Blue Bottle Coffee CEO Karl Strovink says speciality coffee will become a second language for expressing craft in 2026.
In 2026, the companies that move coffee forward will not be the ones that grow the fastest, but the ones that grow without losing the qualities that make their coffee meaningful. Many businesses can scale. Far fewer can expand while preserving what draws people to specialty coffee in the first place: the craft at origin, the hospitality in the cafe, and the clarity of flavour in the cup. Growth that endures will invite more people into what makes coffee special, not dilute it.
Cold coffee has been part of our industry’s conversation for years. The change now is not interest, but expectations. Guests no longer treat cold as a seasonal alternative; they expect it to carry the same integrity and expression as any other preparation. When guests asked for iced lattes, we created NOLA because hot-over-ice espresso didn’t deliver the flavour we believed was possible. More companies will reach similar conclusions: rethink the method when the flavour doesn’t hold up. Real innovation will come from patience and refinement rather than novelty.
Specialty coffee is also evolving to include new flavour combinations. Guests are increasingly drawn to beverages that reflect intention and cultural perspective, not just indulgence. These drinks will become a second language for expressing craft – a way to invite guests into a season, a place, or a point of view. At Blue Bottle, that often means bringing together Eastern and Western influences in seasonal lattes, offering another way to experience the coffee without overshadowing it.
Sustainability will increasingly be defined by what happens at origin. Too often it has been reduced to targets and emissions. Those efforts matter, but they do not address the most important question: what will coffee taste like in the years ahead, and who will still be able to grow it? Healthier soil and stronger plants protect yields and improve expression. Exploring species such as Liberica and Excelsa is not about abandoning Arabica. It is about broadening flavor possibilities and creating more paths for farmers to thrive – a shift that will increasingly define how specialty coffee protects its future.
As long as our industry holds onto curiosity about how coffee is grown, how it is expressed, and how people experience it, progress will be measured not by scale alone, but by how deeply we honour what’s possible in the cup.
