As consumers continue to search rather than scroll their way into coffee alternatives, the category’s growth suggests sustained curiosity – and room for brands to define clear functional narratives, whether that’s calm, digestion, balance or focused energy.
Consumers interest beyond traditional brews is evident, according to Spate data comparing Google searches from January through December 2025 vs. January. – December 2024. Overall the coffee alternative category is up +39.5% YoY, per Spate. The category is still in a niche space, though, with just 544.2K average monthly popularity.
Notably, nearly 99.7% of this activity comes from Google, pointing to active search behavior versus social media banter, according to Alyssa Williams Atkinson, Spate’s food and beverage category insights manager. Google searches suggest consumers seek intentionally alternatives for benefits, ingredients and uses rather than stumbling onto them through trend cycles.
No single winner in ‘coffee alternatives’
When consumers replace coffee, they aren’t choosing the same substitute, Spate’s data suggests. Rather, consumers’ interest in the category is spread across a variety of different drinks, especially teas and wellness-focused beverages.
Per Spate, strongest momentum appears in tea-based options:
- Matcha beverages are up +154.5% YoY, with a massive 1.8B popularity
- Herbal teas: +26.1% YoY (401.5M popularity)
- Green teas: +17.0% YoY (187.4M popularity)
- Wellness teas: +30.8% YoY (28.8M popularity)
Matcha’s performance stands out not just for its growth rate, but for its scale, even beyond beverages and into snacks. Rather than holding its own as a niche alternative, matcha has evolved into its own lane alongside coffee. Meanwhile, herbal and wellness teas reflect a slower but steadier growth, driven more by perceived health benefits versus flavor, according to Atkinson.
Health, not energy, is the primary driver
Across tea and wellness beverages, rising search behavior reveals that consumers aren’t simply looking to replace coffee’s caffeine jolt – rather, they’re prioritizing functional benefits, Atkinson said.
Among the fastest-growing “concern”-based searches tied to tea beverages:
- Gut health: +642.3% YoY
- Menstrual relief: >1,000% YoY
- Stress: +50.1% YoY
- Honey sore throat: +105.1% YoY
These searches point to beverages to support digestion, hormonal balance, immunity and stress management, said Atkinson. In that context, coffee alternatives aren’t positioned as indulgences but as self-care.
Ingredient-level trends bolster this shift. Searches for functional botanicals like lemon balm (+182.5% YoY) and hibiscus (+143.8% YoY) are rising alongside tea drinks, suggesting consumers are thinking in terms of ingredients and benefits, not just drink categories.
Coffee still dominates but customization is driving growth
Despite the rise of alternatives, coffee remains strong, Atkinson said. The category is seeing 8.8 billion popularity at a +21.1% YoY growth, per Spate.
Rather than forgoing coffee for other options, consumers appear to be optimizing it to their needs by layering in flavor, function and personalization, all evidence of the fourth wave of coffee.
Within coffee beverages, some of the fastest-rising searches include:
- Coffee syrup (+116.7% YoY)
- Cookie butter (+87.3% YoY)
- Caramel (+33.3% YoY)
- Homemade syrup (+858.0% YoY)
Once a fixed ritual, coffee’s DIY customization and dessert-forward flavor profiles have shifted into a personalized experience for consumers.
To caffeine, or no caffeine?
Some consumers are dialing caffeine down or removing it entirely, while others are seeking more targeted, powerful energetic effects, according to Spate.
Caffeine as an ingredient is seeing growth across conflicting motivations:
- Caffeine (ingredient): +69.9% YoY
- Caffeine-free: +329.4% YoY
- Caffeine hit: +406.6% YoY
- Caffeine boost: +87.8% YoY
Coffee alternatives, especially tea- and adaptogen-based drinks, fit right in the middle between caffeine and no-caffeine, delivering either lighter stimulation or a perception of clean energy.
