For those who work behind the counter, the message in Oatly’s new Future of Taste Report is blunt: nobody wants a plain flat white swap any more. Oatly Group AB, the Swedish oat drink company listed on Nasdaq as OTLY, published its second report on October 22, 2026. It draws on more than 200 interviews with baristas, café owners, mixologists and drinks experts in 21 countries, plus trends data compiled by researchers CultureLab.
People are asking more of their drinks, the company says. They want excitement, texture and functionality, from wellness drinks with real personality to global flavours and playful textures.
Herbs, botanicals and ferments
The report calls its first trend the pharmafication of drinks. Cafés are borrowing from wellness, nature and traditional food cultures, and herbs and botanicals are moving into everyday menus. Some 40% of drinks professionals say they will shape the future of flavour, which makes them the number one taste trend in the findings. Ginger, hibiscus and lavender are drawing attention.
Fermentation came up unprompted for 56% of the experts. Kombucha is the familiar name, but tepache, kvass and Turkish şalgam are starting to appear on the radar too. Lara Sosna of Forkk Studio in Germany says people are becoming interested in flavours that tell a story, built from herbs, flowers, botanicals, tea and fermented fruits. One example in the report pairs salty olives and brine with lemon and vegetable juice, topped with an olive oil Oatly Barista Cold Foam.
Texture, and the café as a meeting place
Texture is taking a starring role as well, with coffee jelly among the innovations cited. The report also points to a boom in non-coffee and tea orders.
Its second trend, the great café reconnection, ties to the rise of AI and working from home. Cafés are becoming places to meet, spend time and find community, and 51% of drinks experts say belonging, community or connection will be central to their future. That could mean specialist coffee groups, matcha clubs, music-led spaces or cafés built around a shared interest. The drink still matters, the report says, but so does what happens around it.
Oat drink as a starting point
Oatly’s own commentary says many of the creators it spoke to see oat drink as a “brilliant starting point” for that creativity, letting baristas and café teams build drinks people “don’t just order but remember.”
The company has deep reach in the trade. As of 31 December 2020, its products were in 60,000 retail stores and 32,200 coffee shops worldwide, including 11,000 coffee and tea shops in China and thousands of Starbucks locations in the United States.
Sources
- The End of the Flat White? Oatly’s Future of Taste Report Identifies Four Key Trends Shaping Café Menus
- Oatly
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Photo: Helen Alfvegren (CC BY 2.0)
