry, where you'll meet the companies already building this future today.
Invitation
Iced coffee as a permanent menu fixture and roasting "at the source" are just the beginning of the changes ahead for the coffee industry. At Coffee Europe Expo – the International Trade Fair for Coffee, Equipment and Accessories for the Coffee Industry – you'll see cold brew equipment, meet roasters experimenting with new supply models, and talk to experts tracking these trends in real time. Join the exhibitors and visitors shaping the future of the coffee industry.
Coffee Europe Expo 2026Footnotes
[1] Wiadomości Handlowe — https://www.wiadomoscihandlowe.pl/konsument-i-trendy-zakupowe/trendy-zakupowe-i-konsumenckie/mlode-pokolenia-wychowane-na-mrozonej-kawie-zmieniaja-rynek-2538071[2] Daily Coffee News (Roast Magazine) — https://dailycoffeenews.com/2026/09/25/weekly-coffee-news-roasted-at-origin-program-53-coffee-workers-rescued/