Broken down into flavours

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/6-7.

Last year iced coffee performed superbly. After a significant double-digit price rise in 2023, the product’s price level essentially stabilised by 2024 and this – combined with innovation – has paid off.

UHT dominates

Luca Farsang
brand manager
Sole-Mizo

Luca Farsang, brand manager of Sole-Mizo Zrt.:

“The most important sales channels for coffee drinks are discount stores, supermarkets (including drugstores), local chains and traditional grocery stores, which realised above-average growth in both value and volume over the past year”.

UHT products continue to dominate, while the share of fresh coffee drinks is declining. Unflavoured products still account for two-thirds of the market, with classic variants such as cappuccino, latte and espresso.

“The frequency of purchases is stable, but the role of impulse buying is getting bigger, which highlights the importance of well-planned promotions and eye-catching in-store displays”,

says Dóra Szekeres, brand manager of HELL ENERGY Magyarország Kft.

Last year’s successes were driven by stabilising price levels and innovation activity

Lactose-free at the top of the list

Andrea Gódor
senior trade marketing
manager
Foodnet

Research has revealed that consumers are looking for something new, with nearly three-quarters of them choosing a seasonally available new flavour when they taste a coffee drink for the first time or again after a long time.

Andrea Gódor, senior trade marketing manager of Foodnet Zrt:

“This is why we put great emphasis on continuous innovation, every year we enter the market with new and special variants, which brings us great success in our sales. In 2025 a sweet new product, Starbucks Frappuccino Sunshine toffee & honey will be available on store shelves from April, but in addition we will also launch the Tripleshot espresso in 300ml can format”.

Unflavoured drinks still account for two thirds of the market, but the share of flavoured coffee drinks is growing dynamically

Global star creates attraction

HELL Ice Coffee products performed exceptionally well in 2024. The brand is present on the market with a large selection of iced coffees, with Latte being the flagship of the assortment.

Dóra Szekeres
brand manager
HELL ENERGY

Last year they rolled out two limited edition flavours: Pink Latte in the spring, which was a huge success and became the second best-selling product in the category in just three months, so they decided to bring Pink Latte back into the portfolio from February 2025.

Gingerbread debuted in the autumn/winter season in 2024 and it also proved to be very popular.

For HELL Ice Coffee 2025 is a very special year, as its brand ambassador is the world-famous actress Megan Fox. Her personality and attractiveness fit perfectly with the dynamic, youthful and innovative image of the brand.

Ambient products dominate, while the share of fresh coffee drinks is decreasing

From roasted pistachio to caramel

Flavoured iced coffee variants were the stars of last year for Mizo too, with the Roasted Pistachio and Hazelnut Toffee flavoured lattes exploding onto the market. Seasonal limited edition flavours were also popular, such as the Pumpkin Spice Latte in the autumn and the Walnut Bejgli flavoured latte in the Christmas season. There are also new launches in 2025, e.g. the Caramel Cappuccino will debut in May. Another key trend is the growing demand for sugar-free and lactose-free products, so Mizo’s portfolio now includes an increasing number of lactose-free and 0% added sugar products.

Sugar-free and lactose-free iced coffees are increasingly in demand

Iced coffee sales grew significantly in both value and volume

Guest writer:
Judit Hegedüs
senior analytic insight
associate
NIQ

While two years ago the category was worth HUF 20bn, last year its value was close to HUF 24bn. The double-digit growth was also reflected in volume sales, with 61 million units sold in 2024, which was a 20% surge vs. the previous year. Similarly volume sales also increased: the category grew by 19% from 2023 to 2024, rising from 14 million litres to 17 million litres. The average price level dropped from HUF 1,420 to HUF 1,405 in 2024. Manufacturer brands accounted for 88% of the market in terms of value sales. More than half of the unit sales came from canned iced coffees. //