Big brands like Starbucks, and now small-town coffee shops are creating various forms of cold brew and ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages. Now McDonald's is stepping up with its take on the trend, McCafé Cold Brew Frozen drinks.
Starbucks created a Teavana Sparkling Craft Iced Tea RTD beverage to capitalize on both the iced tea and sparkling [water] trend. Sales of its new RTD drink will being in grocers across the Northeast and Midwest with plans for a national expansion in 2019.
McDonald's new McCafé Cold Brew Frozen drinks are an expansion of its other McCafé items, especially the "specialty" McCafé beverages that were added last year. Those items include café-quality espresso beverages such as Macchiatos, Cappuccinos and Americanos. McDonald's new cold brew drinks will a limited time offering after June 13th.
Small-town coffee shops are also getting into the mix with RTD options. Biggby Coffee, East Lansing, MI native, partnered with Guernsey Farms Dairy, also of Michigan, to create three cold brew coffee flavors in a drinkable "milk container"-like carton. With fresh dairy comes a shorter shelf life, but it also guarantees a fresh and full-flavor drink.
With so many options to choose from and competition from fast-food and other retailers, it's important to keep a good mix of RTD cold brews for consumers. This is the perfect time of year for an iced, caffeinated beverage, and people will bring in their own if they don't see what they like in their break room.
