March 9, 2025 – Hot drinks have been a part of many cultures globally, offering both comfort and connection. The category covers a variety of beverages, including coffee, tea, and other hot drinks, catering to diverse needs and preferences. As consumer lifestyles evolve, the demand from this market changes. Innova’s 360 explores the hot drinks market, highlighting consumer preferences, innovation in flavors and packaging, and the future direction of the industry.
Consumer Hot Drinks Preferences
Consumers’ needs shape their hot drink preferences, with tea and coffee as well-known choices. Hot drinks trends show that nearly half of consumers globally consume tea to relax and wind down, while the equivalent prefer coffee for its taste. Consumers taste preferences are evolving, expecting modern tea and coffee concepts like green tea and ground coffee. Brands aligning with these preferences offer whole-leaf tea delivering intense flavor and paper drip bags with roasted ground coffee. These offerings attract especially younger generation consumers, with Millennials displaying the highest consumption of tea and coffee. When purchasing hot drinks, protein claims influence their decision the most.
Functional Hot Drinks Trends
Globally, consumers are increasingly seeking nutritional or functional aspects in food and beverage that suit their lifestyles. Notable nutrition in hot drink launches includes immune support, body cleansing, laxative properties, and sources of protein and fiber. This growing nutritional awareness aligns with Innova’s top trend of 2025 “Precision Wellness,” emphasizing that information culture challenges brands to meet targeted nutritional needs at any life stage.
Digestive/gut health claims drive most functional product purchases globally. Hot drinks with prebiotics, probiotics, or microbiome-supporting ingredients appeal to health-conscious consumers. This aligns with another Innova’s food trend, “Gut Health: Flourish from Within,” highlighting growing awareness of the microbiome, creating space for new ingredients like fiber.
Another notable functional health focus is beauty, with 1 in 5 consumers globally purchasing products for skin health benefits. Hot drinks trends indicate that consumers are increasingly concerned about their facial skin and hair. This aligns with the “Taste the Glow” food trend, reflecting consumers’ growing interest in beauty-enhancing food and beverages, driven by the booming cosmetic industry. Reflecting this trend, brands are launching products such as hot drinks infused with collagen, vitamin C, and biotin, boosting skin elasticity and hair health.
Packaging and Provenance Trends
Globally, packaging influences 1 in 5 consumers’ hot drinks purchasing decisions. Brands use stick sachets, paper drip bags, carton boxes, plastic cups, and glass bottles in hot drinks packaging to attract consumers. The demand for compostable packaging is growing. Reflecting this, brands use bio-based solutions and biodegradable materials to avoid fossil-based products and meet increasing demand. Additionally, involving consumers in the recycling process, such as returning used coffee pods through return services, builds consumer connection with brands.
Consumers globally, to display their social or ethical responsibility in food choices, prefer products with ingredients’ provenance and traceability. They also prefer products with functional ingredients that support sleep, insomnia, stress, anxiety, tiredness, and fatigue. For example, products like coffee with melatonin for enhancing sleep or CBD-infused tea for relieving stress are increasing. This choice aligns with the “Mood Food: Mindful Choices” food trend, highlighting the growing demand for products that support mental and emotional wellbeing.
Hot Drinks Flavor Trends
Interesting or exotic flavor combinations influence 27% of consumers’ food choices globally. Dessert flavor in hot milk chocolate, alcohol flavor in tea, and hot and spicy flavor in hot cocoa powder are a few inventive flavor pairings. This innovation aligns with the trend “Wildly Inventive,” which highlights the craving for extraordinary experiences, driving companies to create surprising mash-ups and flavors that attract and delight.
What’s Next in Hot Drinks Trends?
The hot drinks category is evolving from broad relaxation and indulgence positionings to precise lifestyle solutions. As consumers increasingly favor multifunctional beverages, brands are adapting by addressing specific demands, including condition-specific benefits and scientific validation of efficacy claims.
Hot drinks trends show that younger consumers prefer hot drinks with ingredients that enhance energy, mental clarity, or recovery. Brands can explore innovations emphasizing emotional well-being, targeting benefits such as stress relief or mood enhancement. Hybrid products delivering targeted benefits beyond conventional tea and coffee, such as immunity and energy support, can drive consumer engagement. Personalized nutrition is gaining attention, with products tailored to diverse wellness needs, including cognitive health and immune support. Brands can incorporate clinically tested bioactive compounds, adaptogens, and microbiome-supporting ingredients to meet evolving demand for functional hot drinks.
Flavor innovations can shift beyond novelty trends, prioritizing regional and artisanal influences, botanical fusions, and immersive taste experiences. Sustainable packaging can advance through closed-loop systems, refillable models, and smart packaging technologies like QR codes for traceability. Brands who implement functional ingredients, innovative flavors, and sustainable packaging in their products are likely to remain relevant and deliver precise benefits tailored to consumer expectations.
This article is based on Innova’s Innovation in Hot Drinks – Global report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more
