Hamburg, January 2024 – Over the past ten years, ready-to-drink coffee beverages have shown steady growth worldwide. In 2023 alone, revenue rose by 4.8 percent to a total 30.6 billion euros and continues to trend upward. This is the conclusion of a study by market research institute Statista Market Insights. They prognosticate annual growth of 5.6 percent through 2027 (CAGR 2023-2027) to a projected 38.2 billion euros. More and more dairies are leveraging this potential and addressing the ongoing demand with new product ideas. Hydrosol supports manufacturers with stabilizing systems from the Stabiprime and Stabisol ranges. 

Product Manager Binia Postel explains: “We’ve added coffee drinks to our milk mixed beverage applications. For example, one very exciting concept is a protein-rich coffee drink with a protein content of six percent. It’s made of milk powder and water together with the customer’s instant coffee. What makes it special is that it is filled into cans and autoclaved. That means it can be stored without cooling. There hasn’t been a concept like this before. It’s really quite innovative.”   

According to Postel, the development of this protein-rich coffee drink was very complex. It was necessary to get the protein content and the acids in the coffee into balance and ensure stability even at high temperatures. Hydrosol’s stabilizer experts succeeded at this very well. One reason is their many years of experience in stabilizing milk mixed beverages, another is the individual service the company provides. “Every coffee is different, so in our trials we try to use the specific customer’s coffee, be it instant, cold brew or something similar,” says Postel.     

The coffee drink can be made with fresh milk, or as a recombined version with milk powder. The recombined option is attractive for markets where little fresh milk is available. The stabilizing system keeps the drink stable for a long time, while phosphates and/or carbonates control the acid development.   

The finished coffee drinks can, of course, be customized individually varied, from different coffee intensities to seasonal flavours. Many ideas are possible. The company’s close collaboration with sister company OlbrichtArom makes flavouring problem-free. It also offers interesting possibilities for avoiding added sugar while providing a certain sweetness. This is precisely what OlbrichtArom’s Sugar Booster product does, by maximizing the light sweetness of lactose. These ready-to-drink solutions for coffee drinks are equally suitable for retail and food service.  

About Hydrosol

Hydrosol GmbH & Co. KG headquartered in Ahrensburg near Hamburg, Germany, is a fast-growing international supplier of food stabilizers, with subsidiaries around the world. Its specialists develop and produce tailor-made stabilizer systems for dairy products, ice cream and desserts, delicatessen foods, and ready meals, as well as meat, sausage, and fish products. With an international network of 20 affiliates and numerous qualified foreign representatives, the company is represented in the world’s key markets. As a subsidiary of the independent, owner-operated Stern-Wywiol Gruppe with a total of twelve sister companies, Hydrosol can make use of many synergies. The company has access to the knowledge of some 170 R&D specialists and to the extensive applications technology of the large Stern-Technology Center in Ahrensburg, Germany, as well as shared production facilities and the Group’s own logistics resources. This lets it offer customers a high degree of flexibility and innovation. With revenues exceeding 760 million euros and some 1950 employees around the globe, the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe is one of the world’s most successful international suppliers of food & feed ingredients.