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Southeast Asia is rich in café history and tradition, shaping contemporary global trends that will be vividly displayed at the upcoming THAIFEX - HOREC Asia, March 6-8, 2024, at IMPACT, Muang Thong Thani.
The three-day event in Bangkok will feature over 300 brands exhibiting the latest equipment, technology, and services. THAIFEX expects to attract 20,000 trade visitors, including 500 key buyers, fostering industry passion and new connections. Business owners and hospitality industry professionals from hotels, restaurants, and catering (HoReCa) will find on display the products, equipment, and services to take their enterprise to the next level.
Highlights include the ASEAN Barista Team Challenge, which emphasizes excellence, and the THAIFEX - HOREC Academy, which offers deep insights into hospitality from leading experts.
Showcasing Innovation
THAIFEX - HOREC Asia is poised to be a pivotal player in this dynamic industry. Exhibitors will showcase how they drive innovation in sustainability, digital guest experience, contactless hospitality, and energy efficiency. Exhibitors include the Aroma Group, Gruppo Cimbali, Boncafe, Honey Coffee, Hobart, Unox, and Kerry Ingredients. The event will be a melting pot of state-of-the-art equipment and product ranges that support local cafes in their quest to lead inventions in the industry.
Ethical sourcing and sustainability are reshaping the Southeast Asian Cafe market. In line with this trend, coffee flavor trends in 2024 are diverse and innovative, reflecting a growing interest in unique and sustainable coffee experiences.
Ethically sourced and organic coffee beans used in cafes are often accompanied by stories of their origin, connecting their drinkers with the farmers and communities behind the beans. Coffee enthusiasts seek rare, exotic varieties from less-known regions. Coffee beans offer unique flavor profiles, providing distinct and memorable tasting experiences. An example is Indonesia’s low-acid, sweet-tasting Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee.
Expect to find more coffees flavored with regional ingredients like local spices or fruits as consumers support local businesses to savor a taste of their region. For example, fermentation and aging techniques traditionally associated with wines and spirits are gaining popularity. Barrel-aged coffees, where beans are aged in barrels used for whiskey, rum, or wine, could gain traction as they infuse complex flavors into the coffee.
Inspired by culinary and cocktail trends, new flavors like bourbon-infused caramel and spicy cinnamon or floral hints like lavender and rose are emerging. Exhibitors like Honey Coffee help support this trend. Honey Coffee is renowned not only for its coffee extracts but also for black tea, green tea, citrus fruits, herbs, spices, flowers, and other ingredients.
Exhibitors like Aroma Group from Thailand, who not only sell machinery and specialty filter equipment, will showcase unique flavored coffee and tea blends, along with syrups and juices, to enhance the drinks cafes sell.
A Haven for Coffee Bean Buyers
The ASEAN Coffee Association supports HOREC Asia and will feature the ASEAN Barista Team Challenge. The ASEAN region has significant influence as Asian coffee producers, especially from Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Laos, grow in prominence.
Vietnam, as the world's second-largest producer of coffee, is known for its Robusta coffee. Vietnam is a major producer and a trendsetter in coffee culture with single-source blends and creative coffee concoctions that cater to local tastes.
Indonesia's coffee culture, renowned for its unique "Kopi Luwak," has faced challenges with reduced exports due to adverse weather conditions. Despite this, the country remains a significant player in the coffee export market.
Yet the coffee scene in the Philippines is buzzing as the country is set to make $2.3 billion from trading coffee, according to Statista. Filipinos are embracing their beans, as Euromonitor reports that they are falling head over heels for local specialty coffee.
Laos is also emerging as a key coffee producer, focusing on higher-value Arabica coffee. Its exports to countries like Thailand, Japan, Spain, and the United States, among others, are increasing, as seen in the significant rise in coffee bean exports worth nearly $40 million in just six months of 2022, up from $20 million from the same period the last year.
In contrast, Cambodia's presence in the global coffee market is relatively small, with exports totaling $604,000 in 2021, positioning it as the world's 137th largest exporter of coffee. Yet its exports to countries like Russia, South Korea, and France indicate a growing interest in Cambodian coffee.
Overall, the global influence of Southeast Asian coffee growers is marked by significant contributions from countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, with Laos also emerging as a key player. However, regions like Cambodia are still developing their presence in the global coffee export market.
Milk alternatives from manufacturers like Boncafe and functional ingredients in Ready-to-Drink (RTD) products from Kerry Ingredients reflect this trend.
The focus on eco-friendly packaging is also evident, with exhibitors like Alterpacks providing sustainable solutions made from food waste. Packaging is increasingly important as consumers gravitate towards brands that use eco-friendly packaging and clearly label their sustainability practices.
Alterpacks offers sustainable packaging solutions made from food waste, which supports the cafe with sustainable packaging and turns its waste into usable packaging. They use manufacturing processes to turn certified compostable material from food loss to upcycle spent grains such as malt and barley, which would otherwise go to landfills, into 100% organic food containers.
For more information and to discover the future of hospitality, visit thaifex-horec.asia.