With so many innovations today, the Specialty Coffee Association gets answers from their members - top professionals and baristas - on strongest trends in the booming industry The 25th annual event of the Specialty Coffee Association of America is in full swing in Boston, Massachusetts. The black gold has many adoring fans - who take it as serious as a science, complete with talk on lipids, aromas, farming, plant diseases, sustainability, economics and supply and demand. The largest coffee association in the world surveyed their members - which hail from over 40 countries – to publish their insight on Sunday regarding what's going to be trending in the next year. Coffee lovers, cafes and anyone interested in opening a café… drum roll please! Professionals in the coffee industry say that the top five trends for 2013 are: 1.       Innovation in consumer experience 2.       Innovation in at-home preparations 3.       Equipment designed to facilitate barista involvement with the consumer 4.       Efficiency in brewing tools 5.       App-based services And they also say that people will be talking about: 1.       Coffee Rust (fungus that devastates coffee plantations and drives prices up) 2.       Quality shortfall 3.       Pre-competitive collaboration (collaboration with public sector or competitors in early stages so as to reduce costs) 4.       Coffee and science 5.       Future supply and demand The professionals surveyed would choose their top five each of the following possible trends in two separate categories: Category I: Trends in Products and Services Innovation in the consumer experience; Innovations in at-home preparation; Equipment designed to facilitate barista involvement with the consumer; Interactive touch screens; Healthy alternatives; Compostable products (for instance, wrappers that are bio-friendly and actually decompose); Focus on sustainability; App-based services; Cashless transaction solutions; Social POS (Points of Sale); Green Coffee Extract (unroasted coffee beans with the reputation for helping with weight loss); “Smart” coffee tools (gadgets and innovations); Caffeine-added foods; Efficiency in manual brewing tools; Producers decaffeinating green coffee and Innovation in the consumer experience.       Category II: What people are going to be talking about in 2013 Coffee Rust; Relationship between market prices / differentials (price difference of two products or of the same product in a different place); Supply constraint; Robusta growth; Quality shortfall; Farmer economic viability; Pre-competitive collaboration; Coffee & science; Coffee genetics; Future supply and demand; Climate change; China / emerging markets. Source: english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/7/49/69275/Life--Style/Food/Top--coffee-trends,-according-to-the-pros.aspx