The story of Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd who discovered coffee when he noticed how excited his goats became after eating the beans from a coffee plant, did not appear in writing until 1671. But 2021 is bringing new excitement news.
COLORFUL LATTES
Green (Matcha latte) and yellow (Turmeric latte) are colors that went out of fashion already but the coffee rainbow doesn’t end there.
If any new color in the rainbow will become the breakout Insta star of 2021, it’s probably the blue version. Blue matcha is incredibly tasty — it doesn’t taste like its green cousin, and instead has a mild, floral flavor. Plus, it’s caffeine-free and highly photogenic.
Activated charcoal’s been popping up as an active ingredient everywhere thanks to claims of its detoxifying effects. Although the health claims of activated charcoal aren’t backed by science. it makes for unbelievably eye-catching lattes.
Purple lattes are jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and usually get their captivating color from one of two ingredients: purple sweet potato (aka ube) or taro (a starchy root vegetable). Pastel-colored ube is a particularly good base for a latte, because as you’d expect from sweet potato, it adds a nice natural sweetness to drinks.
Red lattes are often called red matcha, which is a little misleading, because red matcha isn’t one specific type of tea — it can be made of red hibiscus flowers, rooibos powder, or by adding natural coloring to green tea matcha. That allows the red matcha lattes to come in a variety of colors, from deep ruby reds to lighter, more muted colors. Either way, it’s incredibly beautiful, and, if it’s the hibiscus or rooibos variety, completely caffeine free.
Pink matcha first took over Instagram last year, when Starbucks first started selling its “pink drinks”. Like most things, lattes are even more desirable and Instagrammable when they come in light pink. And like red lattes, the pink version can be derived from a couple of different sources. Some kinds are made from rose blossoms, while other pink lattes are made from bright magenta-hued beetroot.
BULLET-PROOF COFFEES
As biohacking gains popularity and new dietary movements - intermitent fasting and keto - as well as vitamin enhanced foods, coffee is also making a move in that direction - and making tons as it goes.
Many coffee lovers have never heard of buttered coffee before, but it’s a simple concept. A buttered coffee, also known as Bulletproof Coffee, is a black coffee with a tablespoon of butter, along with one tablespoon of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. Since coconut oil is largely MCT in composition, most people just use a tablespoon of high quality coconut oil in this coffee drink. While you can simply add any butter, and any coconut oil, to any coffee, to make a generic Bulletproof, Mr Asprey’s company Bulletproof 360 will sell you the original, official version. The composite parts are widely available across the US, and internationally.
He claims that the drink can help improve a person’s physical and mental health, and it certainly has its fans. Since Mr Asprey started selling the drink and its composite parts back in 2012, he estimates that more than 160 million cups have been consumed, with celebrity fans including US TV chat show host Jimmy Fallon and actor Shaline Woodley.
This success has seen Seattle-based Bulletproof 360 attract more than $68m in investment, and expand into a wider food and lifestyle brand that will sell you everything from protein bars, to T-shirts and diet books. Jonny Forsyth, associate director of food and drink at research group Mintel, says that while question marks remain over Bulletpoof’s coffee’s health claims, the brand has been very influential.
MUSHROOM COFFEE
The global mushroom market is predicted to exceed $50 billion by 2022. What is the Mushroom Coffee Trend? Mushroom coffee is simply black coffee mixed with medicinal mushroom powder. On Pinterest, mushroom coffee has seen a 471% year-over-year jump in searches. There are also many health benefits of mushroom coffee.
At his family’s since-the-1600s farm in Finland, Tero Isokauppila grew up foraging for mushrooms; after earning degrees in plant-based nutrition and chemistry at Cornell, he founded Four Sigmatic, a natural superfoods company that produces a delicious range of responsibly-sourced mushroom-powder supplements designed to support the body in everything from better sleep and clearer energy to overall balance and brain function. There are powders to mix into your own recipes, as well as mushroom-infused coffee and hot chocolate.
The product line features four different medicinal mushrooms that purport to produce a range of benefits. Reishi mushrooms are supposed to relieve stress and help you sleep as well as boost immune function. Cordyceps are thought to increase energy levels and athletic performance. Lion’s mane is supposed to sharpen memory and concentration. Chaga is a potent antioxidant—although most mushrooms have relatively high antioxidant activity. But the science is still somewhat unsettled.
With a Shroom Room in LA, the company holds the No. 1 spot on Amazon’s “instant coffee best sellers” list with its box of 10 mushroom coffee packets for $15.
SNAPCHILLED COFFEE
Freshness matters. Even if you prefer chilled coffee in hot weather, the snapchilling process is supplanting cold brewing. The process takes freshly brewed coffee and cools it rapidly, which extracts more flavor and more appealing aromas than the cold brewing process. There is also no waste of unused cold brewed coffee. Snapchilled coffee doesn’t take as long to make as cold brewed, and you don’t need to dilute the coffee by adding ice cubes. Look for this trend to become more common in coffee and tea shops everywhere.
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