Café Culture Drives Sharp Gains in Consumer Trial Rates

Café culture is driving some of the sharpest gains in consumer trial rates across a variety of formats, from drinks and food to the methods used to prepare them, according to Datassential’s Consumer Preference Shifts report.

Cold foam, the aerated milk topping served on iced coffee drinks, led these gains, with the share of consumers who have tried it climbing 10.7 percentage points over the past two years to 32% — the largest trial gain of any item on the list after birria tacos.

Mushroom coffee followed with a 7.5-point gain, landing at a 16% trial among consumers, while egg bites climbed 7.4 points to 41%, giving it the widest reach of any item in the list.

Meanwhile, frothed and foamed appeared as gaining terms in their own right, up 7 and 6.6 points respectively. Both preparation methods lean toward café options but can show up in other areas as well, according to the report.

In all, five of the 19 fastest-gaining items in trial were café related, and two of those five also ranked among the top gainers in awareness, a measure of how widely consumers recognize a term.

Mushroom coffee posted the largest awareness increase of any term measured, up 17.1 points to 45%, while cold foam climbed 11.8 points to 54%, the higher of the two.

Cold foam was also the only café-related item to rank among the top gainers in awareness, trial, and affinity — the share of consumers who love or like an item. Its 9.8-point affinity gain, among the largest of any item ranked, brought it to 25%.

Cafés are the primary venue for cold foam consumption, with 85% of consumers familiar with the topping expecting it to be available at coffee shops or bakery cafés, according to Datassential’s 2026 BUZZ topical report. Trial remains high, with 73% of those familiar with cold foam having had it at least once or twice, and more than three-quarters of those who haven’t yet tried it expressing interest.

Menus are catching up. Cold foam now appears on nearly 1% of U.S. restaurant menus, up 760%  over the past four years and projected to grow another 277% over the next four, according to Datassential’s Menu Trends platform.