Australia drinks more specialty coffee per head than almost anywhere, and the habits keep shifting. Here are the five trends we're seeing in our own counters and in orders across the country.

1. The home setup got serious

The pandemic sent a lot of people home with a machine and they never went back. The difference now is the grinder. Five years ago a home barista bought the machine and used pre-ground coffee; today the grinder is the first upgrade, and a decent burr grinder is the most common question we get asked about. Scales, distribution tools and better tampers have followed. Cafe-quality espresso at home is no longer a stretch.

2. Batch brew is on every good menu

Filter coffee used to be a specialty-cafe curiosity. Now batch brew sits next to the milk drinks in ordinary suburban cafes and it's the easiest way to try a single origin without committing to a whole bag. At home it's just as easy: a pour-over dripper or an automatic brewer, medium grind, water off the boil.

3. Decaf stopped being a punchline

Sugarcane and Swiss Water decaf processes have changed the category. Modern decaf keeps most of the flavour, so cafes are stocking it properly and people order it by choice, particularly for the afternoon coffee. We sell a sugarcane-process Ethiopian decaf for exactly this reason.

4. Prices went up and people started reading the bag

Green coffee prices have climbed sharply over the last few years, driven by weather in Brazil and Vietnam and rising freight costs, and the price of a cafe coffee has followed. The upside is that customers are paying more attention to what they're buying: origin, roast date, how it's processed. A $6 flat white makes a $21 bag that yields fifteen of them look very reasonable.

5. The flat white is back in favour

After a decade of novelty drinks, cafes report the classics are winning again. Flat whites, long blacks and magics dominate orders. Milk alternatives have settled too: oat has clearly won that race, and most cafes now carry one or two options rather than five.

What it means for your cup

Buy whole bean, grind at home, and try one thing you haven't before, whether that's a batch brew, a lighter-roasted single origin or a decaf after dinner. The gear to do it well has never been cheaper or better, and we stock most of it in barista tools.