Coffee creamers have seen strong growth as consumers demand barista-style coffee drinks at home: looking for quick and easy ways to customize their drinks.
Expanding at a CAGR of 8.8% over the last four years, flavour innovations and brand collabs have kept interest in the category thriving. Now, the next frontier is functional innovations: which are already favoured by wellness enthusiasts.
So what functional punch can creamers pack?
Protein
A consistent favourite across food and beverage: protein is entering the creamer space.
High protein brand, Nurri, has just launched Nurri Ultra Filtered Protein Creamers (SRP $5.98), now available in Walmart and online.
Coming in 24-ounce resealable cartons, the protein creamers have 5g protein per suggested serving, with 20 calories per tablespoon.
Consumers can choose from three indulgent flavors: Sweet Cream, Salted Caramel, and Chocolate.
Laird Superfood, meanwhile, offers a vegan, plant-based protein coffee creamer (12g protein per serving) which also includes adaptogens.
Collagen
Collagen is a key protein that provides support and structure to skin, muscles, bones and connective tissues.
Bringing collagen into coffee creamers is Javvy: which describes its collagen creamer as the ‘ultimate upgrade’ for a cup of coffee. Each serving packs in 11g of grass-fed, pasture-raised collagen to support hair, skin, nails and joints; and can be stirred into lattes, concentrates or smoothies without clumping or overpowering coffee.
Other collagen coffee creamers come from Dose & Co (Collagen Creamer in vanilla and caramel); Hunter & Gather Collagen Creamer, made with 13g grass-fed bovine collagen protein per serving); and Glowwa (10g patented collagen peptides per serving).
Mental focus
A daily cup of joe is a daily necessity for millions of consumers to help them start the day. What if that cup could not only wake up the brain, but focus it on the top tasks of the day as well?
Superfood company Four Sigmatic offers a ‘Focus’ creamer: an organic product made with coconut milk and with Lion’s Mane mushrooms and B12 added for mental clarity and energy.
Meanwhile, recent launch ‘Think’ uses L-theanine and Lion’s Mane for mental focus and energy.
Meanwhile, Cymbiotika’s Nootropic Creamer contains Alpha GPC, MCT Oil, L-theanine and L-tyrosine: a ‘powerful blend that supports cognition, focus and mental clarity’.
MCT boost
MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides) are a type of fat, most commonly derived from coconut oil or butter, and favoured as an energy source.
Bulletproof, which took the butter-coffee idea into mainstream consciousness a decade ago, has expanded its portfolio into coffee creamers. Its original creamer, for example, contains grass-fed butter and MCT oil for a smooth, rich taste and source of quality fats.
