These are good times for coffee: having conquered the world, the espresso is “coming back” to the country that is its true home. And it is on a mission: to raise quality levels everywhere, in all channels, including vending.

“After an initial rise in home consumption as a result of the pandemic, we are now seeing a return to coffee drinking outside the home. Covid marked a watershed moment for the coffee industry as a whole,” says Camilla Viaro, operational marketing manager at Carimali. “Previously, there was a clear distinction between the home, the Office Coffee Service (OCS) and the HoReCa sector, but now things are much more hybrid, with solutions designed for the home or the HoReCa sector appearing in offices and vice versa, with more and more office-to-home and home-to-office crossovers, a phenomenon that Covid only accelerated.”

Future developments in coffee machines will be of three types. Firstly with technology that comprises not only IoT systems that make it possible to manage the main machine parameters remotely, but also advanced technical components that improve performance and allow consumption controls. Secondly, they will need to ensure that the coffee or cappuccino they deliver is of high quality, because that is what consumers want: coffee is no longer just a beverage but a whole experience that consumers want to enjoy to the full. It follows, then, that anyone who has to interact with coffee machine needs to feel at ease and that interaction needs to be simple and intuitive. And finally the digitisation aspect, which for the end user translates into independent management of certain parameters on the machine. From a technical point of view, this means the remote management of assistance, which is a major step forward in the optimisation of the business of those who manage and distribute coffee machines.”

In this sense the range of products geared increasingly towards automatic solutions “responds to the needs of a market insisting more and more on machines that take the place of the expert barista, while guaranteeing the same high level of coffee in the cup served. At its most extreme, this trend takes the form of self-service locations, where the end consumer is in direct contact with the coffee-making machine.”

The German WMF confirms the trend towards quality coffee “in the world of hospitality but also in smaller contexts like offices and other working environments. The challenge for us is to come up with products that make a high-quality product,” explains Natalie Alesi, team leader for global trade shows, showrooms and events.

Another trend is the use of alternatives to cow’s milk (almond-, coconut-, oat- and even pea-based) in automatic coffee machines, where the results can even involve Latte Art. “The fact that these automatic coffee machines offer non-dairy milk means that they can also be sold in professional contexts, so variously flavoured types of drink can be offered to clients.”

New ideas include the so-called two-step technology: step one is done by the automatic coffee machine, step two (the creation of a perfect foam) by the barista. The combined efforts of the coffee machine and those of a barista results in a perfect cappuccino.

SIC, the historic International Coffee Show at HostMilano is part of a unique display concept that brings together vertical specialisation with production line affinities in the macro areas of Professional Foodservice, Bakery-Pizza-Pasta; Coffee-Tea-Bars, Coffee Machines and Vending, Gelato-Pastry and furnishings, Technology and Tableware. The next edition of HostMilano will be held at fieramilano Rho from 13 to 17 October 2023.