Purpose

The goal of this project is to understand coffee preferences from a live YouTube tasting event, where participants expressed their preferences among four different coffee types and later shared what they thought about them. The purpose is to offer insights to investors considering a venture into the coffee market by focusing on the coffee type that was the crowd's favorite, which could offer a potential niche for investment.

How is the project structured?

Title: For a coffee business targeting the premium segment, fermented coffee presents a clear opportunity in the US market.

For me, the title/headline is important because it should grab attention and convey the main message effectively. In this case, since I went for a management consulting style of project the title needs to capture the essence and conclusion of the analysis, but also describe actionability and strategic focus. The title communicates a direction for coffee business targeting the premium segment of the market, focusing on fermented coffee as an opportunity within the US context.

Chart 1: Tasters' choice for coffee preferences

I assigned a unique color to each type of coffee, from light gray for light roast, to medium and dark grays for medium and dark roasts. Fermented coffee stands out with a red bar, emphasizing it's leading position. I kept the red color consistent for fermented coffee throughout the project to easily spot its prominence. Fermented coffee stood out with 37% of tasters rating it their top choice, outperforming the other coffee types by a significant margin. This finding drove the focus on understanding its market potential and profitability.

Chart 2: Willingness to pay

With fermented coffee emerging as the favorite, I wanted to see if this popularity translates into a willingness to spend more. The analysis shows that a significant portion (more than half) of the fermented coffee's respondents are open to paying more than the typical price for this coffee, which highlights its potential as a premium product. This insight is particularly valuable for investors, linking customer preferences directly with the possibility for higher earnings.

Chart 3: Demographic insights

In this section, I looked into age groups to see who's really into fermented coffee. The intent was to showcase that coffee preferences, particularly for newer offerings like fermented coffee, vary significantly across different age groups. My analysis focused on the hypothesis that fermented coffee might not yet have caught on with the older generations, as this "funky and "fruity" coffee variety was not available during their formative coffee drinking years. The survey data confirmed this hypothesis, showing stronger preference for fermented coffee among younger people. This is another important insight for investors considering which age groups to target in the coffee market. I also show the polarizing nature of fermented coffee. It's a hit with some and misses the mark with others, something that is not seen with the other coffee types (although it is not shown in my project, because the focus is on fermented coffee, but I did look into it).

Chart 4: Expert preferences and their spending patterns on coffee

In this section, I also showed the fondness for fermented coffee among various levels of coffee expertise, as defined by a scale where novices (1-3), intermediates (4-7), and experts (8-10) indicate their willingness to spend on it. One third of those who consider themselves experts spend over $60 a month on their coffee habits. This shows there's a market of people who don't mind paying for something special. This is another important insight and shows valuable market niche for investors. There's a customer base that not only prefers the unique taste of fermented coffee, but could also be willing to pay a premium for it.

Chart 5: A plan for investors

In the last section, my objective was to put together a game plan for investors, using all the insights I've gathered and shown in the previous charts/sections.

Lastly, I also briefly mentioned potential bias to these insights. The participants, being followers of a specific coffee YouTube channel, likely do not represent the broad spectrum of the US coffee drinking population. Their preferences could be skewed towards more specialty coffee types, including fermented coffee. Despite this bias, I believe that the insights obtained are relevant for investors aiming to start a coffee business with a focus on a niche audience. The survey resonates with an audience already passionate about coffee, and it wouldn't make any sense to ask people who don't drink coffee about their coffee preferences.

Tools used

I used Excel/Power Query for analysis and PowerPoint for overall design.