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In Chile, problems such as affordability, accessibility and awareness have historically meant that the consumption of specialty coffee has been relatively low.

In recent years, however, things have begun to change. Today, in a country that historically consumes mainly instant coffee and tea, professional coffee shops and roasters are breaking through.

To learn more about the reasons for this, the challenges facing the Chilean industry and how it can develop further, I talked to some baristas, roasters and other coffee experts. That's what they have to say.

History of Coffee in Chile

Between 1840 and 1914, it was estimated that about 50000 Britons emigrated to Chile. They brought some English customs, including drinking tea.

As a result, Chile has become one of the largest tea consumers in the world and by far the largest per capita tea consumer in South America.

By contrast, per capita coffee consumption in Chile averages just 0.75kg, according to ICO data over the past decade. The country has never really produced coffee because it usually lacks the necessary climate and altitude.

But overall coffee consumption rose sharply by 175 per cent between 2011 and 2018, according to the Euromonitor report. In addition, coffee consumption is expected to grow by 40% in 2020 alone.

Why is the consumption of special coffee low?

However, despite this growth, soluble coffee still accounts for 98 per cent of all coffee sales in Chile. In addition to the historical consumer preference for instant coffee and tea, Chile's burgeoning specialty coffee industry faces other challenges.

The first is accessibility. More than 50% of all specialty coffee shops in Chile are located in Santiago, of which 62% are limited to three areas of the country.

Alejandro Inostroza is the co-founder of ElCaf é Artisan Roast Chile in San Diego. Because of the high start-up cost, there is little incentive for cafes to open outside these areas, he explained.

"if you want to import your own coffee, you have to pay a tax rate of 19 per cent in advance and haven't even sold anything yet. Then you have to pay for transportation, warehousing and customs.

"even if you spend thousands of dollars on green coffee, you still need thousands of dollars to buy coffee. And because the local market is very small, there is no interest in importing small quantities into Chile. "

Gabriela Sanhueza is the director of operations at Valparaiso Cafe Tallercaf é. To keep coffee accessible, she says, she needs to make consumers affordable, and says it's the best way to introduce specialty coffee to consumers. "even if people consume quality coffee, the average consumer still doesn't understand it," she added. "

COVID-19: the Power of change

Many in the Chilean coffee industry believe that Covid-19 has contributed to the growth of special consumption by forcing cafes to better understand their customers and their needs.

Crist ó balCana ​​ les is the customer relationship manager of Artisan Roasts. He told me that before the pandemic, you could assume that everyone who visited your coffee shop knew something about coffee.

'but today, things are different,'he said. "[now] we are taking coffee home. We [found that we] needed to provide more information and education about coffee. We have called each of our customers to find out behind their choices and preferences. "

Instagram real-time video and Zoom sessions help keep the cafe in touch with customers. Gabriela (Gabriela) points out that it is important to "provide customers with the experience in the [a] coffee shop".

The rise of the global home brewing industry has also spread to Chile. Still, some of Chile's most popular coffee shop drinks (such as cortado and Chilean cappuccino) can't always be remade at home.

"[now], people know that it's not worth paying for a home espresso machine," Gabriela said. They have begun to make filtered coffee at home. If we don't have to stay at home, coffee consumption will grow much more slowly. "

Carlos Medina (Carlos Medina) is Elephant Coffee's chief barista and Chile's 2020 national barista champion. He agrees with Gabriela and points out that Covid-19 has greatly increased the popularity of filtered coffee.

"usually, 70% of the coffee we sell is lattes such as lattes," he said. " "when we opened a year ago, we only prepared one or two cups of filtered coffee a day. Now we have to make up at most 15 a day.

"once the lock is released, the demand for filtered coffee increases because it is something that people can prepare at home."

Other emerging coffee trends in Chile

Similar to other countries in the world, studies have shown that a large proportion of Chilean coffee consumers are already interested in vegan products.

Figures from Expendafe show that 61% of the cafes surveyed in the country use lactose-free milk, while plant milk can be found in 42% of coffee shops. Increasing these amounts is a challenge, Gabriela says, because it's hard to find plant milk that can easily form a texture. She added that there is no category of non-dairy milk in the local coffee competition, which makes it difficult for baristas to participate.

Chilean coffee consumers are also increasingly concerned about the impact of coffee consumption on the environment. Many cafes are beginning to teach consumers how to dispose of their coffee grounds responsibly, because most coffee grounds end up in landfills.

"We want to raise awareness of how to reuse or safely dispose of coffee grounds," Gabriela said.

One lejandro told me that in 2016, in Scotland, he and his wife started the Round Coffee Project (and then artisans roasted Chile), which collected used coffee grounds. They are then used to make fertile soil and grow mushrooms, shared with process organizations to make wallets and bags, and even in the future to make biofuels and essential oils.

The challenging environment of Chilean baristas

Although Chile's specialty coffee field continues to grow, there is still a long way to go. Carlos says the industry is in adolescence and is still looking for its "identity". In the past, he said he had been looking for a job in specialty cafes because his experience working in chain cafes was often despised.

Gabriela added that many baristas do not believe that their roles require special preparation or training, and that most training activities or courses are often unpopular. She told me that while people are interested in the origin of coffee, how it is processed and specific brewing methods, more technical elements such as water quality are often ignored.

She added that many cafe owners in Chile regard baristas as waiters serving coffee. For example, when brewing filtered coffee or correctly mixing espresso, they don't understand the importance of precision, she says.

Rodrigo Gorigoit í an is president of the Chilean National Association of Coffee Professionals and enthusiasts (ANAPAC). 'Many cafes don't know how demanding it is to run it,'he said. He added that if you don't have a good understanding of specialty coffee, it may be difficult to understand the proficiency of baristas.