Bickford’s Australia has launched a new ready to drink (RTD) iced coffee range.
“As we enter the centenary year of our Iced Coffee syrup, a ready to drink coffee option was an obvious flavour to start with on our fantastic new production line” said Bickford’s group marketing manager, Chris Illman.
The family owned business already has a strong coffee history through the award-winning Iced Coffee syrup, which was first produced in November 1919.
Created in a post war Adelaide when coffee was in short supply, the addition of chicory to the recipe provided the bitterness that consumers were looking for and the icon was born, quickly winning awards both at home and overseas in the early 1920’s.
The range delivers two dairy options in Classic Coffee and Extra Shot made with locally sourced milk alongside an Iced Coffee almond milk made using Australian grown almonds.
“The response from consumers has been fantastic” said Illman. “In particular, the Almond version has been given a resounding thumbs up. When we spoke to consumers, the feedback was that many almond products are thin and watery, so we worked hard to achieve the right mouthfeel as well as flavour and it seems we did a pretty good job!”
He added, “We wanted to recognise that Iced Coffee drinkers are a diverse demographic hence we created both dairy and dairy free choices.”
The new range rolls out in South Australia with retail launch partners Foodland, Drakes and OTR before extending out nationally through its distributor network.