Want to know where the global coffee industry is headed? Follow the espresso machine trail

Andrea Lucchini, Sales Director for the Americas and Global Key Account Director at Cimbali Group, has spent 25 years tracking demand across six continents

If tracking global coffee trends feels like a never-ending quest, there is a simpler way: watch where the espresso machines go. Demand for professional coffee equipment – who is buying it, in what volume, and what kind – is one of the most reliable indicators of where coffee culture is taking root and where it is about to accelerate.

Few people are better placed to read the signs than Andrea Lucchini.

As Sales Director for the Americas and Global Key Account Director at Cimbali Group, Lucchini oversees commercial relationships across North and Latin America while managing major international accounts that span Australia, the US, Asia and beyond.

For over 25 years, he has watched coffee culture spread, evolve and localise across every continent. The view from that vantage point is illuminating.