Coffee and tea businesses lean into the booming drink delivery market with freshly made, colorful, and customizable options. Photo credit: HungryPanda
The US specialty beverage market is undergoing rapid transformation as drinks increasingly become standalone delivery purchases rather than add-ons to meals. Tea-based beverages, particularly bubble tea, matcha, milk teas, and fruit teas, are driving much of this growth.
Demand from Gen Z consumers and young professionals seeking convenience, customization, and experience-based products is driving this trend, with delivery platforms playing key roles in the evolving market. Services such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and HungryPanda have all seen strong growth in tea beverage consumption across major US urban markets, with delivery platforms accounting for 25-40% of all urban bubble tea outlets.
Kitty Lu, director of public affairs at HungryPanda, told STiR Coffee and Tea that the role beverages play in people’s daily routines is shifting. “Consumers are increasingly comfortable ordering drinks independently,” Lu said, “rather than bundling them with meals.” According to Lu, tea-based beverages remain HungryPanda’s fastest-growing beverage segment, particularly bubble tea and matcha products. In several major urban markets with strong Asian or Gen Z consumer bases, tea beverages account for the majority of beverage orders on the platform, reaching as high as 70% in some markets.
Gen Z Fuels Demand for Customization
The rise of beverage delivery reflects changing consumer behavior in younger demographics in the US. Customization has become a defining factor in consumer behavior, with drinks increasingly positioned as customizable lifestyle products tied to identity, aesthetics, and social experiences.
The ability to choose alternative milk bases for tea-based drinks, as well as adjust sweetness levels and customize flavor profiles, has led to an increased perception of value for consumers. Customization changes beverage purchases into more deliberate, experience-driven choices rather than commodity transactions. Social media has further reinforced this behavior, with visual appeal, branding, and product identity influencing purchase decisions. For many Gen Z consumers, brand recognition and image play a key role in consumer choice. Elevated packaging, presentation, and product identity are critical factors in delivery performance.
Limited-edition collaborations and visually driven beverage trends have helped fuel repeat engagement among Gen Z consumers. “Collaborations with creative IP such as Pokémon, Hello Kitty, or artists like Yayoi Kusama deliver strong emotional value for customers,” Lu said.
Tea-based beverages have benefited from structural advantages within delivery platforms. Unlike prepackaged beverages typically purchased through retail channels, specialty tea drinks are freshly prepared prior to delivery, highly customizable, and more aligned with app-based ordering behavior. Consumers enjoy having their perfect drink at the tap of a button, and delivery platforms help provide this ease of customization and the satisfaction of a unique experience. This strongly supports repeat-purchase patterns, particularly among younger demographics in urban markets, where beverage consumption is increasingly habitual rather than occasional.
Industry Implications
As delivery continues to expand its role in beverage consumption, operators are increasingly adapting menus and branding strategies for digital ordering environments. Customization, visual identity, and consistency across delivery platforms are becoming key competitive differentiators.
For tea and coffee businesses, this shift emphasizes the importance of designing beverages specifically for delivery performance. Products need to travel well, photograph well for social media, and remain easy to customize without adding operational complexity.
In this environment, tea’s flexibility, visual variety, and alignment with younger consumer preferences position it as one of the strongest-performing categories in the evolving US beverage delivery market.