UK Coffee Market Report 2025
There is rich potential for coffee brands to forge a status symbol role, as almost half of drinkers/buyers think that drinking coffee makes you look good.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Outlook for coffee and RTD coffee
- Opportunities
- Cold coffees continue to offer rich potential
- Visual excitement warrants more attention
- Lean into coffee’s role as a status symbol
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THE MARKET
- Snapshot – coffee market size and forecast
- Coffee value growth accelerates in 2025
- Graph 1: retail value sales of coffee, 2020-25
- Inflation and trading up to drive coffee value growth
- Graph 2: retail market value forecast for coffee, 2020-30
- Factors driving 22% value growth forecast over 2025-30
- Factors putting negative pressure on growth
- Snapshot – RTD coffee market size and forecast
- Hot summer weather accelerates RTD coffee growth in 2025
- Graph 3: retail value and volume sales of RTD coffee, 2020-25
- RTD coffee value growth to slow after 2025’s hot summer weather boost
- Graph 4: retail market value forecast for RTD coffee, 2020-30
- RTD growth remains strong, but slowing
- Market share
- Own-label continues to gain share in the coffee market
- Graph 5: leading brands’ value sales in the retail coffee market, 2022/23-2024/25
- Market leaders are also under pressure from smaller brands
- Only Costa declines in the booming RTD coffee market
- Graph 6: leading brands’ value sales in the retail RTD coffee market, 2022/23-2024/25
- Market drivers
- Consumer confidence rises again in 2025
- Graph 7: the financial confidence index, 2016-25
- Coffee inflation rockets again in 2025…
- Graph 8: CPI annual rate, coffee and all food and non-alcoholic drinks, 2019-25
- …but some relief expected in 2026
- The EPR scheme will drive a shift away from glass packaging
- Caffeine concerns help fuel the matcha trend, posing competition for coffee
- Graph 9: Google searches for caffeine and matcha, 2020-25
- Only a fifth place importance on sustainability in coffee
- Graph 10: importance of sustainability claims in purchase of selected food/drink products, by category, 2025
- RTD coffee will benefit from under-35s continuing to drink these products as they age
- Graph 11: population, by age, 2020, 2025 and 2030
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THE CONSUMER
- Usage of coffee
- Coffee usage is stable at 82%; coffee mixes and beans have seen growth over the last two years
- Graph 12: types of coffee used at home, 2020, 2023 and 2025
- The younger generation are core users of most types; instant bucks this trend
- Graph 13: types of coffee used at home, by age, 2025
- Coffee drinking is ingrained
- Graph 14: frequency of drinking coffee, by type, 2025
- Usage of decaf has edged up since 2022
- Graph 15: usage of standard and decaffeinated coffee, 2022 and 2025
- Usage of and interest in trying cold coffee drinks
- Potential for further development in the cold coffee space
- Graph 16: usage of and interest in trying different cold coffee drinks, 2025
- Brands have not missed the boat for coffee concentrates
- Inspire consumers to embrace the fusion trend with coffee
- Fusion products: the next wave for RTD coffee
- Textures can be the next frontier in coffee drinks, aligning with the ‘drinkable dessert’ trend
- Behaviours relating to coffee
- Further price rises will drive trading down…
- Graph 17: behaviours relating to coffee, 2025
- …both from OOH venues and within retail
- Graph 18: coffee drinkers who say further price rises in coffee would make them replace some/all of the coffee they drink with cheaper coffee options, by types of coffee drunk
- A need to respond to coffee price rises
- Highlight price per cup to boost value perceptions and discourage trading down
- A need to boost the appeal of robusta blends
- Championing robusta can create standout
- Blue Tacuro heroes robusta, urging people to ‘join the robusta revolution’
- Attitudes towards coffee
- Visual excitement can boost enjoyment for the home barista
- Graph 19: attitudes towards coffee, 2025
- As OOH venues up the ante on aesthetics…
- …retail needs to follow suit!
- Look to other categories for inspiration
- Lean into coffee’s role as a status symbol
- Looking knowledgeable links to looking good
- Forge links with other lifestyle elements that people think make them look good
- Spark conversation about products to garner implied endorsements
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PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING
- Launch activity and innovation
- The ‘coffee as dessert’ trend inspires flavour NPD
- Indulgent and spice flavours gain momentum
- Graph 20: flavour landscape for coffee and RTD coffee, 2025
- Caffeine-free launches edge up in 2025
- Graph 21: share of coffee launches that are caffeine-free, 2021-25
- Adaptogenic mushroom coffee blends attract more attention
- Pods continue to lose ground in coffee launches; growth in beans in 2025
- Graph 22: share of coffee launches, by format, 2021-25
- A flurry of concentrate launches in 2025
- More attention to ‘iced’ in other segments
- NPD in RTD coffee continues to abound, but has fallen from its peak
- Graph 23: share of soft drink launches, by RTD coffee and RTD tea, 2021-25
- The indulgence trend continues in RTD coffee…
- …but NPD also takes a better-for-you angle
- Advertising and marketing activity
- Coffee adspend jumped 57% YOY in 2024
- Graph 24: ATL, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on coffee, 2021-25
- Nestlé and JDE continue to dominate coffee adspend
- Graph 25: ATL, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on coffee, by leading advertisers, 2021-25
- Celebrities and influencers continue to play a major role in advertising
- Brands align with healthy lifestyles
- Adspend on RTD coffee slumps
- Graph 26: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising on RTD coffee products, 2021-25
- Outdoor becomes a bigger focus for RTD coffee advertising
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APPENDIX
- Market share
- Leading brands’ value sales in the retail coffee market
- Leading manufacturers’ value sales in the retail coffee market
- Leading brands’ value sales in the retail RTD coffee market
- Leading brands’ volume sales in the retail RTD coffee market
- Leading manufacturers’ value sales in the retail RTD coffee market
- Leading manufacturers’ volume sales in the retail RTD coffee market
- Advertising and marketing activity
- ATL, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on coffee
- ATL, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on RTD coffee
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Market value forecast for coffee
- Market forecast and prediction intervals for coffee (value)
- Market forecast for RTD coffee
- Volume growth slows as the RTD coffee market matures
- Graph 27: retail market volume forecast for RTD coffee, 2020-30
- Market forecast and prediction intervals for RTD coffee (value)
- Market forecast and prediction intervals for RTD coffee (volume)
- Forecast methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Consumer research methodology
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
UK Coffee Market – Trends and Analysis
- Nearly half of UK coffee drinkers/buyers believe that drinking coffee enhances their image, presenting an opportunity for brands to position coffee as a status symbol. By aligning coffee with lifestyle elements like health, fitness, and beauty, brands can strengthen its association with looking good and appeal to image-conscious consumers.
- Supporting coffee enthusiasts’ connoisseurship can drive deeper engagement, as knowledgeability about coffee is also linked to projecting a desirable image.
- Cold coffees remain a key growth area for engaging younger consumers. Trends like fusion drinks and drinkable desserts offer opportunities for innovation in new product development (NPD) and recipe inspiration. Coffee concentrates, which provide a convenient way to make cold coffee at home, have gained traction, and there’s still room for brands to enter this space.
- The market faces competition from on-premise venues as consumer confidence improves, but poor value perceptions of coffee shop offerings and growing confidence in making enjoyable coffee at home will limit this threat.
- Emphasising value for money through price-per-cup comparisons and helping consumers create visually appealing, café-style coffees at home can further protect the retail coffee market from losing ground to on-premise venues.
Key Topics Analysed in the Report
- The impact of the cost-of-living crisis and rising coffee prices on sales of coffee and RTD coffee
- Trends in launch activity in coffee and RTD coffee, and opportunities for further innovation
- Coffee drinking behaviours
- Usage of and interest in trying cold coffee drinks, including those made with concentrates
- Behaviours relating to coffee, including how further price rises would impact purchasing
- Attitudes towards coffee, including the link between visual excitement and enjoyment and whether drinking coffee makes you look good
| Report Attributes | Details |
|---|---|
| Published Date | October 2025 |
| Report Author | Emma Clifford, Associate Director – Food & Drink |
| Data Range | 2019-2030 |
| Consumer Data | 2,000 internet users aged 16+, July 2025 |
| Market Segmentation | Instant coffee, Ground coffee, Coffee mixes (e.g. latte mix), Ready-to-drink coffee, Coffee pods, Coffee beans |
| Leading brands in the UK coffee market | Nescafé, Nespresso, Kenco, Tassimo, Costa, Lavazza, Starbucks, Jimmys, Costa, Taylors of Harrogate, Cafedirect, Illycaffe |
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