The End of the Flat White? Oatly’s Future of Taste Report Identifies Four Key Trends Shaping Café Menus
Key Highlights
- ➤Oatly (OTLY) report draws on 200+ interviews across 21 countries
- ➤40% of drinks professionals rank herbs and botanicals as the top future flavor trend
- ➤51% of drinks experts say community and connection will shape future cafés
- ➤82% of baristas and café owners mentioned non-coffee, non-tea drinks
- ➤72% of beverage experts say mouthfeel is becoming as important as flavor
Expert Statements
Rowena Roos, Oatly Head of FADE
“This year’s Future of Taste Report makes one thing very clear: people are expecting a lot more from their drinks. They want more excitement, more texture, and more functionality. From wellness drinks with real personality to global flavours, playful textures and cafés at the core of actual human connection, menus are becoming far more expressive. It's been exciting to hear how many creators see oat drink as a brilliant starting point for that creativity, allowing baristas and café teams to build drinks people don’t just order but remember.”
Lara Sosna, Forkk Studio, Germany
“I think we will see more ingredients connected to nature, fermentation and regionality: herbs, flowers, botanicals, tea, fermented fruits and local ingredients. People are becoming interested in flavours that tell a story.”
Marco Purini, Coffee Industry Professional, Italy
“The real value of a product isn’t just what it does but its ability to create relationships between people.”
Flo Thomas, Batch Baby, London
“We sell more hydration drinks than any other drink now.”
Diego Mata, Nuwanda, Valencia
“Nobody orders cold foam for the taste; they order it for the feeling. Texture has become its own language, separate from flavour.”
The End of the Flat White? Oatly’s Future of Taste Report Identifies Four Key Trends Shaping Café Menus
MALMÖ, Sweden, October 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Oatly Group AB (publ) (Nasdaq: OTLY) (“Oatly”), the world’s original and largest oat drink company, has published its second Future of Taste Report. It brings together more than 200 interviews with baristas, café owners, mixologists and drinks experts across 21 countries, alongside quantitative trends data compiled by researchers CultureLab, to identify the trends expected to shape café menus in the coming months.
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