Coffee Instagram Posts

Instagram has 146M posts tagged #coffee; this dwarfs #tea which has 37.5M posts. With millions of posts to compete with, it's strategically valuable to know what makes a winning coffee post.

A high-performing Instagram post is comprised of three components:

1. Image,
2. Caption, and
3. Hashtags.

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For Instagram users who want their coffee image to become a Top Post, this article provides research and insight into how your posts can become popular.

Images That Perform Well On Coffee Instagram Posts

Steeped Content analyzed 500 #coffee Top Posts and found three clear trends among winning images.

Product-Focused Photos Perform

Product-focused content features coffee as a prominent visual. Often these are striking images of lattes and cappuccinos. According to Steeped Content’s research, 56% of the Top Posts for #Coffee is purely product-focused; they showcase coffee without visual distractions.

The mood of these product-focused coffee posts varied from playful to elegant, to masculine refinement.

Of the 56% of product-focused photos, 30% featured lattes, 25% featured cappuccinos, 17% featured pour-over coffee, and 8% featured ice coffee. Other photos represent the remaining 20% of product-focused photos.

People Like People

An image of a person draws in the human eye. Research shows that we are hardwired to see faces, even when the faces are perceived, not real. 34 % of the Top Posts for #coffee featured a person. Of photos featuring people, 38% were male and 62% were female.

Lifestyle Content Resonates

Lifestyle content represented 33 % of the Top Posts for #coffee, and trends were evident. 34 % of lifestyle content featured cafes, 66 % featured the outdoors; both represent an opportunity.

Cafes with an attractive look and feel position themselves as an attentive venue in which coffee drinkers can create and publish aesthetic content. The person publishing the Instagram post benefits from the cafe's ambiance, and in some cases prestige; the cafe gains user-generated content, benefiting their marketing.

Lifestyle content showcasing the outdoors can be a creative opportunity to highlight the benefits and attributes of your coffee, like energy and aroma. Outdoor and fitness content is well geared for storytelling, which can add variety to your captions.

Coffee Instagram Captions

An Instagram post of coffee can perform well, even without a good caption. Here is a photo that garnered 5559 likes and 53 comments with a thin to nonexistent caption.

Even if it’s not strictly necessary, a compelling caption increases your odds of successfully achieving Top Post ranking. Strong captions give people a reason and opportunity to engage more deeply with your content, which Instagram rewards.

Coffee captions fall into one of three categories:

1. Personal
2. Timely
3. Contextual

Personal Captions

Personal captions reflect a taste or attribute of the publisher, and because such captions feel personal, they tend to get higher engagement. Engagement is a variable Instagram uses in defining high-performing posts.

Consider how each of these five statements can be crafted into an Instagram caption that feels personal:

1. I want a boyfriend like my coffee; hot, strong, and ready to go.
2. I could rule the world (with enough coffee).
3. Today’s to-do list is sponsored by coffee.
4. Some call it confidence – I call it caffeine.
5. The hot friend I was telling you about - coffee.
6. Just in: my mug shot.

Brands and coffee influencers can benefit from incorporating personal captions into their posts of coffee. Such captions make you more relatable and can build attachment within your audience.

Here are three real-world examples of Top Posts for #coffee that uses personal captions successfully.

Timely Captions

Timely captions are relevant to a specific period (e.g., holiday or season). Incorporating timely captions into your coffee post may enable you to use other trends to gain prominence; this is particularly effective when the captain and hashtags are used to reflect a timely trend.

See how each of these statements may be a hook for a timely caption:

1. Fall? Pumpkin spice lattes reign supreme, obvi
2. Winter is for hot, steamy peppermint mochas.
3. Spring brings growth and lavender lattes.
4. Ahh summer - the season of love. I love ice coffee, you love ice coffee
5. Mugs and kisses
6. Love is in the air - it smells like coffee

Here are three examples of Top Posts for #coffee that uses great timely captions:

Contextual Captions

Contextual captions are relevant to a specific audience. Using such captions can expose you to a broader or more interested audience; they can also be a playful link to mainstream cultural references (e.g., songs, books, events).

Consider how each of these statements demonstrates contextual relevance within an audience:

1. I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
2. Wanna hear a joke? Decaf
3. I like big cups and I cannot lie.
4. Hit me with your best shot.
5. Seeking: a tall, dark, rich cup of coffee
6. If I were a wizard, my Patronus would be coffee.

Three examples showcasing contextual captions are shown below:

Coffee Quotes, Jokes, And Puns

Coffee Quotes

Coffee quotes can lend your Instagram posts an air of wisdom and act as effective hooks for your captions.

Here are 12 coffee quotes for Instagram:

1. If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever. - David Letterman
2. I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon. -Ronald Regan
3. Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second. - Edward Abbey
4. I judge a restaurant by the bread and by the coffee. - Burt Lancaster
5. It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom. - Jonathan Swift
6. Coffee is the common man’s gold, and like gold, it brings to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility. - Sheik-Abd-al-Kadir
7. Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love. - Turkish Proverb
8. The smell of fresh-made coffee is one of the greatest inventions. - Hugh Jackman
9. Coffee is the favorite drink of the civilized world. - Thomas Jefferson
10. I’ll quit coffee. It won’t be easy drinking my Bailey’s straight, but I’ll get used to it. It’ll still be the best part of waking up. - Megan Mullally
11. It’s amazing how the world begins to change through the eyes of a cup of coffee. - Donna A. Favors
12. Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break. - Earl Wilson

Jokes And Coffee Puns

Jokes and coffee puns can playfully engage your audience; using them can make your brand feel quirky and fun. For creators, jokes and puns can be fodder for engaging Instagram stores.

Here are twelve great jokes and coffee puns for Instagram:

1. He’s just not that into brew
2. Words cannot espresso how much you bean to me.
3. I love you a latte!
4. I don’t give a frappe about anything else.
5. We’re the perfect blend.
6. Where have you bean all my life?
7. You mocha me very happy.
8. What’s the best Beatles’ song to play at a coffee shop? Latte Be!
9. How did Henry VIII like his coffee? Decap.
10. How does Moses make coffee? He-brews it.
11. Why did the coffee call the police? Because it was mugged.
12. What’s fat, slimy, and drinks a lot of coffee? java the hut.

Coffee Hashtags

Those using #coffee in their posts should use at least 3-5 additional hashtags. Use hashtags to segment and narrow your target audience, those who you want to see and engage with your post.

Adjust your hashtag use based on if your caption is personal, timely, or contextual. Here are three Instagram coffee posts that do just that:

Cafes, coffee brands, and coffee influencers should audit the hashtags their audience follows and incorporate them into their content.

Cafe Instagram Posts

Instagram Photos For Cafes

Your business Instagram account should reflect the look and feel of your cafe, as social media marketing is one aspect of digital marketing for cafes.

Here are three examples of coffee shop Instagram posts that are well executed:

Cafe Captions For Instagram

High-performing Instagram accounts focused on coffee provide more than pretty pictures; they offer education and inspiration. The captions used on your cafe’s Instagram posts should align with your coffee shop branding.