Many Fresh Cup stories start with just a kernel of an idea. Our writers might notice something small, and feel compelled to ask, “Why is this happening? What does this mean?” As we like to tell them: “If you find it interesting, it’s probably a story.”
That’s why looking over this list of our 10 most-read pieces of 2025 is so gratifying and informative. This list says as much about what our readers are interested in as it reveals about our approach to storytelling. A lot of these articles started with a single question, or an offhand suggestion for a headline that turned into something bigger.
Without further ado, here are the 10 most-read Fresh Cup stories of the year. We’re sharing the links below, plus— a little insight into how each one got made. If any of the pieces below really made you think, or resonated with you in a new way, tell us! You can find Fresh Cup on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Tell us what you’d like to see in 2026, too.
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 2026, and can’t wait to share them with you.
1. Live Data: U.S. Tariffs on Coffee Producing Countries by Garrett Oden
It’s no surprise that stories on tariffs did well in 2025—you’ll see this theme come up more than once. In April, I frantically put together a live tracking tool once tariffs were announced, which we updated as their status continually changed.
In December, the Trump administration finally announced that there would no longer be tariffs on coffee (the directive is still a little ambiguous). We updated the article to now feature a list of the tariff-related articles Fresh Cup published in 2025. Spoiler alert: There were a lot!
2. Experts Share Emerging Coffee Industry Trends of 2025 by Garrett Oden
Every year, we send out a survey to more than 25 coffee leaders, asking them what they think the new year will bring in the world of coffee. (Perhaps a little embarrassingly, we always publish the results later than we intend to—here’s to getting the 2026 guide out sooner). It’s always fun to look back at these articles.
I think what Luke Waite, owner of Pomelo Coffee Consulting, shared is perhaps the most prescient take, as we look ahead to 2026: He predicted more acquisitions as business owners opt to sell their coffee shops and roasteries. We already saw a lot of big sales in 2025, and with news that Nestlé may be angling to sell Blue Bottle Coffee, it’ll be interesting to see what 2026 holds.
3. Behind the Headlines: Has Starbucks Killed the Cortado? by Amber Gibson
In late 2024, we started a new vertical called “Behind the Headlines,” which allowed freelancer Amber Gibson to dig deeper into the big news items and trending coffee stories of the day. In January, Starbucks announced that it would add a cortado to its menu. The moment was like when your favorite indie band goes mainstream: If Starbucks is jumping on the bandwagon, does that mean the cortado is over?
4. This Coffee Shop Went Viral. Here’s What Happened Next by Haley Greene
This story came about by—you guessed it—a video we saw on TikTok. Curious whether virality has any real staying power, contributor Haley Greene spoke with several coffee business owners about their own viral moments: how their sales changed, and what happened once the excitement faded.
5. Trump’s Tariffs Throw the Coffee Industry Into Chaos by Fionn Pooler
Fionn, who writes our weekly Coffee News Club newsletter, wrote one of the first comprehensive breakdowns of what Trump’s tariffs meant for the coffee industry. This April article also had one of my favorite openers: In a one-two punch, it laid out the news of Trump’s sweeping tariffs before following it up with: “Then, President Trump went golfing.”
6. What To Do When ICE Comes to Your Coffee Shop by Eric Grimm
Eric Grimm is an HR specialist for coffee companies, and in June, they made a series of Instagram slides for their consulting business, The Coffee Human Resource, about how to handle an ICE raid. What should employers do, and what rights do employees have? As Eric wrote: “Creating procedures for ICE raids is not an act of political activism. It is a necessary business operation during a time in which laws and rights are being repeatedly violated in public spaces.”
7. Behind the Headlines: Starbucks Popularized the Term ‘Third Place,’ But What Does It Mean in 2025? by Amber Gibson
Although this was Amber’s second “Behind the Headlines” story about Starbucks, it’s almost the opposite of the previous piece. If cortados became a popular menu item through small, independent shops, arguably the concept of the “third place” became mainstream because of Starbucks. As Amber wrote, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has tried to revive the third-place association with his “Back to Starbucks” plan, but what does it actually take to build coffee shops where customers will want to linger?
8. How Cafes Can Get the Most Out of Instagram in 2025 by Haley Greene
Instagram seems straightforward, but it can be tricky to figure out exactly what the social media platform should do for coffee businesses. Haley pulled stats from a survey conducted by the point-of-sale brand Toast that showed “62% of respondents said they sometimes check a restaurant’s social media before deciding to visit.” That means it’s vital to have a vision and plan for Instagram, which Haley explored in this piece.
9. We Talked to A Zillion People At the 2025 Specialty Coffee Expo—Here Are Eight Critical Takeaways by Garrett Oden
The headline of this piece is funny: After attending Expo, I really did feel like I had talked to a zillion people, and ended up making that the headline, just to see if people would respond. They did—a zillion of them! (Just kidding, but fingers crossed we get an article with a zillion views!)
10. How Much Should a Mocha Cost? We Pulled Data from 100 Cafes to Find Out by Garrett Oden
This piece was supported by Ghirardelli, whose chocolate shows up in a lot of cafe mochas. We pitched them a data-heavy look at mocha pricing, collected more than 100 price points, and compared them to other menu items to see whether drinks made with Ghirardelli carried a premium. In 2026, I hope to do more data-driven stories like this.
Thanks for reading Fresh Cup in 2025, and we can’t wait to share what we’re working on in 2026! Stay tuned.
