The Top 16 Beverage Trends of 2025

Hard seltzers continue to garner demand

The folks behind White Claw, the original famous hard seltzer brand, recognized that success rested on the health-conscious trend, so they targeted consumers in situations where health and fitness were top-of-mind. For example, they sponsored Spotify workout playlists and Snapchat geofilters targeted at gyms nationwide.

Hard seltzer has seen tremendous growth as a perfect substitute in social contexts where consumers already have well-established behaviors, but are still looking for something healthier. As we've seen countless times with other trends like sober bars, these near-perfect substitutes are necessary for consumer behavior to shift.

Rise in functional drinks as energy boosters

The functional drinks industry began to take off in the 1980s with Red Bull, which was cleverly marketed for white-collar workers. Functional drinks are now marketed as alternatives to traditional energy boosters like coffee and soda, featuring ingredients like probiotics, adaptogens, nootropics, and CBD.

Interest in dairy alternatives accelerates

The demand for dairy alternatives continues to expand beyond just milk to include other products like butter, with options such as beef tallow gaining popularity. Additionally, the increasing trend of purchasing groceries online has boosted the appeal of shelf-stable dairy alternatives. Consumers are now more likely to opt for these convenient, long-lasting options, further driving the growth of the dairy alternative market.

Glass straws, not paper straws, are on the rise

Drinking straws first became popular in the early twentieth century as a way to improve hygiene, as public drinking cups were widely used at the time and could easily spread disease. Disposable cups were too expensive so straws were a safe and low-cost alternative.

Even as the hygiene factor became less relevant, straws remained ubiquitous. It was the 2001 introduction of in-home teeth whitening kits that accelerated awareness of tooth stains from coffee and wine, for example. Today, many consumers report feeling less at risk of tooth stains when drinking through a straw and many dental offices encourage clients, from the office, and on their websites, to use straws. The rise of drive-throughs also contributed to the widespread use of straws, as customers can more easily sip their drinks while driving.

Plastic straw bans became popular in 2018, and several replacements have since popped up. Restaurants often use paper straws, which are unpopular because they get soggy. At home, some consumers switched to metal straws, which could be reused. Now, there's a shift from metal straws to glass straws. While glass and metal straws are equally hard to clean, it's harder to visually confirm that a metal straw is clean. Metal straws were originally sold as standalone products, but most now include pipe cleaners. It’s still hard to visually confirm that they’re clean though, and some users complain about the metallic taste. In 2020, "glass straw" surpassed "metal straw," in search and online discussion volume, and has since risen up to nearly 3x the search volume.

Legacy water brands finally see competition

64% of bottled water is just tap water in a plastic bottle, but priced roughly 2,000 times higher. One driver of this cost gap is convenience, since bottled water is more portable than a cup and can be purchased outside the home.

But an important contributor to the price difference is marketing. It’s hard to imagine a more competitive industry than bottled water. Companies in this space are not only competing against brands owned by the behemoths Coca Cola (Dasani, Smartwater, etc.) and Pepsi (Aquafina) - but they also compete against essentially free tap water.

Liquid Death, a growing brand of canned water was founded by a former Netflix advertising executive. Liquid Death’s aesthetic is heavily influenced by punk rock—they've produced two albums of death metal songs based on negative reviews of their product (the album, "Greatest Hates," includes tracks like "I Thought This Was Alcohol" and "Definitely Not Buying", all available on Spotify). The fact that it comes in a can means it's especially popular as a non-alcoholic drink that can be consumed in an alcohol-dominant setting. Non-alcoholic drinks are rising in popularity, but there’s still often a social stigma to not drinking alcohol in social situations, and Liquid Death sells a way around this. In fact, the company sells through beer distributors to cover this exact use case.

The brand also leans into the environmental issues surrounding the water bottle industry. Aluminum is a heavily recycled material. In fact, nearly 75% of all aluminum ever made is still in use, having been continuously recycled, sometimes thousands of times. Plastic bottles, on the other hand, are typically not worth the cost to recycle so they often get dumped in landfills even if they're marked as recyclable. And as the plastic industry has grown, plastic has gotten more efficient and lower priced, making it even harder for recycled plastic to compete with fresh plastic.

Health-conscious consumers spark demand for canned beverages

From water to wine, canned beverages are gaining popularity as consumers seek convenient, sustainable alternatives to traditional plastic and glass packaging.

Glass bottles offer a luxurious drinking experience, especially for beverages like wine, but they pose a risk of breaking, which makes them unsuitable for many outdoor venues. Plastic containers, meanwhile, lack a premium feel and raise concerns about microplastic contamination—a growing worry among consumers.

Cans address both issues effectively. They’re lightweight, portable, and durable, making them ideal for outdoor events such as picnics or concerts. For wine drinkers, cans often come in smaller serving sizes, allowing consumers to enjoy just a single glass without needing to open an entire bottle.

The rise of canned beverages is also driven by increasing interest in sustainability, as cans are more easily and widely recyclable than glass bottles or plastic containers.