Dive Brief:
- Nestlé is lauching Nescafé Espresso Concentrate to appeal to cold coffee drinkers.
- The Nescafé Espresso Concentrate is available in two flavors: Sweet Vanilla and Espresso Black. The product is debuting at selected retailers in Australia, in bottle format, and e-commerce platforms in China as a single-serve pod to pour over milk, water, or juice. It is set to expand to markets worldwide during the coming years.
- As millennials and Gen Z consumers show a penchant for exploring new coffee varieties and flavors, iced coffees have been among the biggest beneficiaries. The cold brew coffee segment is poised to grow from just under $500 million in 2022 to $3.11 billion by 2030, data from Skyquest showed.
Dive Insight:
As coffee consumption patterns evolve, Nestlé is positioning its broad coffee portfolio to ensure it keeps pace.
In 2023, a third of coffee consumed out of home was cold, according to the food and beverage giant. It noted that the segment is one of the fastest growing in the coffee industry, with a 15% consumption increase in the past four years. At Starbucks, cold coffee makes up 75% of the drinks sold in warm months, and 60% of the drinks sold in winter, The New York Times reported.
Younger generations, in particular, have embraced drinking their coffee cold. According to Keurig Dr Pepper, 73% of Gen Z consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 drink iced coffee weekly.
The move to launch Nescafé Espresso Concentrate allows Nestlé to further tap into a consumer base that will gradually make up a larger portion of its future sales. At the same time, consumers are aiming to replicate at home the barista-style drinks they purchase in coffeehouses — a shift that has gained momentum amid the surge in inflation during the last few years.
“Young coffee consumers start drinking their coffee cold,” Philipp Navratil, head of Nestlé’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit, said in a statement. “With the Nescafé Espresso Concentrate we want to capture the growing out of home cold coffee trend and bring it in-home, with a quality premium cold coffee, in a convenient, simple, and customizable way.”
Last October, Nestlé announced it was bringing its popular Coffee Mate creamer brand into iced coffee. It was the first major innovation for the brand since its inception more than 60 years ago. Other offerings in its portfolio have a cold brew presence, including Blue Bottle.
For Nestlé, the cold coffee offerings not only position the company and its brands with the current trend but also increase the likelihood that younger consumers will remain loyal going forward. An individual could find that as they age or the seasons change, they want a warmer, more conventional cup of coffee. Nescafé, which is best known for its instant coffee, now has a broader suite of offerings to better meet those needs.
