- Coffee is now a canvas for identity – not just a drink
- From veteran-themed blends to influencer products, demographic resonance often overrules flavour
- With 66% of US adults drinking coffee daily yet European demand stagnant, brands are leaning into values and lifestyle to stay relevant
Coffee brands today are differentiating not through terroir, but through themes that resonate – whether veteran pride, athletic vigour, or wellness.
Black Rifle Coffee is emblematic: veteran-founded, patriotic branding, tactical merch – and a community of tough talkers and supporters. The result? A net revenue of $395.6 million in 2023 – a 31.1% increase year-over-year from 2022, and remaining more or less stable since.
Other brands lean on celebrities, health claims, or sport. A surge of influencer-backed roasters, CBD-infused blends for wellness, and pro-sports-branded coffee drinks shows form outpacing function. Demographics – beliefs, values, fandom – now often matter more than flavour profiles.
“At the end of the day, coffee ain’t just a drink – it’s a cultural artifact,” says Bartholomew Jones, Founder of Cxffee Black. “For a lot of people, especially younger generations, we’re not just buying products, we’re buying identity, values, story, and community.”
“In a world where folks feel disconnected, brands that carry an ethos give people a sense of belonging. That’s especially real in coffee, because historically coffee has been stripped of its cultural roots – especially its African origins – and repackaged for mass consumption with no context.
So when a brand shows up with authenticity, with a bigger story than just a caffeine fix – whether that’s wellness, Black ownership, reparations, or cultural reclamation – people feel seen. It’s not about the cup, it’s about the culture behind the cup.”
The underlying logic is simple: today’s consumers want more than caffeine – they want a brand that reflects them. Be it patriotism, wellness, or fandom, your choice of coffee is now a cultural stamp, not just a daily pick-me-up. In this landscape, how a coffee “feels” can matter more than how it tastes.
Coffee still reigns, but the narrative is shifting
In the U.S., coffee remains ubiquitous: 66% of adults drink it daily – the most of any beverage, according to the National Coffee Association. But in Europe, while overall consumption holds steady, growth in specialty appears to be stalling. The European Coffee Federation reports that coffee consumption has dropped across key markets as inflation, energy prices, and consumer fatigue weigh on discretionary spending.
Gen Z, wielding $360 billion in spending power, still drinks coffee – but they don’t chase microlot purity. Instead, they choose visually striking, fun concoctions: activated charcoal lattes, iced ube foam, spirulina brews.
A recent study found 75% of young coffee drinkers add flavoured syrups. In this shifting culture, coffee is often an ingredient or fashion prop, not a ritual. Brands understand this and are pivoting: focusing on social media appeal, packaging, and lifestyle alignment as much as bean quality.
The transition is clear: coffee is now often a stage prop, an ingredient in lifestyle, rather than a completed act of consumption.
“This is where brands gotta get surgical,” says Bartholomew. “If coffee is just an ingredient, then the flex gotta be about why your coffee is different at the ingredient level.”
“That’s why we talk about species diversity, about canephora, liberica, ethiopica [arabica] – we flip the sample back to coffee’s African roots. You gotta educate and elevate. If folks wanna consume coffee in a Gold Brew, a protein shake, or a honey gold chicken wing glaze – cool. But give them a story behind that flavour profile.
If coffee becomes a canvas, the brand’s job is to curate the art on that canvas. The future belongs to brands that help people taste something bigger than just ‘coffee flavour’ – something rooted in culture, history, and future potential.”
Consequently, brands are recalibrating. It isn’t enough to tout single-origin traces; storytelling must include aesthetics, social media shareability, and platform-heavy launch campaigns. Roasters and retailers now think like apparel and tech startups – investing heavily in Instagram-friendly packaging, AR experiences, and pop-culture collaborations.
Catering to identities: the brand strategy of tomorrow
Beyond coffee, the winning brands are depicted as extensions of consumer identity – be it veteran valour, health-conscious lifestyle, or fitness culture. Coffee companies are recasting themselves as cultural ambassadors – offering more than beverages, but community.
Brands with identity-first strategies include Black Rifle Coffee – veteran-driven storytelling through coffee, gear, podcasts, and political alignment. Wellness roasters, with adaptogen-infused blends, clean labelling, and yoga-studio partnerships echo a health-first identity. Another example is celebrity baristas turning their followings into roasteries via direct-to-consumer kits and merch collabs. Local football, basketball, or hockey-themed coffees sold through team shops or fan networks are building brand equity on sports themes.
These efforts are more than packaging – they build ecosystems of shared value. This isn’t niche marketing – it’s the new normal.
Black Rifle, for instance, partners with veteran charities and engages its customer base beyond the roast. It also recently partnered with Keurig to leverage the energy drink boom – a trend aligned with the values of its “all-American” veteran, gym-going target demographic. Influence-backed labels involve fans in roaster decisions, creating co-ownership. Sports-oriented coffee come with team gear, ticket perks, and stadium meetups – coffee as fan identity. Influencer brands let followers see behind the scenes. Wellness-oriented coffees partner with health app creators, like Vietnamese instant coffee brand Fun Coffee did, for example.
These brands build communities, not just customer bases.
“The generalist coffee brand days are dying,” says Bartholomew. “Folks don’t just want product – they want purpose. But here’s the thing: you can’t fake a niche. It’s gotta be lived.”
“For us, our niche is Black coffee – literally and figuratively. It’s about the full Black supply chain, from seed to sip, and using coffee as a reparative, educational, and artistic tool. But with that comes responsibility. If you step into cultural or political spaces, you gotta be about that life, not just profit off the aesthetic.
The risk isn’t going too far – the risk is going too shallow. The deeper you go, the more trust you build. The audience will ride for you if your walk matches your talk.”
Coffee today is currency – social and symbolic. Your choice conveys who you are and what you stand for. Consumers “spend” social currency through their coffee choices, signalling values and community.
For brands, this means building equity through identity, story, and shared values. Coffee quality matters, but becomes table stakes – not the show. In a market packed with 180 million Instagram posts tagged “#coffee,” cultural alignment is the differentiator.
Those who align product with persona, cultivation with community, will thrive in the age of coffee as cultural currency.
Coffee Intelligence
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