Coffee and tea move beyond function to embrace flavor-forward growth opportunities

Even though coffee and tea have long been staples at breakfast, in the afternoon as a pick-me-up or as a digestif, their popularity continues to rise, according to new data from the market research firm Spate and the National Coffee Association.

But what consumers reach for and when is changing, and this is boosting the beverages’ popularity and creating new marketing opportunities for brands.

Analysis of searches across Google, TikTok and Instagram by Spate reveals coffee’s popularity across the three is up 18.8% from June 2025 to May 2026 compared with the previous year. The increase is significantly higher on Instagram at 30.4%.

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While not as high, tea’s popularity is also up 8.3% in the same period, according to Spate, which notes the rise in its popularity again is much higher on Instagram at 14.6%.

This aligns with findings in the NCA’s National Coffee Data Trends Fall report, published Sept. 15, that found 66% of American adults reported drinking coffee the previous day – more than any other beverage in the survey, including bottled water, soda, tea and juice.

Despite being long established as a go-to beverage for many consumers, both reports revealed that the types of coffee consumers gravitate to are changing and that a main driver of the shift is flavor preferences.

For example, more American adults now drink specialty coffee than traditional coffee, according to NCA, which found a “new record” of 48% had a specialty coffee in the past day. Likewise, it found “a record-high of 47% of American adults had an espresso-based beverage in the past week, up by 17.5% since 2022.”

It attributes the rise in specialty coffee’s popularity to espresso-based beverages such as lattes, cappuccinos and café mochas – which Spate data reinforced and suggested are familiar formats that double as vehicles for comforting and creative flavor profiles.

Lattes lead the dessertification of coffee

According to Spate’s data, “latte coffee” is one of the fastest growing trends by popularity within the coffee category with a popularity index of 186.1 million – up 29.5 million from the previous year.

Also on the list of trends with rising popularity are cookie butter latte, banana bread latte and lavender latte, all of which qualify as having “high popularity,” according to Spate.

Less popular, but rising faster is cereal milk latte flavor (up 658.8% year-over-year), according to Spate.

“The trend is anchored in nostalgia, with cereal brands like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Pebbles showing strong association alongside Dunkin’, suggesting the format is being shaped by both familiar breakfast brands and mainstream coffee retailers,” Spate hypothesizes in a trend report.

“Flavor language skews nutty and vanilla-forward, reinforcing the drink’s positioning as a comforting, dessert-adjacent coffee riff rather than a straightforward coffee flavor extension,” it adds.

Sweet treats more commonly associated with the afternoon and evening are also influencing coffee flavors, as illustrated by Java Factory’s iconic frozen treat inspired flavors launching through the fall.

In collaboration with Klondike, Good Humor and Popsicle, Java Factory is “bringing some of America’s most recognizable frozen-treat brands to the coffee cup” as part of a larger effort to launch 52 flavors over 52 consecutive weeks, and in doing so land a spot in the Guinness World Records for the most unique coffee flavors launched by a coffee brand in a single year.

The launch taps directly into the nostalgia of hearing the music of an ice cream truck as a child and dropping everything to buy a frozen novelty before it was too late.

Flavor is not synonymous with sweet

Consumer interest in new flavors that drive discovery and experience are not limited to sweet profiles – they also lean into authentic notes of beans from different regions and via different preparation techniques.

For example, Vietnamese coffee’s popularity is up 72.7% across Google, TikTok and Instagram data, according to Spate.

Unlike cereal and cookie flavored lattes, Spate notes Vietnamese coffee’s “identity is built around bold, distinctive flavor rather than novelty alone.”

It calls out as top flavor notes “robust and caramelized” as “signaling differentiation on taste over aesthetics.”

Spate also found the popularity was up for robusta coffee (196.1%), cortado (38.3%), iced shaken espresso (32.5%) and black coffee (38.3%).

Discovery’s double meaning

The rise in both sweet nostalgic flavors and authentic alternatives based on provenance underscore the consumer interest in discovery and exploration as powerful growth drivers in coffee.

On one end the familiar flavors of cookie butter, banana bread and ice cream collaborations allow consumers to discover a new beverage through a flavor they already understand. On the other end of the flavor spectrum, consumers are discovering something unfamiliar through origin, preparation, ingredient or tradition.

Tea follows a similar flavor trajectory

Similar trends that blend flavor and function are playing out within tea, and especially matcha, according to Spate.

Matcha and matcha latte topped Spate’s list of tea trends growing in popularity with a year-over-year increase in popularity of 57.8% and 18% respectively. Both are off of large bases, making the growth even more notable.

Within matcha, both original and fruit-flavored options are gaining traction.

For example, mango matcha latte’s popularity rose 114.4% year-over-year, according to Spate, which attributed the increase to the beverage’s range of flavor associations “spanning herbaceous, tropical and sweet,” and its ability to balance matcha’s “earthy bitterness with mango’s fruit-forward sweetness.”

Other popular matcha flavors include strawberry matcha, which Spate reports has “very high popularity,” and is up 26.6% year-over-year.

La Colombe, which makes ready-to-drink draft coffee lattes, is expanding into matcha lattes with a new line of RTD beverages “made for enjoying matcha anytime, anywhere,” according to the company. The line includes three SKUs: Everyday Matcha Latte, Strawberry and Vanilla.

The launch responds in part to consumer demand for matcha at La Colombe’s cafes, where the brand reports matcha sales have grown 188% since 2023.

The expansion of matcha into RTD is another example of how flavor can create new occasions for familiar beverage categories. Rather than replacing coffee and tea’s established roles as sources of energy, focus or calm, these new flavor profiles and formats give consumers more reasons to engage with them, whether for a nostalgic treat, a new taste experience or a beverage rooted in a particular ingredient, origin or preparation.

Takeaway

Reflecting on consumers’ shifting interest in coffee and tea flavors, including the concentrated growth around “nostalgic, dessert-adjacent flavor territory rather than genuinely new formats,” Spate recommends “the safest bet for a brand’s next LTO may be a familiar childhood flavor reimagined as a coffee drink, not an unfamiliar ingredient.”

New flavors combined with established functional benefits create more reasons for consumers to reach for coffee and tea.