We’re here to help you capitalize on a hot (cold) beverage trend with our new line of delicious, Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Mocha, French Vanilla and Caramel iced coffees. Or if you prefer a from-scratch approach our expert sales staff can teach you and your team everything you need to know about brewing iced coffee with a great Farmer Brothers recipe. Here are a few trends you should know about if you want to have iced coffee down cold.
Cold Coffee is Heating Up
Cold-served coffee’s share of all coffee on menus of US restaurants and coffee houses has increased from 19% to 22% between 2009 and 2012 and then made a further jump from 22% to 24% in the first quarter of 2013 (Mintel).
New Trend, Younger Drinkers
While 20% of US consumers drink iced coffee, this figure jumps to 38% of those aged 18-24, a preference they will carry with them as they age (Mintel). This same demographic is also prone to drinking coffee in afternoon dayparts, driving more traffic to locations with Iced Coffee (Datassential).
A Coffee for All Seasons
While Iced Coffee may be cold and refreshing, it has definitely left behind any notion of being a summer-only beverage. An online survey conducted by Burson-Marsteller showed 84% of iced coffee fans drinking more of the beverage in winter 2012 compared to 2011, a trend that also showed in the Mintel research (Nation’s Restaurant News).
Discerning Drinkers
Iced Coffee is also making appearances on the menus of some of the nation’s best restaurants and coffee houses in leading markets around the country (Daily News). Jonny Forsyth, Global Drinks Analyst for Mintel, found similar results in the firm’s research saying, “There is also an opportunity to premium-ize the iced and frozen coffee sector. Although many of these products are not aimed at coffee purists, it would be wrong to assume that iced coffee is dismissed by connoisseurs.” (Mintel)
Sources
- Datassential, Proprietary research for Farmer Brothers
- Mintel Group, “Americans enter the ice age-iced coffee goes beyond summer-only appeal”
- Nation’s Restaurant News, “Operators cater to winter iced-coffee cravings”
- New York Daily News, “Java drinkers in NYC are hot on a cold-brewed new product, with quality cups all around town”