Why Vegetable Coffee Is Going Viral: Healthy Trend or Just Curiosity?

 Walk into a café nowadays and the menu might surprise you: “Kale Light Coffee,” “Provence Tomato Americano,” “Beetroot & Purple Cabbage Americano”—ingredients that sound more like a salad than part of a coffee drink. What started as a jokingly labeled “dark cuisine” has now gone mainstream: Guming’s kale Americano sells over 50,000 cups per day, Tims’ tomato coffee has repeatedly sold out, and this “add-some-veggies-to-your-coffee” revolution has spread from social media hype to every corner of the street, quickly becoming a trend embraced by young consumers.

From Niche Experiment to Mass Phenomenon: The Rise of Vegetable Coffee

Vegetable coffee simply refers to mixing the juices or extracts of “super vegetables” such as kale, beetroot, tomato, or carrot into coffee. Its popularity didn’t happen overnight. Instead, it evolved through several stages:

1. Early Experiments:
   Independent cafés pioneered the movement with extremely bold ideas—cilantro sparkling Americano, Sichuan pepper coffee, even garlic coffee—setting the stage for future trends.

2. Early Entry by Chains:
   In 2023, major chains like K Coffee (KFC) began testing vegetable-based coffee, pushing the concept beyond niche circles and into mainstream visibility.

3. Full-scale Breakout:
   From 2024–2025, major brands like Nowwa, Guming, Tims, and Senao launched vegetable coffees nationwide, transforming them from a “novelty option” into an everyday drink.

Social media played a critical role. On Xiaohongshu, posts tagged “vegetable coffee” exceed 70,000, and Douyin views have passed the million mark. Pink, green, and purple layered drinks paired with captions like “today’s health KPI achieved” have turned vegetable coffee into a symbol of self-discipline and trendy living.

Beyond national chains, local innovation is booming. In Chengdu, cafés have launched garlic coffee, Sichuan chili coffee, and tea bud (Que She) coffee. Garlic coffee, created using a special sulfur-removal process to eliminate spicy notes, even sells 200 cups a day—turning local agricultural products into viral beverages.

Why Young People Love Vegetable Coffee: Three Core Needs It Perfectly Hits

The rise of vegetable coffee is no coincidence—it directly taps into the priorities of younger consumers.

1. A “lazy solution” to health anxiety

Fast-paced lifestyles have made “not eating enough vegetables” a common modern problem. A cup of kale coffee claiming to contain 2.8g of dietary fiber offers an effortless shortcut to nutrition. No meal prep, no cooking—just drink your coffee and complete your “vegetable intake KPI.”

Search data supports this surge: interest in “healthy wellness coffee” has risen 424% in the past year.

2. Curiosity-driven “sensory novelty”

“Vegetables in coffee—does it actually taste good?”
The odd pairing naturally sparks curiosity.

Many drinks surprise consumers with their pleasant flavors:

• Tims’ Tomato Americano tastes like a refreshing fruit-vegetable juice

• Chengdu’s Sichuan chili coffee blends slight spiciness with coffee’s bitterness

The unexpected “surprisingly good” effect fuels word-of-mouth growth.

3. The perfect “social media aesthetic”

In an era where appearance is everything, vegetable coffee—with its vibrant natural colors and beautiful layers—is made for Instagram/TikTok.

Kale gives a crisp green, beetroot creates dreamy pinks—visually striking drinks that help young people express lifestyle identity and gain social approval.

The Challenges: What Stands Between Hype and Long-term Success

Despite the trend’s momentum, vegetable coffee faces three major obstacles before it can become a stable category.

1. The balance between flavor and health

This is its biggest Achilles’ heel.

Coffee’s bitterness doesn’t naturally blend with the earthy, grassy notes of vegetables like kale. To improve taste, some brands add sugar or flavored syrups—betraying the “healthy” promise and creating a contradiction:

better taste = less healthy.

2. High pressure on supply chain and cost

Fresh vegetables spoil quickly, with transport/storage losses reaching 10–30%, pushing up costs. Hema’s data shows that 20–40% of vegetables are rejected due to imperfect appearance, causing further waste.

Higher ingredient costs mean vegetable coffees are priced above regular drinks—reducing repurchase rates.

3. The challenge of educating the mainstream

Despite social media buzz, many consumers still see vegetable coffee as “weird,” and some have an instinctive aversion to the taste. Compared with established “healthy tea drinks,” vegetable coffee still needs long-term education to overcome consumer prejudice.

Future Directions: Functional Segmentation & Local Innovation

To overcome challenges, vegetable coffee is moving toward two major development paths:

1. Functional segmentation: from “general health” to “precision nutrition”

Instead of vague health claims, future vegetable coffees will target specific needs:

• 0-sugar high-fiber coffee for fitness or sugar-conscious consumers

• Prebiotic + vegetable coffee for gut health

• Turmeric coffee for anti-inflammatory benefits

In Sichuan, a brand collaborating with universities developed functional garlic coffee rich in allicin, generating over 1 million RMB in annual revenue—proving the potential of functional beverages.

2. Localization: from “homogenous” to “culturally unique”

Instead of all brands using kale and beetroot, local ingredients offer more originality.

Examples already emerging:

• Nowwa launched Houttuynia Americano in Yunnan/Guizhou

• Herbal Americano in Shandong

• Frozen Pear Americano in Northeast China

• Chengdu’s chili coffee and Que She tea-bud coffee

Local ingredients reduce supply chain costs, add storytelling, and help drinks stand out culturally.

Some retailers now use “ugly vegetables” (imperfect but edible produce) to reduce waste and costs—aligning with sustainability trends.

Conclusion

The explosion of vegetable coffee reflects the intersection of upgraded consumption, rising health awareness, and fierce brand innovation. It mirrors the contradictions of young consumers: wanting pleasure yet pursuing health, craving novelty while needing convenience.

Right now, it is indeed a successful topic-driven product and a significant growth engine for the beverage market.

But for it to become a long-term classic, brands must continue to:

• Solve flavor challenges through R&D

• Optimize supply chain to lower prices

• Shape clear, sustainable consumer perceptions

From Chengdu’s garlic coffee to national kale Americanos, this experiment at the crossroads of flavor and wellness has injected fresh imagination into an otherwise saturated coffee market.