A study recently published on the “aesthetic homogenization” of independent coffee shops. It was recently published in a semi-scientific journal . We say “semi-scientific” because we think the study is terrible.
I’ll spare you the trouble of reading this if you can Here or as a summary via The Conversation Here. In low: independent coffee shops, by which they mean third-wave/specialty coffee shops, market themselves as the opposite of monolithic chains like Starbucks, but somehow they all look alike. This claim is supported by a survey of customers who were asked to visualize a specific specialty coffee shop and then select some of the design elements included within it.
The most common response, I don’t give a damn, was “Barista or staff with tattoos or piercings” – 66%. Never mind that people aren’t part of the design, but I’m actually shocked to learn that baristas, who are mostly younger and therefore more accepting of tattoos and piercings than older generations, have tattoos and piercings. Really revealing stuff here. Imagine devoting your entire life to studying such a harrowing and epoch-making dataset.
Other amazing discoveries included in this study include chalkboard signage, reclaimed wood furniture, local art, latte art, plants (?!) and exposed brick.
This is all bad research based on faulty premises to support what I believe is a predetermined conclusion. However, it sheds featherlight on an compelling design issue in the world of specialty coffee. And this is: here in 2026, what are the signs that a store will be high quality?
Specialized acolytes used them throughout almost the entire 21st centurystreet age to determine whether the café shared their love of coffee. However, the guidance has evolved as the industry has evolved. A coffee machine used to be quite uncomplicated to recognize. If you saw Linea, you knew everything looked good. Then came the preparation of pour-over coffee. Alternative milk options, specialty drinks, etc. Minimalism, pure white, open spaces, all of these signaled a specialty at some point before being absorbed by the mega-conglomo into a broader design aesthetic with global tendencies (around here we call these coffee shops
So what can we say about 2026? Or is it a combination of things? Choosing an espresso machine is always a good start, but it could be a thoughtful selection of a roaster or a nicely designed bag of coffee. Or the tea menu, which is arduous to execute carefully and usually indicates great care for the other drinks served.
But that’s why we’re turning to you, the Sprudge reader, someone who’s willing to think more deeply about coffee than the average consumer: what are you looking for? What are the signs that the store you enter for the first time will be a good one for you to order drinks, and not the one you will return to when things look dire? (We all have it, right?)
We ask you to tell us what gives you hope for really good coffee when visiting a café. Shoot us A DM on Instaemail us, call us and leave a cheeky voicemail at 1-888-55-SPRUDGE. Surely we can collectively come up with better answers than tattoos and beards, science journal be damned.
