The Drinks Industry is worth over $1500 billion globally and is growing still. It employs billions of people in all manners of work; from agriculture to manufacturing, distribution to hospitality and baristas to bartenders. All these people work to create your drink, but let's zoom into what makes a drink really aesthetic. What makes you pause and take a photo? Market research has found two main factors, latte art on coffee and mixology of cocktails!
The first- latte art. Coffee was first turned into art a few decades ago in Italy, with the introduction of espresso, the development of microfoam and combination of crema. The mixing of these 3 elements allow the patterns to form, the limits of which have been pushed ever since. Did you know research has found that consumers are willing to pay up to about 15% more for coffee with art on it?
To start your journey with latte art, practice these four fundamentals: 1. Height of pouring - the first milk you pour into the coffee should be from at least 2 inches above the surface and quite thin, so avoid rippling. 2. Position - give thought to where you start your design as ripples will begin from there. 3. Cup angle - if these first two were easy, experiment with the angle of the cup and see what happens 4. flow - how much milk and how fast you poor it will also affect the design. Give it a try yourself and enjoy making your drink beautiful.
Onto the second -mixology, the art and science of making the best cocktails. The history of mixology traces back to the 1850’s with Jerry ‘The Professor’ Thomas, author of the first cocktail book published and known for his creative approach to drinks creation. In the 1900’s the craft suffered under prohibition but has since seen a resurgence in the new millennium. Cocktail culture is now thriving and customers will pay a premium for exclusive or signature cocktails.
Becoming a pro at this may take some time, but here are a few basics to get you started. Get familiar with the tools - you’ll need a shaker, striner, jigger, muddler, bar spoon and of course a bottle opener. Once you have these, start with a simple cocktail - we recommend a mojito or cosmo! To take it further, try to understand how basic ingredients complement each other. A great mixologist can merge flavours, adding uniqueness through combining exciting flavours!
Latte Art and Mixology are both really fun ways to make your drinks interesting and impress customers at your venue. However, it’s also important to have your eye on the ball about what type of drinks are popular at the moment. Trends in the drinks industry may be more dynamic than you think. Here’s a quick run down of recent trends and what we may see become popular in 2023.
Across all industries we are seeing an increase in interest in health. In the drinks trade this has presented in younger generations as an interest in ‘mindful drinking’ or ‘sober curious’, leaning to purchases of alcoholic drinks decreasing and 0% alcoholic drinks increasing . There has also been a rise in purchases of green juices and smoothies, probiotic drinks, and CBD-infused relaxation drinks. Eco-awareness increasing has led to an increase in purchases of boxed wines over bottled, however canned cocktails are still on the rise. In particular, celebrity brands are thriving. Lastly, Bubble Tea has created a craze and its popularity has massively soared in recent years, despite being invented back in the 1980’s. The market is expected to more than double by 2027, to reach $4.3 billion!
So let's review, the drinks business is thriving and will continue to do so. Latte art and Mixology are great skills to add extra appeal to your service. But whether your business is bubble tea, coffee, cocktails or something else entirely - it’s always a good idea to pay attention to trends in the market and make your products gorgeous for photos!