This article is sponsored by our partner, Oregon Fruit.
Fruit-based drinks are increasingly popular in coffee shops, but to add them to a coffee shop menu, an operator has to pick their poison: (1) burden baristas with the dreaded blender, a cumbersome item that has to be cleaned between uses, so you can make drinks using real fruit, (2) ditch fresh fruit for a sugar-first, room temperature syrup, or (3) say goodbye to your freezer and dedicate all your freezer space to frozen fruit purees.
Enter Oregon Fruit’s new Shelf-Stable Pourable Fruit Puree, a product line that requires no blender, is made with real fruit (no preservatives), and can be stored for six months at room temperature. Fruit Puree comes in ten flavors spanning smooth, diced, and unsweetened versions.
We spoke to Emra Nation, national accounts manager and culinary development specialist at Oregon Fruit Co., to learn more about how this innovative product can improve coffee shop operators’ lives (and bottom lines).
Oregon Fruit talks a lot about this being “real fruit puree,” and not made from concentrate. Why is that distinction so important to you?
Real fruit has a more vibrant, authentic flavor and texture compared to syrups or concentrates, which often have artificial additives or flavorings. The taste of fresh fruit is more nuanced and appealing, especially in drinks, where the taste of real fruit can enhance the overall quality of beverages. This freshness can be lost in processed syrups and concentrates, which are often diluted or preserved.
Our products taste real because they are real. Our Shelf-Stable Pourable Fruit Puree is free of preservatives, artificial flavors and colors. They’re made with vegan cane sugar that’s non-GMO.
Others will sub in cheaper sugar inputs made from genetically modified sources—or worse, high fructose corn syrup. This matters because premium ingredients make for a higher-quality finished beverage that can then command a higher price point. With our products, you’re not serving Strawberry Flavored Lemonade; you’re serving Strawberry Lemonade.
What are some ways coffee shops can use Shelf-Stable Pourable Fruit Puree?
Smooth Pourable Fruit makes an excellent flavor base in drinks like fruited lemonades, agua frescas and teas, all of which can be batched in a bubbler or served straight from the pitcher.
Diced Pourable Fruit lends puree flavor plus real pieces of fruit your customers can see, taste, and experience. It gives beverages a cool, textural and layered effect that makes them look incredible when served to customers. It’s perfect for lemonades, iced teas, refreshers, or folded into a smoothie or milkshake.
Unsweetened Puree offers pure fruit flavor without any added sugar. It’s great in mocktails or low-sugar beverages and is perfect for making custom syrups, shrubs and switchels.
It seems like there are major operational benefits to using Shelf-Stable Pourable Fruit over fresh.
It’s all about ease of use, longer shelf life, reduced waste and reliability. Pourable Fruit purees are pre-prepped, eliminating the need for washing, peeling, cutting or blending fresh fruit. This saves labor and allows drinks to be made faster.
They also have a longer lifespan than fresh fruit: Pourable Fruit purees have a 6-month ambient shelf life, a 30-day refrigerated shelf life for Smooth varieties, and 14 days for diced, reducing waste and ensuring a reliable supply. Plus, with a puree, you can use 100% of the product, maximizing profitability and minimizing waste from peels, seeds, and parts of the fruit that just don’t get used.
On top of that, with Pourable Fruit purees, you get consistency of flavor and sweetness, making it easy to adjust the intensity levels in a drink by adding more or less. This kind of customization is harder to achieve with fresh fruit because of varying levels of ripeness, sweetness and other factors resulting from climate and growing regions.
Do you have a personal favorite drink made with Pourable Fruit?
Hard to choose! I love a classic strawberry lemonade. There’s something so nostalgic about it. A marion blackberry iced tea is another favorite. Marionberries are a regional blackberry varietal your customers don’t see every day, and one that’s close to our hearts here in Oregon where they’re grown. Their deep color and flavor pair brilliantly with the complexity of a good black tea.
Where do you see the fruit-based beverage trend going for coffee shops?
Cold drinks are seeing explosive growth as customers are opting for refreshing options year-round. In fact, in the biggest coffee chain in the U.S., 76% of sales are cold beverages, according to Restaurant Business.
Today’s coffee shop goers are looking for fruit-infused drinks with functional and superfood ingredients to enhance the taste experience. From fruit-forward teas and lemonades to meal-replacement smoothies, fruit-based beverages are growing in demand across all day parts, thanks in part to the ease of customization. Programming your cold beverage menu with different fruits is a simple plug-and-play way to keep your offerings fresh.
Sponsored by OREGON FRUIT CO
Oregon Fruit Co is a fruit company based in Oregon that specializes in fruit purees, concentrates, compotes, and other fruit formats for foodservice settings.
