Get up to speed with the latest coffee market intelligence from the World Coffee Portal research team. Plus, upcoming Global Coffee Institute (GCI) events, webinars and key calendar dates for the year ahead
This is the first of a new quarterly communication keeping you up to date with World Coffee Portal’s upcoming publications and events, designed for existing customers, future customers and the mildly curious alike
New and upcoming Reports
Our flagship Project Café UK report, the first of 12 publications across 2026, was released on 21 January. For the first time since 2007, when Costa Coffee opened its 555th store to overtake Starbucks, we have a new market leader: Greggs, which has surpassed 2,730 locations.
Coffee value is one of the key dynamics fuelling the brand’s UK popularity, and we’ll be exploring this and other key trends in our survey of over 30,000 UK consumers.
We’ll also be looking at the wave of bakeries seeking to emulate Greggs by upping their coffee credentials, and the increasingly blurred offer between coffee-focused and food-focused operators.
After a two-year break, The Independents Report UK 2026, our first UK topic series report, was published on 11 February.
We’re looking at the behaviours and perceptions of over 2,000 consumers whose last order from a coffee shop was via an independent, and there are two years of data for the price of one, with year-on-year historical comparisons.
Finally, the biggest report of them all, Project Café Europe 2026, covering 50 individual markets, is released on 25 March, ahead of the Easter break. Eastern European countries have been among the most promising growth markets in recent years, and we’ll investigate whether this trend continues.
You can view all reports for the year ahead, including pricing and release dates here.
Global Coffee Institute
The Global Coffee Institute (GCI) is our membership organisation dedicated to supporting and empowering the coffee and hospitality sector globally by providing thought leadership, industry networking and critical business intelligence.
We’ve already kicked off our 2026 seminar series with a one-hour presentation covering the key findings of Project Café Global 2026advance, with debriefs of the UK coffee shop market (11 February) and UK independents (4 March) upcoming.
There are also roundtable industry discussions focused on the digital coffee shop experience (25 February) and the rise of enhanced functional wellness beverages (18 March).
Do please submit your questions ahead of these events for the research team Q&A section of each session to Richard Colchester rcolchester@allegra.co.uk.
Our first in-person event, a London-based coffee shop study tour, is a great opportunity for informal networking with industry colleagues on 25 March. Places for in-person events need to be reserved in advance, so GCI members should contact my colleague Hannah Heath (hheath@allegra.co.uk) if you haven’t already booked your attendance.
If you’re not a member of the Global Coffee Institute yet, now is the best time to join to enjoy the full 2026 calendar. Contact Jamie Connolly, Head of New Business Development at jconnolly@allegra.co.uk for more details and how we can tailor a package for your organisation.
Any other business
Key industry personnel contributing to our research this year via survey or interview will, on completion, receive a complimentary digital copy of The Matcha Report 2026, our 12-page mini report combining recent research report data and 5THWAVE editorial analysing the success of matcha in transforming the traditional coffee shop menu to date, and what challenges may lie ahead in the future.
Please get in touch with my colleague Ellie (ehackett@allegra.co.uk) if you haven’t already been approached and would like to get involved.
There is a four-week trial available for just £1 for those who wish to enjoy our premium news and analysis content online, and I recommend signing up now to view our most recent edition of 5THWAVE magazine, which focuses on the phenomenal rise of East Asian coffee markets. To start your trial, click here.
Kind regards,
Bradley Journneux,
Head of Research at World Coffee Portal
