A dairy co-operative has reinvented an American staple, the coffee creamer, taking it back to the basics by using real cream.

Launched under the Darigold brand, Seattle-based Northwest Dairy Association added the Belle brand of coffee creamers to its range earlier this year. The line features four flavours: vanilla, sweet cream, hazelnut and caramel, all sold refrigerated. Made with only five ingredients, unlike competing products that often contain ten or eleven, the products are free from fillers and oils. They are also lactose-free.

The ‘clean’ ingredient list is at the centre of the marketing strategy for the product, which focuses on connecting to the Real Food trend with messages like “your coffee deserves real cream” and “all the good, none of the bad”.

“Looking at the leading brands of coffee creamer today, it’s a bit of a misnomer to call them ‘creamers’ since they are not made with real cream,” said Sam Cohen, head of marketing at Darigold. “Like margarine, most common coffee creamers today are made with vegetable oils, not real cream, and tend to have as many as 10 or more ingredients. Belle Creamers are made with just five simple ingredients, including real cream and natural flavors, making them actual coffee cream rather than coffee oilers.”

The product is deliberately premium priced, selling at $8.99 (€8.41) per 828ml bottle. That’s 71% more expensive than Nestle’s liquid creamer Coffemate and 10% more expensive than Chobani’s liquid creamer.

Darigold appears to have invested a lot in the launch, creating a well-developed website specifically for the Belle creamers (www.darigoldbelle.com) and investing in influencer partnerships to spread awareness. In March 2024 it launched a video campaign across the main social media platforms which carried the tagline “Real tastes better”.

According to Dan Hofmeister, president of Darigold’s business to consumer division, the hope is that on-trend products like the Belle creamers will help “reinvigorate our 100-year-old brand and build more value for our famer-owners.”