Gen Z Wants Starbucks, Not This 131-Year-Old Coffee Brand — But Its First Product Launch in Almost a Decade Could Change That

Sixty-two percent of Americans drink coffee every day, according to the National Coffee Association — but that doesn't mean any old cup of joe will suffice.

Kraft Heinz, which owns the 131-year-old coffee brand Maxwell House, knows that all too well. And it hopes to recapture consumers' attention with Maxwell's first product launch in nearly a decade: an instant iced latte with foam, CNBC reported.

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Maxwell House was the best-selling coffee in the U.S. for decades thanks to "some of the most memorable initiatives in packaged-foods marketing," The New York Times reported in 2014. But it's since fallen out of favor with consumers, especially those in younger generations.

Today, Gen Z and Millennial coffee drinkers are the biggest consumers of cold coffee drinks — yet only 7% of coffee consumed at home is cold, per data reported by CNBC. Maxwell House is tapping into that sector with its latest launch.

What's more, Maxwell's iced latte with foam — available in vanilla, hazelnut and caramel — might even beat the convenience of a Starbucks run, as it requires just one packet, a cup of cold water and a spoon. And at $6.99 for a package with six packets, it works out to just $1.17 per latte.

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Kraft Heinz has been focusing on coffee more in recent years and had success with an IHOP-branded coffee launch in April, per CNBC. Tiffin Groff, head of Kraft Heinz's North American coffee business, told the outlet that last year was the first one Maxwell gained market share since 2016.