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“Ready-to-drink (RTD) or iced coffee has seen
a period of strong product and market activity in recent
years,” said online food and beverage forum Innova Constanza Mejía, Director for Buencafé
Market Insights in a recent report. It notes that while the
niche for RTD coffee “remains one of the smallest sec-
tors of the soft drinks market in terms of new product
activity” it has grown to 4.2% of global launches in the 12
months to the end of July 2014, up from less than 3% five
years ago. It also confirmed that the RTD trend continues
to be led by the Asia region which with 53 percent of
sales accounts for over half of the global market share.
Total world soluble exports grew an impressive
26 percent to 13.7 million bags in the five years up to the
2013-14 crop year, from 10.9 million bags in the 2009-10
year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
World exports of instant coffee in the just completed
2014-15 crop cycle, meanwhile, are estimated to have
reached between 14.5 million and 15 million bags, the
USDA said in its most recent market outlook report. This is good news to Asia’s passionate new gen-
Across all market segments in the coffee in- eration of coffee drinkers because every time the world
dustry it’s the quest for quality and enhanced consumer has seen consumption expand, so has the consumer
experience that is driving the growth, industry analysts awareness and education about the quality of the prod-
agree. This, too, is the “fundamental reason” for why uct they consume. From the environmentally conscious
extracts have been quick to gain so much popularity, Japanese consumers to the fast paced coffee lovers of
said Carlos Osorio, Buencafé’s director for research South Korea, Thailand and Singapore, Buencafé plans to
and innovation. “Buencafé’s extracts are different keep the pressure on for raising the standards for all its
from other coffee extracts, not only because of the raw products from regular soluble to extracts.
material used as it is sourced only with 100 percent mild “We offer coffee extracts in all type of cup pro-
washed Colombian Arabica beans, but also because of files from the freeze dried coffees which include more
the technology we use when we remove the water from than five roasting degrees from light Scandinavian, over
the original brew,” Osorio told CT&I. “Most industries medium roast Viennese to the darker Italian favored by
use heat to evaporate water but we use freezing to some of our clients and consumers. Furthermore, Buen-
create pure water ice crystals big enough so they can be café’s coffee extracts have no preservatives or chemicals
removed from the brew, allowing only the best aroma whatsoever; they are made of pure coffee and water, and
and flavor to remain inside the coffee extract.” this is why we recommend keeping it frozen as its high
As the global coffee market continues to quality this way can remain unchanged for several years,”
expand, the overall share of world consumption in the said Buencafé’s Mejía.
Asia region alone has more than doubled to 19.5 million
bags in 2012 from just 8.4 million bags in 1990, the ICO Maja Wallengren has been writing about coffee for
said in a special report on consuming trends in 16 Asian more than 20 years from over 45 coffee producing
countries published last year. The ICO said this figure is countries across Southeast Asia, East and West
expected to continue to grow and Asia as a region can Africa and across Latin America. She can be reached
“potentially consume 28 to 30 million bags of coffee at: mwallengren@outlook.com or via her blog at
by 2020.” www.spilling-the-beans.net
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