By now, I shouldn’t be surprised by the articles our contributors put together for Fresh Cup. Our team of writers always finds a way to tell stories in a new light: by focusing on a key detail others glossed over, interviewing coffee figures who are all too often overlooked, or simply following their intuition to get at the heart of a surprising trend or statistic. At Fresh Cup, we remind our writers that what makes a story is their curiosity, and what makes a story interesting is being willing to ask why.
Without further ado, I’m excited to share our most-read articles of 2024. These stories range widely in topic and focus, but they’re all united by one central theme: They ask why. Looking at this list just affirms that we’re going in the right direction. Like last year, views on the site were way up in 2024. We’re seeing readers engage meaningfully with big topics like climate change, business ownership and employment challenges, and what it means to make money across the coffee supply chain.
If you missed any of our most popular stories, now’s a great time to sit back with a cup of coffee and revisit them. We’re sharing all 10 below, along with some bonus context for how these articles came together.
If there’s a piece that stuck with you this year, please let us know! You can find Fresh Cup on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Connect with us there—and tell us which stories you’d like to read in 2025!
Thank you so much for supporting Fresh Cup this year, and keep an eye on this space—we’ve got a lot of exciting plans in the works for 2025, and can’t wait to share them with you.
1. Experts Share Emerging Coffee Industry Trends of 2024 by Garrett Oden
It’s no surprise that this was among the top stories of 2024—last year’s version was also one of the most popular pieces of 2023. Every year, we ask experts across the supply chain what they think the future of coffee will look like, and it’s always interesting to revisit these predictions as the year closes out.
2. More Roasters Are Launching RTD Coffees—Here’s How the Economics Work Out by Haley Greene
We love to talk about money—not enough people do! And we love to get into the specifics. It’s not sufficient to say something is “cheap” or “expensive,” and this story was an exercise in specificity and getting the numbers down pat. We should note that Snapchill (our partner in this story) recalled its canned beverages in June 2024—but we still found this breakdown of the economics of canned drinks valuable and insightful.
3. Decaf Coffee, But Make It Specialty by Fionn Pooler
Fionn is a frequent flyer at Fresh Cup: He’s behind one of our weekly newsletters, Coffee News Club (we recommend subscribing if you haven’t already), which rounds up the most important coffee news stories of the week. Fionn graciously allowed us to republish this piece, originally posted on his website, The Pourover, which explored the ins and outs of specialty decaf. Who’s buying it? How are most roasters decaffeinating their beans? What does the future of decaf look like? Fionn did it all here.
4. The New Coffee Cocktails of 2024 by Amber Gibson
We’ve found articles that make coffee predictions always do well (see the emerging trends piece above). But this story about coffee cocktails didn’t just make some prognostications and move on: Writer Amber Gibson went the extra mile, talking to bartenders nationwide about new and creative ways to combine coffee with spirits. She even provided recipes so you can make these drinks at home.
5. Why Are So Many Cafes Adding Energy Mix-Ins to Their Menu? by Anne Mercer
Some of our best articles start with a simple question. What I like about this piece is that it’s one of our sponsored posts (we worked with our partners at Maya Tea on this one), but we worked to craft a topic that would be relevant to readers and provide essential information. We aim to do that for every sponsored post: find a question or angle that reveals something critical happening in coffee.
6. Coffee Subscriptions Are Booming: Here’s How They Connect Roasters with Customers Near and Far by Victoria Brown
Coffee subscriptions make up about 2% of all coffee spending, and are projected to grow up to 5–7% in the next 10 years. With all that potential in mind, this article examined how roasters can use coffee subscriptions as a tool to connect with customers both locally and globally.
7. Where Does the Money Go? New Study Shows Why ‘Pay More For Coffee’ Isn’t Enough by Ashley Rodriguez
A little BTS on this: Ashley, Fresh Cup’s editor-in-chief, spent hours interviewing sources and researching this story, which was based on a groundbreaking report released in partnership with the Solidaridad Network, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, and the Global Coffee Platform. The report found that, despite the common assumption that coffee doesn’t “make money,” the industry actually generates a ton of value—but most of that value is consolidated at the consumer end.
8. The Coffee Shop Guide to Metrics and KPIs by Anne Mercer
Again, this story reflects that readers are hungry for specifics when it comes to the business of coffee. In this article, we asked business owners and consultants which key performance indicators (KPIs) they look at to measure success, from revenue and year-over-year sales to cost of goods sold and break-even points. Anne dug into what could have been a complex topic in a way that’s both thorough but also accessible.
9. Just Add Water: The Potential and Possibility of Coffee Concentrates by Amber Gibson
This trend piece looked at the burgeoning potential of coffee concentrates. I love this line from Amber’s story, which I think summarizes the themes she explored: “But there’s often an ocean between a thing and the distillation of a thing, and maybe you’ve had a coffee concentrate or two that hasn’t entirely lived up to the hype. However, many coffee companies are investing time and energy into improving concentrates, pushing them beyond simply being a facsimile of a cup of coffee.”
10. The Coffee Person’s Guide to Coffee in Chicago by Ashley Rodriguez
We really enjoy sharing personal recommendations with Fresh Cup readers. As part of our coverage of the 2024 Specialty Expo, Ashley offered a look at some of her favorite coffee shops in Chicago. While this is by no means a complete list, it reflects what gets us hyped about coffee.
Thank you so much for reading Fresh Cup in 2024. We can’t wait to share all the big projects we have in the works for 2025!
