How important is branding and design for cold brew cans?
Cold brew is experiencing tremendous growth on an international scale. The market, covering in-store sales, cold brew cans, and serving formats, was valued at $3.1 billion in early 2024 and is forecasted to increase at a 22.67% CAGR over the next eight years.
The United States leads the vanguard of the cold brew revolution, but increasingly, other markets, including Europe and the United Kingdom, are beginning to contribute to the trend. According to Finlays, a British commercial coffee roaster, the number of brands in the UK selling cold brew is increasing by 140% year-on-year.
Specialty coffee roasters have long praised cold brew coffee, finding it an effective way to highlight the nuances and delicacy of the best coffee beans in the world in cold form.
We spoke with Peter Dore-Smith, the founder and director of Kaffeine, to learn more about how the iconic London-based coffee company thinks about specialty coffee, cold brew, and branding aesthetics.
Cold brew development across the pond
The UK is home to some of the world’s leading specialty coffee companies – Kaffeine, Caravan, and Grind are just a few examples. Consumers with a taste for the highest-quality coffee are spoiled for choice, especially in London.
Nevertheless, for various reasons – climate, consumer behaviour, and a long tradition of tea drinking – the broader British coffee market tends to lag behind its counterparts in the United States and Asia when it comes to cold coffee.
More recently, though, there have been signs of a growing interest in colder options, catalysed by the import of the popular Starbucks frappuccino in the late 2000s. Cold coffee is more popular than ever among British consumers, and in many respects, cold brew is leading the charge.
“We make our own cold brew at Kaffeine,” says Peter. “We’re very proud of it. It’s straightforward to make in–house, our baristas enjoy preparing and serving it, and it is very popular. At the moment, we only sell it during the warmer summer months.
“I certainly see cold brew as a growth category for specialty coffee in the UK. It’s easy to make if you have the right water, the right coffee and the right level of knowledge and expertise among your staff. We expect people to keep coming back for cold brew and to recommend it to their friends.”
For now, Kaffeine limits its cold brew sales to strictly over-the-counter during times of the year when consumers are seeking a more refreshing caffeine fix. Hot coffee still dominates the winter sales mix, but perhaps not for long.
In the US, 75% of coffee drinks sold at Starbucks are served cold – even the frozen version of the legendary pumpkin spice latte outperforms its warmer sire. If past trans-Atlantic coffee trends are anything to go by, we can expect more and more British coffee drinkers to order cold options, too.
RTD cold brew and coffee on-the-go
Several British coffee companies already sell cold brew cans in-store, online, and in supermarkets and other FMCG outlets. For example, Grind offers two vegan cold brew can options, Chamberlain Coffee offers cold brew bags for easy, single-serve preparation at home, and Union offers cold brew concentrate in a bag-in-box packaging solution.
Specialty coffee companies are often first to the party on key future trends, as they were when Peter Hall, James Gurnsey, and Cameron McClure introduced the flat white to Brits in 2005 at their eponymous Soho café. UK roasters retailing cold brew is a positive sign for the category.
However, success in the wildly competitive British food and beverage retail space requires a different approach than those deployed in coffee shops and roasteries. Coffee brands don’t have consumer experience or well-trained staff to trade on. Cold brew cans need to leverage excellent brand reputation, eye-catching design aesthetics, and sustainable packaging to convert customers into grocery store aisles successfully.
“We take the packaging and branding of our retail products very, very, seriously,” Peter says.
“Luckily, my wife works as a finishing artist at one of the best FMCG packaging design companies in the world! Everything that goes on the shelf or is part of the Kaffeine aesthetic must be approved by her. I have my own personal design and branding manager, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.
“There do seem to be some average places or products out there that are successful despite having, in my opinion, a poor design aesthetic, but generally, if your products don’t look good, aren’t taken care of, or have the minor details adequately considered, then I question their prospects. They have to be appropriate for the target market, and you have to spend time getting the design right.”
As Peter points out, product aesthetics is crucial to FMCG success. Consumers are more transient and discerning than ever before, thanks in part to the increasing number of high-quality coffee products available in convenient forms. Your brand needs to jump off the shelf.
“We prefer to use sustainable packaging materials as much as possible,” Peter adds.
“Everything can have its drawbacks, of course. If you have a product that is recyclable, you need to make sure you and your customers have the facilities to recycle that product logistically. There isn’t much point if the only bin available is a mixed material one.”
Luckily, shopper education about sustainable practices, recycling, and composting is steadily improving. Using materials, like cold brew cans, that are easy for consumers to recycle properly helps brand image and reputation and helps those consumers lead more sustainable lifestyles.
Aluminium is one of the most widely recycled packaging materials available, and using cold brew cans to package your RTD coffee is an excellent way to convert new customers, expand your product portfolios, and engage in more sustainable business practices.
At Cold Brew Pak, we offer custom cold brew cans for recycle-ready coffee packaging. Our cans are also immensely customisable, a 360-degree canvas for your team to design as it wishes, convey key messages, and really jump off the shelf.
Moreover, cold brew cans are robust and lightweight, helping you reduce your logistics carbon footprint. They are also shelf-stable for more extended periods of time, which means happier retailers when it comes to supplier discussions.
To source your own line of cold brew cans, visit our website or contact our team directly.
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Cold brew cans
Images provided by Kaffeine
