The world-renowned restaurant noma, best known for redefining Nordic cuisine and earning multiple Michelin stars, has officially entered the specialty coffee market. The Danish restaurant has launched the Noma Kaffe subscription, offering two 250g bags of coffee per month. 

As the restaurant plans to close its doors for regular service in 2025, this new venture marks a strategic pivot into more accessible territory while preserving its commitment to quality, craftsmanship, and innovation. 

This subscription service is not a one-off gimmick. Instead, it’s part of a broader plan to diversify the restaurant’s offerings beyond fine dining. As coffee prices rise and global consumption continues to grow, more hospitality businesses are likely to follow suit, exploring new ways to incorporate specialty coffee into their brand identities.

I spoke to noma’s head of coffee, Carolyne Lane, to learn more.

You may also like our article on how specialty coffee has raised the bar in hospitality.

Specialty coffee & fine dining: A perfect fit

For many consumers, specialty coffee serves as a more accessible entry point into the world of gastronomy and fine dining. And for noma, which has long pledged to serve world-class coffee, its recent formal transition into the specialty coffee landscape feels both natural and deliberate. 

Over the years, noma has collaborated with industry leaders such as Tim Wendelboe and now staffs a team that includes a former head roaster from Berlin’s Bonanza Coffee. 

“I was impressed by the coffee setup when I first started,” says Carolyne Lane, the restaurant’s head of coffee. “Back then, it was even unusual for a coffee shop to measure extraction and strength and to dial in to such a precise degree.”

However, it wasn’t until they worked with Tim on a bespoke brewing method, the Nomacano, that the idea of roasting their own coffee took shape. 

“Tim approached us and asked when we were going to roast for ourselves,” Carolyne says. “It felt like the push, or permission, we needed.”

Initially roasting on a 3kg machine, Noma Kaffe scaled and moved to a co-roasting space used by other respected Danish brands such as April Coffee Roasters and Prolog. 

Carolyne explains that the decision to launch a subscription service is a way to build a stable foundation for offering exceptional yet sustainable coffees.

“A subscription made a lot of sense because it’s a relatively static and straightforward model – you roast the coffee, you send it out,” she says. “From this, we can gauge how we can grow in a way which feels sustainable; the first of anything will always generate a lot of hype and give you a disproportionate representation of what the actual demand for that product is.”

Sourcing coffee

Limiting initial sales to a subscription-only model helps mitigate risk for restaurants, especially those which are new to roasting. For noma, the idea was to also build from a model that could grow steadily and ethically, with enough structure to support long-term relationships with producers. 

The approach to work more sustainably also shaped the direction of its sourcing. The first subscription featured coffees from Ethiopia and Mexico, two origins that hold special significance for the restaurant. 

Ethiopia was the first coffee origin that the team visited in 2018 with Tim Wendelboe, and represents a strong link to genetically diverse coffee landscapes that mirror their passion for wild foraging.

“The notion that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee is alluring, and as a company that cares about wild ingredients, this makes a lot of sense,” Carolyne says.

Meanwhile, the relationship with producers in Mexico dates back to noma’s pop-up in Tulum in 2017. “The coffee from Tenejapa made such a huge impression on me because it’s so floral and bright, I could have sworn it was from Kenya,” she adds.

Rethinking coffee for restaurant service

Although it may not be its primary focus, coffee sales are a significant driver of revenue within the restaurant industry. According to World Coffee Portal, the global foodservice coffee market is expected to reach over US $748 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6.2% each year.

Restaurants across various categories, from fine dining to fast food, are increasingly incorporating coffee into their offerings. Jollibee Food Group, for instance, acquired stakes in Botrista in the US and Compose Coffee in South Korea in July 2024, marking significant steps in the company’s efforts to enhance its offerings through convenience and automation and expand into key coffee markets.

Outside of quick-service and fast-casual dining venues, adopting a convenience-focused approach to coffee may not always be the most effective strategy. Carolyne notes that many casual and fine dining restaurants attempt to replicate a coffee shop experience; however, as table service requires meticulous timing, she explains that restaurants have different needs when it comes to coffee service.

“The optimal scenario is that you clear the penultimate dessert from the table, and within one minute, you serve the coffee. Within another minute, the last dessert hits the table, but this level of service is highly demanding of staff,” she says. “When all of your guests are seated at the same time, they’re more or less on the same dishes at the same time. So in half an hour, 40 minutes, you’re expected to expedite dozens of coffees? That’s impossible.”  

To overcome this issue, noma worked with Tim Wendelboe to develop a unique brewing method, which allows staff to prepare filter-style coffee using an espresso machine. This means staff can brew larger volumes of coffee with a more consistent flavour profile and efficient workflow.

“We were able to serve a beverage at the right ‘strength’ for a method that uses half the amount of coffee per cup, which means you can buy better and more expensive green coffee,” Carolyn explains.

Will other restaurants follow suit?

While few restaurants have the resources or knowledge to launch a coffee roasting programme of noma’s scale, its foray into subscription services could inspire other food service businesses to reconsider their approach to coffee. 

Other fine dining restaurants, such as Alinea in Chicago, have long had a dedicated coffee programme and a “chef de caffeine”, but have yet to launch subscriptions or roast their own coffee.

The demand for premium and speciality coffee options is increasing, providing a wide range of restaurants with opportunities to boost revenue by catering to this trend. 

Some may follow a more accessible path by partnering with established wholesale roasters or developing private-label products. The UK’s Japanese-inspired chain Wagamama recently partnered with London’s Grind to offer premium coffee options, underscoring how branding and coffee quality are increasingly aligned in the food service industry.

While lucrative for restaurants, allowing them to diversify their revenue streams, Carolyne points out that the specialty coffee industry can also benefit from a growing focus on premium coffee in food service.

“There was more innovation in the first ten years of the specialty coffee movement than there is now, so I think there’s a lot of room for fresh perspectives,” she says.

But it requires a nuanced approach

As more restaurants experiment with specialty coffee offerings, it remains to be seen who will successfully navigate the industry’s complexities, especially as coffee prices continue to rise. 

Ultimately, it will come down to brand identity and values. For noma, coffee is an opportunity to reimagine its legacy beyond the restaurant walls, offering a more accessible product that mirrors its broader philosophy of quality and attention to detail.

But for other venues, convenience could be equally important as quality. Investing in fully automated systems that minimise workload and require less coffee knowledge and expertise to operate could be the best solution for these businesses.

Carolyne believes that restaurants can offer a unique perspective on coffee, one that can differ from the standard products available in coffee shops. 

Looking ahead, consumers’ growing demand for premium coffee options could reshape how restaurants engage with coffee, not just as a beverage, but as a core part of their culinary identity.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on why coffee shops need to prioritise hospitality in an era of convenience.

Photo credits: Noma Kaffe

Perfect Daily Grind

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!