Coffeetok / Coffee Autism

Submission 2,222

Part of a series on TikTok. [View Related Entries]

About

Coffeetok refers to a loosely connected TikTok, YouTube and Instagram community of coffee enthusiasts who post videos of meticulously brewing coffee using professional tools and devices. In 2023, Coffeetok surpassed its niche status, with coffeemaking videos being picked up by algorithms and reaching a wider audience, which inspired viral reactions on social media. Coffeetok has been referred to as Coffee Autism Content.

History

Some of the best-known Coffeetok creators include Tanner Colson (@tannercolson),^[1] Ethan Rode (@ethanrodecoffee),^[2] James Hoffmann (@jameshoffmanncoffe)^[3] and Hoon's Coffee (@hoons.coffee).^[4] Among them, @tannercolson was the earliest to post coffee-themed content on TikTok, having posted his first video^[5] on December 28th, 2019 (shown below, left; first video by @jameshoffmancofffee,^[6] posted on June 14th, 2020, shown below, right).

In the 2020-2023 period, multiple videos by Coffeetok creators went viral on TikTok and YouTube, with some garnering tens of millions of views. For example, a YouTube^[7] Short uploaded by Hoon's Coffee on September 25th, 2022, accumulated over 37 million views in one year (shown below, left). A YouTube Short^[8] posted by Tanner Colson on October 19th, 2022, garnered over 21 million views in the same period (shown below, right).

Impact

In November 2023, Coffeetok videos drew attention on social media outside of TikTok and YouTube after on November 14th X^[9] / Twitter user @LRH_Superfan shared a TikTok by @tannercolson, commenting, "Recently been obsessed with autistic coffee guys." The post (shown below, left) received over 1,100 reposts and 8,300 likes in two days, and inspired a discussion on X. For example, on November 14th, 2023, X^[10] user @Bic4ColorPen quoted the post with a comment about the gadgets used in the video. The post received over 1,300 reposts and 19,000 likes in two days (shown below, right).