La Colombe Launches Canned Matcha Lattes After 188% Café Sales Growth
The Philadelphia roaster enters ready-to-drink matcha with three flavors made from single-origin Japanese matcha and Michigan lactose-free whole milk, citing strong demand from its café network.
- Café matcha sales growth
- 188% since 2023, per the company
- SKUs at launch
- Three flavors: Everyday, Strawberry and Vanilla
- Can size
- 11 oz
- Key ingredients
- Single-origin Japanese matcha; lactose-free whole milk from Michigan
- Parent company
- Chobani, which joined forces with La Colombe in 2023
La Colombe is moving beyond coffee with the launch of canned Matcha Lattes, marking the Philadelphia-based roaster's first foray into the ready-to-drink matcha segment. The line arrives in three flavors, Everyday, Strawberry and Vanilla, packaged in 11 oz cans made with single-origin Japanese matcha and lactose-free whole milk sourced from Michigan.
The company points to internal café data as the catalyst: matcha sales across its locations grew 188 percent since 2023, per the company. That figure gave La Colombe a demand signal before committing to a canned format, a strategy consistent with how the brand developed its Draft Latte line, which moved from café taps to retail shelves after building a dedicated canning plant in Michigan in 2016 and 2017. La Colombe has operated 29 cafés and, since 2023, has been part of Chobani, which adds dairy and distribution infrastructure to the coffee maker's existing manufacturing base.
The new line fits a broader pattern in the ready-to-drink aisle, where matcha has graduated from a specialty café menu item into a mainstream convenience format. La Colombe's existing cold-chain relationships and Michigan production capacity lower the barriers to entry compared with a startup entering the same space.
Why it matters
La Colombe's move is a signal that established RTD coffee brands are treating matcha not as a line extension but as a category in its own right. The 188 percent café growth figure, reported by the company, suggests the company is using its own retail footprint as a test-and-learn lab before committing shelf space to a new ingredient platform. For competitors in the RTD space, the more significant pressure may come from La Colombe's Chobani partnership, which gives it dairy sourcing, distribution reach and retail credibility that purely matcha-focused entrants typically lack.
What to watch
The critical open question is retail placement: whether La Colombe slots the Matcha Lattes alongside its existing canned coffee line or pursues dedicated shelf space in the growing tea and wellness adjacency. Distribution strategy will determine whether the launch captures the café loyalists already familiar with the brand or reaches the broader matcha consumer, a meaningfully different shopper profile.
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