Taza Agua to partner with K-cup coffee makers with new water bottle design
The patent-pending bottle design, set to launch this year, includes a hollowed out space for the pod. A user would pop the pod out of the container separating it from the water bottle and then make coffee or K-cup hot beverages as usual with their single-serve coffee machine.
The company is aiming to “optimize the drinking experience for K-cup coffee, tea, and hot chocolate,” as the founders believe its premium water sourced from a volcanic spring in Costa Rica results in a higher-quality taste profile than hot beverages brewed using other bottled water on the market.
Coffee roaster partnerships
The new bottle design has also launched partnerships with Costa Rican coffee companies who will be teaming up Taza Agua and the new water bottle design.
“Today, we have several major deals on the table. Interestingly, the companies involved want not just our water but also amazing Costa Rica coffee combinations,” Taza Agua co-founder Francini Retana told BeverageDaily.
“Our innovative bottle design puts coffee roasters in total control now. They can match their coffee with premium water, and create a competitive edge,” Retana said.
Stagnating growth of K-cups
While the K-cup coffee trend has slowed since its peak in 2014 when it accounted for approximately 34% of all US coffee, according to Euromonitor, single serve coffee brewing with coffee pods still represents a sizeable portion of US coffee sales.
According to the National Coffee Association, 27% of US consumers owned a single-serve coffee machine in 2015. Single-cup coffee also posted sales of $3.71bn in 2016, slightly up from $3.16bn in 2015. Of those sales, Keurig Green Mountain held the largest market share of coffee pod sales in 2016.
The company said it is confident that 2017 will be a “record-breaking” year for their brand because the new bottle design has opened to the door to new partnerships and licensing agreements coffee cocoa bean firms, distributors, and roasters.
