On Monday, March 6, our Coffee & Specialty Beverage Applications team attended Coffee Fest in NYC. Beyond connecting suppliers and buyers, the show allows attendees to taste new products, discover & share new coffee trends & connect with passionate members of the specialty coffee and beverage community.
After a day of touring, tasting and talking, our team came back with a lot of exciting insights to fuel our beverage innovation. Top takeaways include:
Functional Finesse: Mushrooms are continuing to gain mainstream popularity as a common adaptogen in functional beverages, and the newest craze is the Chaga Super Mushroom. Studies have found it to benefit cognitive function, relieve stress, increase energy/endurance, have antiaging properties, improve gut help and regulate alkalinity in the body.
Powered-Up Energy: Utilizing natural caffeine sources in tandem with B vitamins and amino acids are continuing to take the energy segment by storm. We are also seeing an increase in energy beverages introduced at the coffee shop level as an another point of purchase, creating the power to choose and customize beverages to your liking. Capable of making colorful, layered beverages that are social media gold!
Alt-Milk Expansion: Alternative milk manufacturers are taking coffee house beverages to the next level with newly modified barista formulas that don’t sacrifice taste, mouthfeel or foaming capabilities to create amazing latte art.
Sip of Refreshment: Brands are making the unknown more approachable by combining progressive flavor trends with the comfort of mainstream fruits for a fun twist.
Coffee Fest provided a great opportunity for the FFS-Lucta Beverage Team to keep a finger on the pulse of emerging coffeehouse beverage trends. As explorers, pioneers, and innovators, our team is dedicated to boldly exploring beverage flavor frontiers in order to inspire and satisfy consumer expectations. Utilizing real-time, unique marketing data and technical analysis we discover & deliver WHAT’S NEXT in beverage flavor innovations. Discover how we can help you get your ideas to a thirsty market!
For more information on this topic, please contact: customer.care@ffs.com