Move over Starbucks, local coffee roasters are making a splash in San Diego.
In recent years more and more coffee drinkers are turning from large coffee chains to independently owned coffee houses to get their coffee, a drink that is now the most consumed beverage worldwide after water.
But locally, the coffee landscape has changed, with more consumers looking to local roasters.
“We track the rise of new independent coffee shops and we are seeing that they are continuing to grow at a pretty quick pace,” said Mark DiDomenico of food research research group DataEssential.com.
DiDomenico told NBC 7 Responds that consumers throughout the country appear more willing to support local roasters.
One of the reasons, said DiDomenico, is local coffee houses are “more likely to try different things and you know kind of play around with innovative flavors and types of beverages.”
Because they are small, local roasters can offer more unique-flavored coffee beans from independent, more environmentally conscious farms. Another driving factor for the shift to local coffee brewers is consumers typically have the choice of different blends and flavors, and different types of specialty drinks.
“We have beans from Columbia, Kenya, Guatemala, Brazil, all over the world. And for us, if we want to launch a new drink then it’s just an easy meeting with four of our managers and then we make it happen,” said Mike Helms, the head roaster for local coffee chain, Dark Horse Coffee Roasters, which has stores in Golden Hill, Normal Heights, North Park, and La Mesa.
Coffee trend expert DiDomenico agrees that the local consumer seems more apt to pick a small coffee house over the big chain if given the choice.
Local
“There is a kind of a push back right now of the larger shops and and more of a support for local and small businesses,” added DiDomenico.
Dark Horse customer Korby Reed agrees.
“It feels more low key, more inviting,” said Reed. “The people here are like people I would want to talk to. It feels nice to feel a little bit more local, not just about coffee but everything.”
But Helms from San Diego’s Dark Horse Coffee Roasters still gives credit to Starbucks for what they did and continue to do for the industry.
“We have that existing scene because of what Starbucks crafted and created,” said Helms. “They laid the foundation for all the rest of us to come along and break off our own piece of pie.”
