Your source for the most up-to-date information on emerging beverage trends.
Top Trending Flavors
Consumers always want a product that tastes great, but flavor preferences are constantly evolving. The most popular flavors right now are associated with better-for-you ingredients, provide an enhanced sensory experience, and/or have added function. Here are the most pervasive flavor trends in food and beverage.
- True to Fruit
- Culinary Inspired
- Indulgent
- Earthy
- Veg-Centric
True to Fruit
True to fruit flavors are common in food and beverage, but top flavors vary based on current trends.
Based on a survey of industry professionals by BNP Media, grapefruit, apple, coconut, ginger, orange, lemon, and mango will be top selling flavors this year.
Lime and peach beat coconut and ginger as top flavors in 2017, and strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, berry, and blueberry were the top berry flavors.
Clementine and yuzu have grown 60% or more as soda flavors on menus in the last year, and we will be watching for these flavors in other types of RTDs in the future.
Culinary Inspired
Culinary inspired flavors offer a more complex flavor profile that position a product as more premium. They feature exotic ingredients, sophisticated combinations, or call out the preparation method.
Evolve calls out the preparation method for their toasted almond plant-based protein shake.
Califia Farms Strawberry Basil Agua Fresca features a flavor combination that you might expect at a nice restaurant (as opposed to the grocery aisle).
Indulgent
Indulgent flavors inspired by sweet treats are popular year-round. These flavor profiles are especially popular in food service and sports nutrition products.
Cookie dough, caramel, cookies and cream, chocolate, marshmallow, and peanut butter are some of the most popular indulgent flavors on menus and in protein beverages.
Many nostalgic flavors have indulgent flavor profiles, including ones inspired by classic desserts, candy, cereal and historically popular sodas.
Examples include Sonic Cookie Jar Shakes and ‘Merica Energy’s ‘Freedom’ (Bomb Pop) Energy Drink.
Earthy
Consumers have embraced earthy flavors like matcha, turmeric, ginger, mushroom and more. Many of these ingredients are as functional as they are flavorful, which has contributed to their success.
The 2017 Google Beverage Trends report gave great insight into consumer interest in earthy flavors. Ginger was the top searched earthy flavor according to the 2017 Google Trends Report, and top flavor associations with ginger in the U.S. by volume of searches were blackberry, lemon, honey and turmeric.
Matcha has experienced 202% YOY growth since 2015, according to the 2017 Google Beverage Trends report. Additionally, matcha was the second highest searched earthy flavor by volume in the U.S. and the U.K.
Veg-centric
Consumer demand for better-for-you options has contributed to the growth of veg-centric profiles that we see in juices, kombuchas, drinking vinegars, and drinkable soups. These products often contain veggies we don’t typically see in beverages, such as red pepper, kale, and lentils.
