Top Drink Trends of 2023
Our hand-picked collection of the top drink trends of 2023. The topics in this report on today’s emerging drink trends are selected for their high growth across sites including Google, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Amazon. Read more about how we track global trends.
Prime Energy Drink
Prime Energy Drink is a high-caffeine energy drink that is marketed as a vegan product. The drink is made with a blend of coconut water, B vitamins, electrolytes, and caffeine, and is said to help improve energy, focus, and endurance. The drink company was founded and popularized by influencers Logan Paul and KSI. … Read more
Air Up Bottle
The Air Up Bottle is a refillable water bottle with a scented component near the cap. This fools the brain into thinking that the water is flavored when in reality it’s just plain water. The bottle is popular with dieters and health advocates alike. … Read more
Poppi Soda
Poppi Soda is a line of fruit-flavored sodas that are made with real fruit juice and no artificial colors or flavors. The sodas are available in six flavors: apple, grape, orange, pineapple, raspberry, and strawberry. … Read more
Olipop
Olipop is a brand of canned sparkling tonic that uses plant-based ingredients and prebiotics as a healthier alternative to soda. It also uses cassava, fruit juice, and stevia as sweeteners. … Read more
Mogu Mogu Drink
Mogu mogu is a drink that is made from fruit juice, nata de coco, and sweeteners. The drink originated from Thailand and is marketed as a healthy alternative to soda and other sugary drinks. … Read more
Ghost Energy Drink
Ghost Energy Drink is a carbonated beverage that is marketed as a “supercharged energy drink.” The drink is made with caffeine, taurine, B-vitamins, and guarana and is available in several flavors. … Read more
LMNT
LMNT is an electrolyte drink mix that is sugar-free and gluten-free. The brand aims to improve health through hydration and is known for its optimal ratio of electrolytes which contains higher sodium content. … Read more
Mushroom Coffee
Mushroom coffee is coffee that is made with mushrooms added to it. The mushrooms used can be either fresh or dried, and can include varieties such as chaga, lion’s mane, and reishi. The mushrooms are said to add various health benefits to the coffee, such as boosting energy levels and improving cognitive function. … Read more
Cloves Water
Cloves water is a drink that is made by boiling cloves in water. The drink is said to be beneficial in relieving respiratory problems, such as asthma and bronchitis, and in boosting the immune system. … Read more
BeatBox Drink
A BeatBox Drink is a ready-to-drink cocktail packed in eco-friendly tetra packaging. It is an alternative wine-based drink to bring to parties and events, and is popular among Millennials. … Read more
Liquid Death
Liquid Death is a brand of canned water that is rich in minerals and electrolytes. The water comes from deep underground mountain source, purified, and then bottled in aluminum cans, maintaining the original mineral profile of water. … Read more
Gut Drink
Gut drinks are beverages that are intended to improve gut health. The drinks are made with probiotics and other ingredients that are said to support gut health. … Read more
Adaptogen
An adaptogen is a natural substance that is believed to help the body adapt to stress. The term is used to describe a wide variety of substances, including herbs, mushrooms, and minerals. … Read more
Spanish Latte
A Spanish Latte is a latte that is made with espresso, steamed milk, and a sweetened condensed milk. The drink is popular in Spain and is often served with a layer of foam on top. … Read more
Ginger Shots
Ginger Shots are beverages that are made with ginger and other complementary ingredients. The shots are meant to be consumed as a way to improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and boost the immune system. … Read more
HTeaO
HTeaO is a Texas-based tea bar that offers premium iced tea with 27 flavors to choose from. The company uses all natural flavors and uses cane sugar as a sweetener. … Read more
GLOW Drink
The GLOW drink is an electrolyte drink that is meant to provide energy and health benefits. The drink is packed with electrolytes, antioxidants, and essential vitamins which are said to help in hydration, increasing energy, and detoxifying the body. … Read more
Kate Farms
Kate Farms is a company that produces organic and plant-based nutrient shakes and formulas for people with special medical and dietary needs. The company's products provide high quality nutrition and are designed for drinking or tube feeding. … Read more
Athletic Brewing
Athletic Brewing is a company that specializes in making non-alcoholic craft beer. The company’s beers are designed to provide the same flavor and satisfaction as traditional craft beers, but without the alcohol. … Read more
Milkis
Milkis is a carbonated beverage that is made with milk and ice. The beverage is available in a variety of flavors, including grape, strawberry, and banana. Milkis is popular in South Korea and is often consumed as a snack or a dessert. … Read more
Celsius Drink
Celsius is a line of fitness drinks that are designed to help with weight loss and energy. The drinks are calorie-free, non-carbonated, and sweetened with sucralose. They are available in a variety of flavors, including fruit punch, grape, and orange. … Read more
Malta India
Malta India is a non-alcoholic, carbonated malt beverage from Puerto Rico. The beverage is made with a blend of malt, sugar, corn syrup, molasses, and carbonated water. … Read more
Ceremonial Cacao
Ceremonial Cacao is a type of cacao that is considered to be the most pure and sacred. The cacao is often used in spiritual ceremonies and is said to promote feelings of well-being, love, and joy. … Read more
Mullein Tea
Mullein Tea is a tea that is made from the mullein plant. Mullein is a traditional remedy for respiratory problems and is said to be a soothing and calming tea. … Read more
Oat Milk
Oat milk is a plant-based milk alternative that is made from oats. The milk is high in fiber, protein, and vitamins, and has a creamy texture and a slightly sweet flavor. It is becoming a popular choice for those who are looking for a dairy-free milk alternative. … Read more
Bubble Tea
Bubble Tea is a tea-based drink that is made with milk and/or fruit juice and is shaken with ice. The drink is then poured into a glass and topped with tapioca balls or other fruit. … Read more
Jot Coffee
Jot Coffee is a coffee subscription service that delivers fresh, small-batch roasted coffee to subscribers’ doors every week. The coffee is roasted the same day it is shipped, ensuring that subscribers receive the freshest coffee possible. … Read more
Oat Latte
An oat latte is a coffee alternative that is made with oats. The latte is made by steaming milk and then adding oats and other flavorings. The latte is said to be high in protein and fiber, and is a popular choice for people who are looking for a healthier option. … Read more
Trend Highlight – Flavored Water That Isn't Really Flavored
A new water bottle startup is making more than $100M per year selling flavored water that isn’t actually flavored at all.
The company, Air Up, adds a scented ring around the lip of the bottle that fools users’ senses into thinking that what they’re drinking tastes great, just because it smells great. As the company puts it, “Good taste doesn't need sugar.”
Diet sodas, first introduced in the mid-1900s, were intended to help consumers reduce their caloric intake–but in reality, many use them as an excuse to eat a higher calorie meal. This is consistent with the theory of moral licensing, where, in the context of fast food, consumers comfortably combine a healthy food option with a less healthy, indulgent one. Air Up leans into this effect, but for the better, letting consumers’ bodies get the benefit of plain water and their brains get the benefit of the sweet flavor.
This isn’t the first time a company has played these games. The interplay between smell and taste has long been known to businesses who have gone so far as to pump artificial smells into their restaurants in an attempt to make their food taste better.
Trend Highlight – Cirkul: Turning Hydration Into A Recurring Revenue Stream
Hydration is a growing health trend. It's simple, effective, and free. And it's massive: the single most-downloaded health & fitness app in 2019 was the Drink Water Reminder App at over 40M downloads.
Cirkul is turning regular hydration into a recurring revenue stream, by selling zero-calorie water flavors by subscription. Cirkul's product is a water bottle that incorporates a flavor dispenser. Staying hydrated is hard for many consumers as it's tough for many people to want to drink that much water. Adding flavor makes it much easier to drink so much water. Our culture's growing interest in self care has turned "stay hydrated" into a meme more people talked about the topic on Reddit in 2019 than in both 2017 and 2018 combined.
The company offers dozens of fruit flavors, some of which include B vitamins, electrolytes, or caffeine, setting it up to compete with sports drinks and sodas. One key difference between this and sports drinks or sodas is the do-it-yourself component: even though the end product may be the same, the user adding the flavoring in themselves makes it feel healthier.
Their marketing copy emphasizes hydration, and users talk about it as a way to help themselves want to drink more water. For companies, this is an opportunity to capture additional consumer surplus and for consumers this is another product that can help increase hydration.
Trend Highlight – The Rise of Canned Boba
Producing a shelf-stable version of an existing beverage is a good way to grow the market. Similar to how battery-powered devices are particularly popular in places with intermittent electricity, canned goods can become popular in places with initially unreliable or unavailable infrastructure.
In fact, milk has already undergone this evolution. While Americans are used to buying refrigerated milk, much of the rest of the world buys unrefrigerated boxed milk that has a 6-9 month shelf life. It’s called UHT milk and is made by momentarily heating milk to a high temperature to sterilize it. The UHT process has helped milk penetrate into new markets and, today, milk’s adoption in China, for example, is growing at a higher rate than ever before.
The benefits of shelf stability are now coming to boba tea in the form of canned boba; searches and online discussion of the term are at an all-time high.
Being shelf-stable also helps to make boba a snack. If people can consume it at any time, they'll keep it with them–in the car or on a hike, for example–and that reinforces the habit.
Another contributing factor to the rise of canned boba is the speed at which boba itself is becoming more popular. Boba’s popularity has outpaced retail infrastructure such that consumers in rural areas wanting boba are too far from trendy areas, forcing them to buy it online, in cans.
Trend Highlight – Why Non-Alcoholic Drinks Are Becoming Popular
Often the new businesses that gain the most traction are those that introduce a new product but allow consumers to maintain their old habits.
The rise of non-alcoholic drinks highlights this: Most consumers interested in non-alcoholic drinks don’t want to have to stop socializing in bars or drinking their favorite cocktails — they just want to do so without the effects of alcohol.
The tricky part, which a growing number of businesses are successfully navigating, is maintaining price parity with alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are renowned for their high margins in the otherwise low-margin restaurant industry.
Sober Carpenter, alongside Atheltic Brewing is one of these brands. The growth of non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits also coincides with the rise of “sober bars” which have fascinating business dynamics.
Sober bars can capture more revenue and profit than normal bars through a few approaches. First, they can stay open throughout the day as an alternative to coffee dates, increasing revenue. They can also increase profit by maintaining prices while lowering costs given the lack of alcohol and liquor licenses and bouncers.
Instead of serving as an experience for former alcoholics as many may think, this growing experience is focused on creating a space where it's socially acceptable to mingle with strangers and spend money on a craft experience without the explicit need for booze. Nearly all sober bars even keep the 21+ rule to help preserve the environment and social context of the bar scene.
Trend Highlight – The Rise of Cold Brew Coffee: Jot Coffee
The rise in popularity of cold brew coffee is, behind the scenes, a push by coffee companies to escape the highly seasonal nature of hot coffee sales—a factor acknowledged by coffee chains like Peet’s.
Eliminating seasonality also means reducing the number of low consumption periods throughout the year that’d cause customers to drop off, thereby extending the customer lifetime value.
Turning a product into a subscription is generally seen as a smart move, even if the initial pricing is lower. Subscriptions mean that the consumer is opting to keep buying by default, and has to specifically decide that they're going to stop. Companies like Match have reported revenue drops following big credit card breaches at other companies, during which tens of millions of credit cards get replaced, as this causes people to finally churn out and never return.
As consumption patterns shift from hot coffee to iced coffee, or as some consumers opt for both, coffee turns from a seasonal business to a year-round one. The theme park business also used to be highly seasonal but turned into a year-round business through the addition of Halloween and Holiday events late in the year, and Mardi Gras celebrations ahead of the traditional Easter opening weekend. This has allowed theme parks to sell season passes rather than single-day tickets, locking their customers in over the long run.
For Jot, one key to the subscription model is when people consume their coffee, but another is how: Jot sells coffee concentrate, in a 1:16 ratio. This means they can cheaply ship a small bottle rather than a full-sized beverage—they’re selling less for more. The cost of Jot coffee works out to $1.70 per cup of coffee, which is expensive for at-home coffee but cheap for convenient coffee, whose price is effectively set by Starbucks and Dunkin’. Starbucks and Dunkin choose locations that are as convenient as possible, but neither one can be as close to the consumer as the in-home option.
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