Specialty tea among top beverage trends of 2014
The latest trend forecast by Baum + Whiteman, a team of influential restaurant consultants based in New York, identifies specialty tea, handcrafted sodas, vermouth and sour beer as some of the beverage trends to make headlines in 2014. According to the report, coffee giant Starbucks is positioned to lead many of those categories. Teavana is expected to make further inroads in the specialty tea market, whereas Evolution Fresh, acquired by Starbucks in 2012, will benefit from increasing popularity of juice bars next year. Baum + Whiteman claim artisanal sodas will be the next big hit in the soda category in 2014, as at-home machines enable consumers to prepare fizzy drinks with quality syrups. The alcoholic beverage market is expected to witness a rediscovery of vermouth and the spread of sour beers brewed with wild yeasts and aged in wood barrels.