Pepsi’s new coffee cola drink due to hit the shelves in 2020

Honestly, we can’t work out if we’re excited or horrified by this one. US soft drinks giant Pepsi has announced that April 2020 will see the launch of its new drink flavour, Pepsi Café. The drink is a mixture of cola and roasted Arabica coffee (OK, we’ve decided on our reaction now, and it’s horror). While energy drinks containing added caffeine for a lift are common, this drink will contain actual coffee. Cola drinks used to be made with extracts of the kola nut, native to the tropical rainforests of Africa. When the recipe changed and flavours were created artificially instead, manufacturers began adding caffeine to their drinks. Now, the new Pepsi Café will contain double the caffeine of pure cola.

Pepsi isn’t the first company to try out the idea of coffee and cola together. Back in 2006, Coca Cola launched Coca-Cola BlāK, its own mixture of coffee and cola. It was first launched in France, then rolled out to the US. Customer reaction was ‘mixed’ to put it politely, and the drink was taken off the market again in 2008. It’s not even the first time round for Pepsi itself – between 1996 and 1997 it sold ‘Pepsi Kona’, a coffee-flavoured soda which was only available in Philadelphia.

The new coffee hybrid is due to launch next year – but only in the US. It will come in either Original or Vanilla flavours, and Pepsi say the drink will deliver an ‘unexpected, delicious caffeine kick’. Pepsi claim that the time is right to re-enter the soft drink/coffee market, as the popularity of ready-to-drink iced coffee sold in cans by companies such as Starbucks has opened up a new market opportunity.

Honestly, what are they doing to coffee? If you fancy an iced coffee, why not just make an iced coffee – containing pure, natural delicious ingredients with no additives or extra flavouring. Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’re proud to supply some of the best coffee in the UK for your catering business, office or café. To find out more, visit our website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk .

Coffee fads: candyfloss coffee

We’re always on the lookout for the latest coffee fad – not because we want to follow suit, but because they make us smile! After all, when something’s as perfect as a good cup of coffee, why try and improve it? The rise of social media platform Instagram has a lot of answer for, with users posting pictures of rainbow coffee, coffee mixed with turmeric or green matcha powder. The latest ‘innovation’, though, comes from Shanghai, China. A café has paired up the very childish treat of candyfloss with the very adult treat of coffee. They’re offering a cup of coffee with a cloud of candyfloss suspended over it on a sort of metal rack. The idea is that as the heat from the coffee melts the candyfloss it drops little drips of sugary sweetness into your coffee. It’s called ‘Sweet Little Rain’ coffee, and it’s currently big on Instagram.

It’s more expensive than a regular cuppa, currently priced at around 58 Chinese yen or £6. And it does look interesting – but if you’re a coffee purist like us, we can’t help wondering if it’s actually adding anything to the drink, other than an undefinable amount of sugar. It doesn’t look that controllable, either – surely all that candyfloss would melt over the cup, spoon, saucer and table rather than being confined to your cup? We’re not sure it’s worth the effort of all the wet wipes you’d have to use afterwards!

If you’re looking for a great cup of coffee with no gimmicks attached, then you’ve come to the right place. We supply wholesale coffee for use in businesses and cafes, and we pride ourselves on the high quality of our products as well as our customer service. To find out more, or to browse our range of products, take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk – and sorry, there’s no candyfloss on sale!

What we’ll be adding to our coffee in 2019

From the country that brought you flat whites and avo-lattes (that’s lattes served in a hollowed-out avocado half, folks, try and keep up!) comes 2019’s big coffee trend prediction. Sales of non-dairy milk such as almond and soy have been steadily climbing, both among lactose-intolerant customers and those who think that non-dairy whiteners are a healthier alternative. The new kid on the block (or drop in the coffee), though, is oat milk. Baristas in Australia are confidently predicting that 2019 will see changes not in the coffee itself but in what customers are adding to it.

In the USA, oat milk is apparently already dominating the non-dairy market, overtaking both almond and soy. According to fans of oat milk, its popularity is due to the fact that it pairs better with coffee and froths more easily. Customers tend to stay fairly loyal to their style of coffee, with hardline espresso drinkers rarely crossing the line into lattes – but are often happy to experiment with alternatives to cows’ milk.
According to figures from payment platform Square, around a third of customers in Australia ordered latte above any other style of coffee in 2018. This figure has dropped from 2016 when lattes made up almost half of orders. Cappuccinos and flat whites have also remained popular, and the three drinks together make up around three quarters of orders.

Oat milk is one of the healthiest of the non-dairy alternatives, made by mixing pre-soaked oaks with water and a little dash of oil. The result is nautrally low in fat, and contains a small amount of carbohydrate and protein. It also may have cholesterol-lowering properties, but unless you drink an awful lot of latte then the amount you’re adding to coffee is unlikely to have an effect.

Whatever you like to add to your latte, make sure you keep your customers onside by stocking up on coffee beans and other coffee accessories. To browse our full product range, take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.