Trending customization is driving new coffee innovation.
Starbucks debuted its fall menu, which features new items like the Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Shaken Espresso, a combination of Starbucks Blonde Espresso and flavor notes like apple, cinnamon and brown sugar; and the Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Latte, inspired by a popular order customization.
Free Rein, a coffee brand from “Yellowstone” actor Cole Hauser, debuted its new line of coffee that “draws its spirit from the open promise of the American Dream,” according to the company. The line features six blends and features flavors like Heavy Spur, a high caffeine blend; Branded, a blend featuring cayenne and cinnamon; and American Dirt, a dark roast blend. Other flavors included in the line are Homestead, Prospect and Mesteño.
“With Free Rein, we're not only crafting a premium coffee experience, but also paying a heartfelt homage to the American Dream,” said Mr. Hauser, founder of Free Rein. “As a nation built on dreams and aspirations, we want to inspire the go-getters, the dreamers, and the believers to fuel their pursuits.”
Restaurant Brands International, Inc. company Tim Hortons brought cold-brew coffee directly to consumers’ homes with its Cold Brew Concentrate.
Available in flavors like medium blend black, birthday cake, cinnamon swirl and mocha cereal, each 32-oz container of the product creates eight individual servings when mixed with water and ice. The concentrate will be stocked across all 50 states in participating Walmart stores and regional grocers, marking the first Tim Hortons product made nationally available in the United States.
The Kraft Heinz Co. brought IHOP-branded coffee to grocery store shelves nationwide.
Made with arabica beans, the coffees are available in three varieties: signature blend, Buttery Syrup, and pancake-flavored Chocolate Chocolate Chip. All three are sold in K-Cup pods and bagged ground formats that have a suggested retail price of $7.99.
“Given Kraft Heinz's heritage with iconic coffee brands, we’re thrilled to leverage our longstanding category experience to create a premium coffee product,” said Kaitlin Roe, director of marketing at Kraft Heinz. “This partnership allows us to combine our scale and capabilities with the power of a fan favorite brand like IHOP to reach new consumers in the market.”
Specialty food and powder producer Z Natural Foods launched its Organic Instant 7 Mushroom Coffee. The company’s latest organic offering is formulated with seven types of mushrooms: lion’s mane, shiitake, turkey tail, chaga, cordyceps, maitake and red reishi.
The fungi-laden ingredient list is intended to provide a combination of wellness benefits, such as cognitive support and immune system enhancement, according to the company. Each serving of the powdered Arabica coffee and mushroom blend contains 90 mgs of caffeine.
Maxwell House, a division of the Kraft Heinz Co., added three flavors of iced lattes with foam to its portfolio. The flavors included in the new release are vanilla, hazelnut and caramel. To make the iced coffee, consumers need to add the individual packet to iced water and stir. The foaming agent also is included in the sachet.
“As iced beverages continue to rise in coffee shops, this opens a huge opportunity to continue the growth of cold in the coffee aisle at grocery stores,” said Sweta Kannan, director of marketing and coffee innovation at Kraft Heinz. “Our never-before-seen cold-stirred foam technology will allow coffee lovers to save the time and money of going to a coffee shop, and instead inspire them to unleash their inner barista by providing an easy-to-make cafe style experience with every sip in three simple steps.”
The Original Donut Shop, a brand from Keurig Dr Pepper, launched Cinnamon Toast Crunch-flavored K-Cup pods in collaboration with General Mills, Inc.
Dunkin’ launched Dunkin’ Spiked, a retail line of alcoholic iced coffee and iced tea beverages.
Initial flavors include original iced coffee, caramel iced coffee, mocha iced coffee and vanilla iced coffee, each with a 6% alcohol by volume (ABV).
Dunkin’s spiked teas have an ABV of 5% and will be available in slightly sweet iced tea, half-and-half iced tea, strawberry dragon fruit iced tea and mango pineapple iced tea varieties. The ready-to-drink products follow several seasonal beer collaborations with Harpoon Brewery.
“The growing appetite for adult beverages inspired us to put a twist on our customers’ favorite Dunkin’ Iced Coffee, Iced Tea and Refresher flavors,” said Brian Gilbert, vice president of Retail Business Development at Dunkin’. “Dunkin’ Spiked is perfect for day or night enjoyment and comes in eight distinct flavors, available in grocery and package stores later this month. This new line of ready-to-drink adult beverages elevates Dunkin’s offerings, and we know our 21-plus fans will love every sip.”
SunOpta expanded its plant-based coffee creamer brand Sown with the addition of its Brown Sugar Organic Oat Creamer.
The creamer is formulated from organic ingredients like hydrolyzed oats, cane sugar, and canola oil, along with natural flavors. The gluten-free dairy alternative contains 30 calories and 4 grams of sugar per serving and is packaged in 32-oz cartons.
Single-serve coffee startup Bruvi focused on sustainability launched two coffee pod offerings in partnership with beverage brands LAMILL Coffee and Joyride.
The cooperative effort brings LAMILL’s Black Onyx blend and Joyride’s cold brew to the Bruvi homebrewing system designed to provide convenient, cafe-quality coffee. Bruvi’s partner roasts will be packaged in its proprietary B-Pods, single-use containers infused with a bio-enzyme that quickly breaks down waste and microplastics.
“This is a milestone for us,” said Mel Elias, co-founder of Bruvi. “Superior craft brands selling their coffee in Bruvi B-Pods is an important endorsement of our system.”
Frazy, a custom beverage startup, developed a line of shelf-stable boba tea. The product builds off the company’s Frazy Bottles coffee format and comes with a 2.5-oz aluminum bottle of tea concentrate, a vacuum-sealed packet of boba tapioca pearls and milk powder. After softening the tapioca pearls in the microwave for three seconds, the ingredients can be combined with hot or cold water to create an 8-oz beverage.
Jordan’s Skinny Mixes unveiled its naturally sweetened Pumpkin Spice Syrup.
The zero-calorie, sugar-free product is aimed at health-conscious consumers seeking a fall flavor addition for coffee, tea, protein shakes, smoothies, oatmeal and several other beverage and baking applications. Skinny Mixes’ syrup contains flavor notes like pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and is formulated with a stevia, monk fruit and erythritol sweetener blend.
Nov
2023
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