La Colombe will sell canned matcha lattes as the drink’s popularity grows
The Philly-founded coffee company launched its canned draft latte 10 years ago.
Matcha lovers have a new way to sip their beloved drink: out of a can.
La Colombe, the Philly-founded coffee company, is launching a canned matcha latte that is expected to be in stores this month. The brand already sells matcha drinks at its cafes, but the new line of canned drinks will reach customers at nationwide retailers, the company announced this week.
Matcha sales at La Colombe have increased by 188% since 2023, according to the company. Matcha has been trending nationally and can be found in Philadelphia in cocktails, ice cream and cakes.
The 11-ounce La Colombe cans come in the original matcha flavor, as well as matcha with strawberry or vanilla. Each can contains lactose-free whole milk, Japanese matcha, and 65mg of caffeine.
Meanwhile, change has been brewing at La Colombe in recent years. In 2023, the Philly-born coffee brand was acquired by yogurt-maker Chobani for $900 million. Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya was already the majority owner of La Colombe as of 2015.
As part of the acquisition, Chobani worked out a deal with a major La Colombe investor, Keurig Dr Pepper. Keurig Dr Pepper’s La Colombe stake became Chobani equity, but this year, Keurig Dr Pepper said it was selling it back.
The canned matcha drinks join several other La Colombe canned beverages on store shelves. The canned draft latte was officially launched in 2016.
Ulukaya is credited with originally challenging co-founder of the coffee company, Todd Carmichael, to make a ready-to-drink latte, The Inquirer has reported.
“When La Colombe first put the Draft Latte in a can, the brand helped reshape the [ready to drink] coffee category by making a true coffeehouse quality experience accessible to more people,” said Niel Sandfort, chief innovation officer at Chobani and La Colombe, in a statement this week. “Now, we’re bringing that same craft and innovation to matcha.”
La Colombe has been looking to expand its ready-to-drink business and invested $567 million in a plant in Michigan earlier this year where it produces those drinks.
And parent company Chobani recently announced it would invest $1.2 billion in Pennsylvania in a new dairy plant, in a move expected to create hundreds of jobs and increase milk demand, benefiting the local dairy industry. Chobani is buying the facility from Keurig Dr Pepper for $125 million.
