23-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Coffee revolution brewing to meet Asia's growing demand
When Stuart Wee entered the coffee industry, he did so to fix what he saw as a fatal flaw in speciality coffee shops, mainly, that 'they don't seem very special any more'.
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Today, the co-founder of Singapore's immersive Restaurant Absurdities and its minimalistic Asylum Coffeehouse has adopted a strategy of quality and innovation, going so far as to spend two years developing his own roast using a cutting-edge, low-energy digital roaster from Taiwanese company Rubasse.
A barista makes latte art at Singapore's Asylum Coffeehouse. Photo: courtesy Asylum Coffeehouse
'Speciality coffee is still a niche product,' says Wee, 'so the challenge is to get the customer to try new products that aren't just high-volume milk-based ones.'
That there's a demand for such innovation in coffee is hardly surprising. Many markets within the Asia-Pacific region are relatively mature, driving demand for new offerings, but the region is also set to become the
fastest-growing coffee market in the world over the next few years, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.2 per cent, almost twice that of other regions, according to Mordor Intelligence market research.
Last year, the Specialty Coffee Association held the inaugural World of Coffee Asia convention in Busan, South Korea, while the second edition took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, last month.
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The Asia-Pacific region is home to a large cohort of young consumers with high disposable incomes, for whom, says Wee, 'coffee is increasingly seen not just as a treat but as an image product that appeals to the region's growing middle and upper-middle classes. This is why there's so much more choice in coffee now'.
