Top take-outs
- Success in RTD coffee is about translating your brand’s signature flavour into a shelf-stable format
- Protect your brand equity by maintaining consistent taste, aroma and overall quality
- Preserve flavour and ensure product stability and shelf life with effective processing
- Tightly control key processing variables, such as extraction parameters, heat treatment and oxygen exposure
When it comes to coffee, flavour is the strongest differentiator. Consumers associate a brand’s products with its specific taste, aroma and coffee experience.
The question many coffee producers face when considering entering the ready-to-drink category is how to replicate that signature flavour in an RTD format? Can you deliver the taste and aroma your consumers expect in an RTD coffee, with repeatable and lasting quality? Or does a move into RTD coffee risk diluting or damaging your brand identity?
Expert support is at hand
Replicating your signature flavour in an RTD coffee format can certainly be challenging, especially when shelf-life requirements and processing conditions differ significantly from traditional coffee preparation. But the good news is, it can be done.
By leveraging the knowledge and experience of our coffee team and deploying the latest processing technologies, you can create quality RTD products that align with your traditional coffee products. You can also leverage our innovation ecosystem to devise and test novel RTD coffee recipes for new consumer groups – attracting younger consumers in search of an indulgent coffee treat or a mid-morning pick-me-up.
Decide on a flavour profile
The first step is to understand the attributes that you and your consumers value most in your coffee; to define the ideal flavour profile. Once this is clear, we can tailor a production process with finely tuned technologies to achieve it. By carefully controlling the many parameters that affect product quality and flavour – from the raw ingredients, through each processing step, to the packaging of your end product – we can help you get the results you’re looking for.
Own production or co-packing?
Our processing and packaging solutions are designed to safeguard the quality of your coffee by minimising the negative impacts of each production step. Although based on standard lines, each individual solution is customised and its processing parameters adjusted to give you a coffee with the aroma, taste and texture you want.
If you’re not ready to invest in a processing line, co-packing is a great way to speed up your time to market, allowing you to take your first steps into the RTD coffee world without a major capital investment. Talk to us about finding a suitable co-packer in your region.
Let’s navigate the challenges together
While the above section outlines the most common challenges associated with RTD coffee production, in reality every product presents its own unique set of requirements and opportunities.
As Tetra Pak coffee expert Anders Löfgren explains:
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution. In collaboration with you, our team can help navigate the challenges of RTD coffee production, develop tailored solutions and ensure your product is positioned for success in the market.”
Trial, analyse and perfect your recipe
The technical teams at our twelve Product Development Centres are on hand to support your recipe development and run trials, helping you fast-track new RTD coffee products to market.
Leveraging our support, you can create quality RTD coffee products that both your existing consumers and new ones will appreciate, generating revenue streams for years to come.
Ready-to-drink coffee
RTD coffee is one of the fastest-growing beverage categories in the world today. Take this opportunity to expand into convenient, premium, on-the-go formats and unlock new revenue streams. Leverage strategic and practical support from our expert teams to help you succeed.
