This article is sponsored by our partner, UPOURIA.
Summer is now in full swing, and a seasonal drink menu is a great way to attract customers looking for warm-weather refreshment. Especially because cold beverages now make up a large percentage of cafe drink orders,this time of year is the ideal opportunity to experiment with limited-time serves and seasonal-specific menu items.
But it can be hard to decide where to focus your creative energy—or your budget—when updating your drinks menu. Even if an on-trend seasonal beverage can command a higher price tag, it might also require higher labor and ingredient costs. That’s a tricky sell, especially at a time when businesses are bootstrapping to keep margins sustainable.
The answer may lie in clarifying the value and intent behind your seasonal drinks, says Russ Prefontaine, president of Fratello Coffee Roasters. “Consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for products and experiences that align with quality, sustainability, and authenticity,” he noted in Fresh Cup’s expert roundup of emerging industry trends.
That’s a move Katie Schertler supports. She’s a brand manager for Sunny Sky Products, which produces the UPOURIA line of cold brew coffee, creamers, and other flavor enhancers, like syrups and sauces.
This summer, Schertler says, cafes should focus on offering exciting, quality-driven drinks that meet the moment. She counsels business owners to expect an increase in requests for nitro cold brew, coffee mocktails, and flavored coffee drinks, including evergreen favorites like vanilla lattes and iced mochas alongside more seasonal and trendy flavors.
Adding a summery oomph with citrus, berry, and matcha options is also a good way to catch customers’ attention—and draw in the extra revenue you need to offset rising costs.
Start by Innovating on Menu Classics
A good first step to updating your summer drinks menu is partnering with a premium ingredients supplier. As cafes rethink pricing structures, some are turning to ready-to-serve products—such as coffee concentrates, flavoring agents, and toppings—that help streamline operations while offering flexibility for evolving customer expectations.
Take cold coffee, for example. Today, cold brew and iced lattes are considered cafe mainstays as customers continue to “seek smoother, less-acidic iced coffee options,” Schertler says. To reduce drink prep time, cafes have begun to stock shelf-stable or refrigerated cold brew concentrates, which are diluted with water to achieve the desired drink strength. Making cold brew in-house requires more time and labor to dose, grind, and cold steep coffee—but when this is already taken care of, baristas can focus on serving high-quality drinks quickly and efficiently instead.
As a bonus, having a ready-made cold brew base means there is more time to develop creative drink recipes. Schertler says UPOURIA Cold Brew Concentrates can be used in nitro dispensers and paired with flavor enhancers, like UPOURIA’s syrups, sauces, and other toppings, to create seasonal varieties.
If you need a good starting point, try experimenting with drinks that match coffee with a secondary ingredient that elevates its flavor. Consider the espresso tonic, which combines espresso and tonic water with citrus or fruit flavors—cafes can offer a twist by introducing a cold brew tonic and pairing it with a seasonal syrup to add novelty. Alternatively, because summer creates a natural craving for ice cream, cafes can turn the classic affogato into a customized coffee float. Simply top cold brew with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce.
Coffee businesses can also innovate with the Bumble Coffee, a drink that’s common on specialty cafe menus across Europe (and which goes by a few different names). Bumble Coffee makes magic out of the combination of coffee and orange juice, two acidic ingredients that somehow just work together. The base recipe combines cold brew, orange juice, and your customers’ choice of syrup, but since there’s no fixed coffee-to-orange-juice ratio, you can experiment with 1:1, 1:2, or even 2:1.
Coffee soda also offers a lot of untapped potential as a summer drink. Crema Coffee Roasters in Nashville, Tennessee cracked the code with its popular coffee soda while working to develop an espresso tonic recipe 13 years ago. That beverage, with notes of caramel and citrus, is still served throughout Tennessee’s extended warm months.
Whatever you remix on your menu, it’s important to fulfill customer expectations and deliver a consistent flavor experience—one area where ready-to-serve options have made a lot of strides. As Metropolis Coffee Company CEO Anne Djerai recently pointed out, cold brew concentrates have come a long way. Today, she believes they “are the wave of the future” because “the industry is finally making these products taste good.”
Lead With Nostalgia or Novelty
One of the keys to crafting a highly anticipated seasonal drink is in our collective nostalgia—think of how pumpkin spice in the fall and peppermint in winter hark back to cozy, festive sense memories. Alternatively, aim for novelty instead: Fresh florals and seasonal fruits dominate summer, but are fleeting.
As Fresh Cup saw at the London Coffee Festival, matcha is a 2025 flavor frontrunner. It appeals to customers who prefer tea and other caffeinated alternatives to coffee. As a result, matcha—especially in combination with fruit flavors—has become a headlining ingredient in viral drinks around the globe.
This summer, for example, businesses from Sabà Cafe in British Columbia, Canada to Tokyo Matcha Bar in Mumbai, India are all serving up iced strawberry matcha. The flavor combo has become so popular that other cafes are now riffing on the drink: Take The Folk cafe in Odense, Denmark, which now has an iced blueberry matcha on the menu, a seasonal variation on its own strawberry version.
Although these aesthetically pleasing drinks often perform well on Instagram (and can attract phone scrollers looking for new drinks), they can be labor-intensive, especially when the drinks are in high demand. Pumpable syrups—such as UPOURIA’s premium Blueberry Syrup—can speed up the process and ensure that “customers get a premium experience every time,” says Schertler.
Across the board, stocking syrups, sauces, and other toppings from a trusted supplier ensures that seasonal drink flavors remain consistent, whether it’s a maple latte in the fall or orange creamsicle cold brew in the summer.
And if a seasonal flavor performs particularly well, shelf-stable ingredients reduce the risk of spoilage. That means cafes can continue offering popular drink options long after their summer drink menus have been retired—just take a nod from the ever-lengthening pumpkin spice season.
Ready-to-serve products also help cafes quickly capitalize on generational trends, like Gen Z’s love for a good creamer. Schertler recommends infusing summer flavors into your efforts with a raspberry mocha latte, which combines cold brew concentrate with UPOURIA’s Raspberry Flavored Syrup and a splash of UPOURIA Half & Half Creamer. If this goes viral, you heard it here first.
Try Mocktails, Low-Sugar Offerings, and Inclusive Ingredients
A growing number of Americans are choosing to drink less alcohol as part of a trend towards mindful drinking. As a result, the mocktail is experiencing a renaissance at the coffee shop—and summer is a great try to explore its possibilities. The versatility of cold brew concentrate means it can serve as a base for coffee mocktails, for instance—think of how New York City’s Cafe Grumpy uses cold brew in its salted caramel espresso martini mocktail.
Other consumers are looking for drinks that support their dietary needs. But whether they’re health-conscious or managing a medical condition, new alternative milk and flavor options mean that they don’t need to sacrifice variety.
Today, many suppliers are providing low-sugar barista milks and flavor enhancers that are free of major allergens. For one thing, sugar-free syrups, like UPOURIA’s sugar-free blue raspberry, French vanilla, hazelnut, and caramel syrups can be easily substituted into seasonal flavored drinks. And they often promise additional accessibility, like suitability for gluten-free, vegan, and keto diets, too.
“UPOURIA offers a range of flavors and dietary options, allowing coffee shops to create signature drinks while tailoring flavors, strength, and sweetness levels to suit their specific customer base,” says Schertler. “This flexibility makes it easier for businesses to adapt to changing customer tastes.”
Although cafes are facing the heat this summer—literally and otherwise—it’s possible to keep cold drink menus fresh while saving on prep time and costs, like raw ingredients and waste.
“I am excited to see less waste, more consistency, and greater creativity in all facets of the coffee industry this year,” Djerai told Fresh Cup.
It’s all about the tools you have behind the bar. Whether the menu calls for cold brew on ice or a seasonal drink with the new hit creamer or of-the-moment flavor, a trusted supplier can serve as your new creative ally. Ready-to-serve products don’t just keep costs predictable—they help your staff serve consistently crowd-pleasing drinks with efficiency.
The sunny outlook? Well, that’s just a bonus.
Sponsored by UPOURIA by Sunny Sky Products
UPOURIA helps cafes keep up with summer drink trends without the headache. Their ready-to-serve cold brew concentrates, flavored syrups, and creamers let you quickly craft everything from viral strawberry matcha lattes to coffee mocktails—all while keeping consistency high and prep time low. Perfect for busy cafes looking to innovate without the extra labor.
