Drinktec 2022, lots of beer & liquid food but little coffee or tea

Image: Dominique Huret

Drinktec, the huge beverage and liquid food industry fair, opened on 12 September in Munich, Germany. In 2017, more than 1,700 exhibitors were visited by over 76,000 visitors from all over the world. After five years of silence, the six halls are again buzzing with activities and visitors. Four halls full of the whole range of equipment for beverages; one hall for packaging and one dedicated to ingredients. Low-cal drinks, infused and plant-based beverages are the hype. 

Tea is the most consumed hot beverage in the world – and demand remains strong in the market – but the only teas visitors at Drinktec can find are from ingredient makers offering iced tea solutions or hot tea at the visitors’ bars or cafeterias. 

As for coffee, Europe accounted for 33% of world coffee consumption in 2020/2021, representing an estimated volume of 3.244 million tonnes of coffee, per Eurostat. This makes Europe the largest coffee market in the world. Asia and Asia and Oceania are in second place with a market share of 22%, followed by Latin America with Latin America with a market share of 20% and North America with a market share of 19%. And Europe has also the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world with just over 5 kg of coffee per person per year. The country with the highest per capita consumption in the world is Luxembourg, where the average annual consumption of coffee is of more than 11 kg per capita. Other countries with high coffee consumption are the Netherlands and Finland with 8.2 kg per year per person, followed by Sweden with 7.7 kg, Denmark with 7.4 kg and Norway with 6.8 kg per capita per year. (All figures are from Eurostat.) 

Hamburg-based Deutsche EXT Kaffee (DEK), one of the largest instant coffee manufacturers in the world, but was highlighting its cold brew at Drinktec. Johann Dietrich Rothfos laid the foundation in 1896 with self-roasting coffee, and the company has always controlled and monitored the entire value chain of its coffee products. DEK is a core company of the Cafea Group, which controls the production and sale of instant coffee and milk coffee drinks, grain coffee and drinking chocolate as well as capsules. The coffee is processed and distributed in eight of its own plants. The family business is an important provider of soluble coffee for private labels and the partner of large retail chains. 

Currently, cold brew coffee is DEK’s main focus, and in term of product sales, Europe lags behind the US and Asia. “Cold brew has a lot of market potential, especially because it goes very well with vegan milk,” said Dietmar Cremer, DEK’s B2B sales director. Unsweetened cold brew is probably an ‘acquired’ taste, as Rodney Jack, editor of Food and Drink Technology, and I, were not convinced. To keep us going down the fair alleys, we had several nice cappuccinos. But then it was time for German lager beer… 

Drinktec runs through 16 September, so there’s more to see and sample! 

  • Dominique Huret has been covering the beverage and packaging sectors since 2005. Based in Brussels, Belgium, she is the co-founder of Cape Decision consultancy. She may be reached at: [email protected]. 

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