Escalating coffee prices, tighter consumer budgets and changing preferences has paved way for a new product concept that allows consumers to make coffeeshop-style drinks at home: Coffee concentrates.
Research from Danone indicates that today’s consumers, particularly the young, are looking to get more out of their coffee at home – whether that be in the form of more flavour, novel formats or more customisation. It also found that Millennials and Gen Z are 50% more likely than older consumers to make café-style coffee at home.
Coffee concentrates are intended to make this easier, being a convenient and versatile option that can be blended with milk, water or, for a more adventurous drink, lemonade or juice. The concentrates work best for cold coffee drinks, which also aligns with the preferences of today’s young consumers. According to research from Nestlé, more than 50% of young consumers regularly drink iced coffee and 32% of the coffee consumed out of home in 2023 was cold. Nestlé calls iced coffee “one of the fastest growing in the coffee industry, with a 15% consumption increase in the past four years.”
Sometimes referred to as “ultra coffee”, coffee concentrates have been popular in Asia and the US for about a decade but only recently started to pop up in the European market. According to data from GNPD Mintel, Europe launches of coffee concentrates went from 4 in 2024 to 11 in the first six months of 2025 with anything from small independents to private label brands getting involved.
One significant launch came from Nestlé earlier this year, in the form of espresso concentrate sold under its instant coffee brand Nescafé. The product was originally launched in Australia, China, Japan and the US but is now also available in the UK with more European markets in the pipeline.
The launch is part of the coffee giant’s attempt to reinvent itself for a younger (18-24) audience, which also includes a collaboration with major influencer Zach King (82m followers on TikTok) to promote the coffee concentrate as a novel, more exciting option to its Nescafé instant coffee or its Nespresso pods.
Philipp Navratil, Head of Nestlé’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit, said in a press statement: "Young coffee consumers start drinking their coffee cold. 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."
