Oatly has released its second Future of Taste report, a look at where drinks culture is heading. It draws on more than 200 interviews with baristas, café owners and drinks experts across 21 countries, plus trends data from researchers CultureLab.
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A few clear signals stand out for anyone building a drinks brand. Herbs and botanicals are the number one flavour trend, named by 40% of experts, with ginger, hibiscus and lavender on the rise. Fermentation is close behind: 56% mentioned it, pointing beyond kombucha to tepache, kvass and Turkish şalgam.
Taste is no longer the only thing that sells. Texture now rivals flavour for 72% of experts, with jelly, foam and chewy toppings on the up, and searches for "coffee jelly" up 90% year on year. And coffee and tea are losing ground: 82% flagged drinks that are neither, with ube mentioned twice as often as the flat white.
"People are expecting a lot more from their drinks," said Rowena Roos, Oatly's head of FADE.
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