Coffee Caravan Preview

The Steam Next Fest demo for Coffee Caravan feels like the first sip of a warm brew on a mellow morning — and before you know it, you’re ready for a second cup. Taking on the role of both barista and coffee truck owner, you’ll manage your business by purchasing appliances, setting up tables and decorations, grinding beans, and serving customers their drink orders. The more money you make, the more you get to expand your café on wheels.

This gameplay loop is exactly what comes to mind when I think of coffee games, and it draws me in every single time since I love getting into the groove of brewing drinks and seeing my profits tick up. But Coffee Caravan also embodies elements of another, rather different, game that I love: Slay the Spire. If you’ve played that roguelike card-battler, you’ll instantly recognise Coffee Caravan’s similar map, which has you ascend through levels until you reach a boss battle at the end — or, in this case, an extremely busy day at the café. Along the way, you’ll follow procedurally generated branching paths that give you options between easy or hard levels, treasure rooms, or shop visits.

When you choose a level to enter, you’ll get to set up your business before opening for the day. This involves organising your seating arrangements, placing your appliances, and selecting the recipes that you’ll serve. Some drinks take more steps than others, and they also have different costs. For example, a regular Drip Coffee will require you to grind beans, brew the coffee in a kettle, and serve it in a large cup, allowing you to earn six coins per cup sold. An Iced Coffee, on the other hand, is the same process, just with the added step of scooping ice into the mug before serving, which yields eight coins for every cup. You’ll need to be mindful of how long it takes to prepare drinks since customers have a Patience timer that depletes the longer they’re waiting. The more seating you have, the more customers you can serve at a time, but you’ll need to get to them in a timely manner, so finding a balance between each task is vital to keep things running smoothly.

Out of the levels I tried in the demo, most were relaxing and just challenging enough to stay engaging. However, I did mess up one with hard customers, missing the very last drink I was supposed to serve, which made me restart the map from the beginning. Collecting new appliances and decorations for your café will give you better odds of being successful, providing extra utility or helpful passives. You can get them from treasure rooms, but you’ll have more options when you stop by a shop as you progress through the levels; that’s when it’s time to invest your money back into your business. Suppose you’re looking to increase how long customers are willing to wait in the queue. In that case, you can place a Soothing Fountain near your caravan for an increase in their Patience timer, or you could get them in and out faster by putting down a Hungry Plant, decreasing their drinking time. On the coffee-making side of things, you can purchase a Turbo Coffee Maker, an automatic Grinder, and more that will be unveiled once the full game is released.

After playing this bite-sized slice of Coffee Caravan, I’m excited to see what more the game has in store. The prospect of expanding my coffee truck with more space and workstations is definitely exciting. I’m also partial to the game’s minimalist design and soft pastel colour palette, which feels especially cosy. If you give the demo a try, I recommend having your own warm brew to enjoy alongside your customers.