The Top 4 Beverage Trends for Spring

Pull up a chair and and your reusable straw; it’s time to dive into beverage trends for spring, 2021.

Our latest beverage trend report explores:

• The influence health and wellness holds over today’s beverages
• What draws consumers to gut-health-boosting drinks
• The formats and flavors that are a good fit for RTD and ‘on the go’ beverages
• And more!

Read on for a bite-sized look at today’s top beverage insights, and download the report for the full landscape.

Health & wellness

• Consumer interest in turmeric is growing +6% MoM for immunity needs, which is a significant motivation for consumers interested in health & wellness. Turmeric continues to emerge as a beverage trend, especially for health and wellness applications. – Consumer interest in turmeric tea is up 25% YoY, attributable to the ingredient’s immunity-boosting qualities, and its anti-inflammatory benefits: consumers associate anti-inflammation with turmeric 90x more than food and beverage on average.
• Market your turmeric-focused beverages by using the claims that consumers are most drawn to!

Indulgence

• Today’s landscape of indulgent beverages is highly influenced by health and wellness trends. Consumers consider healthy beverages to be indulgent 3.5x more than average food and beverage!
• Consumer interest in cacao, a roasted, unprocessed bean often used in vegan chocolate, is up 22% YoY. The ingredient has a long heritage of functional benefits, and is finding new beverage applications at breakfast, for dessert, or on-the-go. When creating new beverages for indulgence-minded consumers, consider tapping into ‘authentic’ ingredients like cacao that combine health with decadent flavors.

Experiential

• What’s going on with CBD? The mature trend is finding new life in beverage applications like CBD iced tea. Used for its functional benefits like stress relief, CBD combines with refreshing, healthy ingredients like mint, ginger, and hibiscus to create a luxe, healthy drinking experience.
• Menu mentions of CBD iced tea are up 16% MoM on average, while restaurant buzz about the beverage is up 9% MoM on average.
• When selling CBD iced tea to foodservice partners, make sure to emphasize the alignment between the beverages qualities and today’s growing beverage trends.

Gut health

• Water kefir shows early signals of a successful foodservice trend; this probiotic drink is an up-and-comer to watch. Probiotics are highly associated with gut health; interest in gut health itself is up 31% among consumers.
• Kefir, a strong fermented yogurt drink, can be a bit inaccessible for the uninitiated; water kefir takes the best qualities of its yogurt cousin, and adapts them to a sparkling beverage context. Consumers are responding well – and even associate gut health more with water kefir than its predecessor!
• When developing a new gut-health friendly beverage, consider choosing a beverage like water kefir which is tasty, accessible, and high in functional benefits.

Ready for the full report? Download it for free!