Coffee in a can – a new product from one of the country’s oldest beverage companies – is stirring up a great deal of interest, both locally and overseas.
Cafecino is a premium Brazilian coffee-based convenience drink being marketed as the express espresso. So it’s real coffee … in a can.
And early testing has generated a great deal of buzz around the product.
Bickford’s Australia, perhaps best known in this state as the manufacturer of the ubiquitous chicory-based iced coffee essence, is responsible for the new product.
“We’ve already had tremendous feedback from early sampling,” Bickford’s marketing manager Andrew Bell says.
But the thing is, no one is sure which category the new drink falls in.
“Supermarkets are ringing me up asking whether it’s a coffee product or whether it’s a soft drink, but it doesn’t fit into either category,” Mr Bell says.
And given the recent press regarding sports stars’ use of caffeine tablets pre-game, coffee in a can could even be considered as an energy drink.
Whatever label it eventually gets, it is the first convenience coffee product being marketed on the strength of its coffee alone. Traditionally, the only conduit through which convenience coffee has been sold has been flavoured milk.
But Bickford’s believes that by doing away with the milk and coffee essence, Cafecino will prove popular among even the most diehard purists.
“The point of difference is that it tastes like genuine coffee because it is genuine coffee,” Mr Bell says.
The product will be sold Australia wide and started appearing in selected outlets across the state this month.
Bickford’s, originally an apothecary with a cordials business on the side, became an international beverage giant. It hopes to eventually sell Cafecino overseas, particularly in the lucrative Japanese market, where hot and cold canned coffee has been available from vending machines for many years.
It will be the first Australian soft drink on Japanese supermarket shelves in 25 years.
