Even with the many myths and religious misconceptions of the beverage, coffee has come a long way in recent years. The 20th and 21st century have experienced significant growth in coffee distribution, mostly thanks to popular coffee chains, restaurants, and brands. Lately, independent coffee distributors are also making a killing in the industry. A significant percentage of this growth is related to technological factors.
Firstly, customer convenience and experience has dramatically improved, thanks to technology. People pick up a cup of coffee on the go as they head to work, which means that services need to be offered at high speed to satisfy a customer. Ordering and payments also need to keep up with the pace. With messaging software such as Apple’s iBeacon, Starbucks has been able to remain relevant in its marketing campaigns that have led to better coffee sales. 
With the chain’s own app, ordering and paying for drinks is also faster and less intrusive. This comes at a time when mobile payments are rising at a very fast rate, meaning that more people will need reputable and secure mobile payment methods to keep up with financial transactional changes.
Technology is also proving to be quite impactful outside the shops and cafes. Third Wave is a coffee movement seeking to raise coffee’s prestige to a level as high as wine. This movement uses technology such as Cropster to collect and share data that tracks its production line. It is then used to perform quality analysis from seed to cup. Such technological changes will help bridge a cultural gap between farmers and roasters, especially when farmers start to realize the kind of value increase it can cause.