EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- Café chain Peet’s Coffee is jumping into the packaged-beverage market with a cold-brew offer.
The new ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee line includes Baridi Black, Coffee au Lait and Dark Chocolate cold brews. The new line features Peet’s roasted beans that are cold brewed to the same standard used in its cafés.
Peet’s Cold Brew began distribution July 25 and will initially be available in select Peet’s Coffee cafés, grocery stores and partner locations in the San Francisco Bay Area before expanding into new markets.
“We’re proud to launch our ready-to-drink line during our 50th anniversary year as these new Cold Brew beverages build on the heritage of Peet’s Coffee and our five decades of coffee craftsmanship,” said Dave Burwick, Peet’s Coffee CEO. “Coffee consumers are increasingly sophisticated, and by leveraging the equity we have in coffee, we’re introducing beverages that will delight not just our existing fan base of Peetniks, but all coffee lovers.”
The new RTD Cold Brew, with a suggested retail price of $3.99, comes in three offerings:
- Baridi Black Cold Brew—the "purest" expression of Cold Brew from Peet’s Coffee, served straight up in a 12-ounce glass bottle.
- Coffee au Lait Cold Brew—a "coffee-forward" pairing of Baridi Black coffee with fresh rBST-free milk and pure cane sugar in a 10-ounce carton.
- Dark Chocolate Cold Brew—Baridi Black coffee with rBST-free milk and rich Guittard cocoa in a 10-ounce carton.
The base for the new Cold Brew RTD line starts with the proprietary East African Baridi Blend, sourced from smallholder farms and selected for its bright, juicy and aromatic profile. Each batch is hand-roasted by Peet’s trained artisans and is then slow brewed without heat for a smooth, refreshingly bold coffee, according to the company.
Peet's introduction comes on the heels of a similar new offer from key competitor Starbucks, which rolled out a RTD cold brew in June.
The 2015 Mintel Coffee Report noted that cold-brew coffee is an industrywide trend, growing 338.9% from 2010-2015, with 115% of that growth from 2014 to 2015 alone. The trend is predicted to continue accelerating; Beverage Marketing Corporation in 2015 projected cold brew to lead the growth of the “new-age beverage” category, outpacing kombucha, coconut water, energy drinks and juice.
“Ready-to-drink is yet another example of our commitment to innovate. Last year we fully transformed our iced-coffee program by shifting from a hot brew that was chilled over ice to a cold brew that was slow brewed,” said Jessica Mitchell, senior director of innovation, Peet’s Coffee, Emeryville, Calif. “This shift drove double-digit growth for our cold-coffee business in our cafés and was among the highest-performing product lines in our entire portfolio.”
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