In a recent (07.05.11) New York Times article, "Iced Coffee Gets Its Day in the Sun", Andrew Newman draws our attention to the iced coffee slice of the coffee market. American iced coffee consumption is on the rise, increasing to 500 million orders in 2010 from 400 million in 2006. That's a 25% increase over 4 years, or a 5.77% annualized growth rate. Even more interestingly, Newman notes that this subset of overall java consumption has been largely ignored, that is until recently. A young and increasing affluent consumer base has propelled iced coffee consumption forward, proliferating the number of iced, coffee-esque options out there; one need only mention that Starbucks now has a Mocha Coconut Frappuccino® as proof. If that doesn't satisfy you, check out Starbuck's 29 item-long iced beverage menu page.

Attention to the iced coffee market is now coming from all corners of the coffee ring, from capsule-coffee manufacturers such as Keurig, to Starbucks, to the leading Third-Waver, Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Keurig has launched a new k-cup that is meant to be poured over ice; these k-cups contain more coffee and are brewed with less water to reduce dilution caused by melting ice. Accompanying their product launch is a sweepstakes cruise to Alaska and a Facebook brewer & K-cup give away. Starbucks is set to make its iced coffee blend available in whole-bean at its stores for $13/lb. Finally, Stumptown has begun selling their cold-brew iced coffee in stylish amber bottles called Stubbies ($3.50), now available in Portland and New York (see picture).

As for us, here at Joyride Coffee Distributors, we've responded to the corporate side of iced coffee demand by rolling out our 1/2 gallon 12-hour cold brew iced coffee growlers. For information read our post announcing the new service, Cold Brew at Your Office!

More Statistics:

Iced coffee consumption demographics suggest the iced coffee trend is here to stay. The tastes of the 18-34 year old consumer, who belongs incidentally to the largest coffee consuming block, provides ample support to the trend; not only is this consumer young, and with it the taste for iced coffee, but his disposable income is also in its ascendancy.

Within the group of ice coffee consumers, we find more women than men. Quoting Harry Balzer of NPD Group, Bruce Horovitz of USA TODAY writes, "Teen girls are 84% more likely to have iced coffee than the average American. And women 18 to 34 are 68% more likely. This is clearly a female drink."

And so when are 18-34 females enjoying their iced coffees?