A greater awareness of the nature of the basic ingredient, curiosity about its origins, and also concerns about workers in the tropical countries where it is grown. All of which translates into higher basic prices but also into greater care about the quality and healthiness of the two ingredients in question: coffee and cocoa, which have long been fundamental components in the world’s various cuisines.

Until quite recently they may have been viewed as inexpensive beverages to be quickly drunk at a bar, with little if any innovation, but now these two elements are taking on a new dignity of their own – especially in sectors that have traditionally used them in a superficial, fairly undifferentiated way, like gelato and mixology. The two ingredients are now appearing in a whole range of new recipes with various forms and textures in bars, thanks among other things to new innovative machinery which for example processes frozen coffee in bag-in-box packaging and turns it into granita when required (an extremely velvety, ice-cold cream).

Bar lists around the world tell us that coffee really is the ingredient of the moment, and is featured in one or more of the choices on offer. Gone are the days when the only variation on the theme were Irish Coffee and Espresso Martini: now experiments are being made not only with extracted espresso, but also with Cold Brew, kombucha and koji, as happens at 1930, the Milan speakeasy that ranks in the Top 50 of the world’s best bars.

Cocoa, too, is being used in high-quality, sophisticated cocktails, giving a complex new twist to classics like the Negroni, Manhattan and Old Fashioned.

The ingredient is transformed using techniques borrowed from the kitchen and uses hitherto ignored parts of the plant, such as the flower, the peel and the cocoa pod with its pulp.

Many new ideas are being tried out and things are evolving all the time. There is only one way to find out more, and that is by coming to the next edition of HostMilano, from 13 to 17 October, where at the SIC Coffee Show and the Bar and Pastry section, innovation in these and other fields will be the unifying theme of every stand, presentation, event and in-depth analysis.