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If you want to instantly reveal your age, just order a hot black coffee — seriously. Gen Z is flipping the script on how coffee is consumed, and spoiler: they like it cold, sweet, and loaded with creamer. For a lot of younger drinkers, that very first cup of coffee was just as likely to be iced as it was hot. And get thisabout 85% of Gen Z coffee fans are adding creamer, compared to just 70% of coffee drinkers overall. That shift in taste is making waves in the industry. Nestle, for example, has been rolling out new products to keep upfrom cold-dissolving instant coffee to liquid espresso concentrates and all kinds of flavored toppings. Weve done a lot of things in cold coffee the last two years to really meet this need of Gen Z and young millennials, Daniel Jhung, president of Nestles USA beverage division, tells Fast Company. Thats a big trend that were pushing into. COMBINING COFFEE AND CREAMER The coffee world is booming and the opportunity to innovate, while still providing value for a broad spectrum of consumers, makes for a fun time to be in this industry, says Jhung, whose role recently expanded to oversee the Swiss companys coffee and broader beverages portfolio. One of the reasons why it made sense for Nestle to unite coffee and creamer under one team is because theres such a natural connection between these products now. Or, as Jhung likes to quip: Whats more Americana than peanut butter and jelly or milk and cereal? Its actually coffee and creamer. Industry data from Circana backs this up: Coffee and creamer are co-purchased together 60% of the time versus 40% of the time for milk and cereal, and 20% of the time for peanut butter and jelly. While its easy to offer coffee-and-creamer bundles to online shoppers, in brick-and-mortar grocery stores, coffee and creamer are often found in far-flung aislesand this is a point of friction Nestle has heard about from shoppers. Thats why Nestle is thinking about how to bring coffee and creamer closer together in stores, Jhung notes. Thats something that we will tackle together with retailers in the future, he says. Theyre open to it; we definitely want to push it because thats where consumers are going naturally. THE FOURTH WAVE OF COFFEE In whats perhaps a sign of the times, this years Super Bowl featured a handful of commercials for coffee-related brands, including Nestle-owned Coffee mate, which advertised its new line of Cold Foams with disembodied tongues dancing to a Shania Twain song. Coffees prominence in the biggest advertising day of the year is fitting: Daily coffee consumption hit a 20-year high last year, according to a report from the National Coffee Association. In addition, Nestle recently opened a 675 million coffee-creamer factory in Glendale, Arizona which is indicative of the company putting our money where our mouth is, Jhung says, adding that its designed to be flexible to respond to fast-moving consumer trends. It’s going to meet the growing demands of this new coffee consumer for the next decade. While such investments are indicative of overall strength in the coffee industry, Nestle is also eager to ride what its calling the fourth wave of coffee thats being driven by the youngest coffee drinkers. This era is defined by the four Cs of coffee: cold, convenient (or instant), craft and customizable. We think customization, experimentation is the crux of this fourth wave, Jhung says. These consumers really like to customize their cup, it’s really their own personalized cup. That trend has continued since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, as creators and connoisseurs converge on social media to swap recipes and at-home barista types try to replicate coffee drinks they ordered elsewhere, Jhung says. Gen Z coffee drinkers are also introducing their older-generation parents to new products for their coffee, he adds. What we hear sometimes is that the Gen Z [consumer] brings it into the house, and then you get the adoption from Gen X and even Boomer, Jhung says. Its kind-of a cool thing to see that with the reverse mentoring. INSTANT IS A HIT But what might surprise some people is the popularity of instant coffee, in particular, with the youngest of coffee drinkers. Instant coffee still trailed drip and single-cup brewers for at-home coffee preparation methods in 2024, but saw a 31% jump from 2023, according to figures from the National Coffee Association. Instant coffee is projected to be one of the fastest-growing coffee segments in the next three years, according to industry estimates, which tracks with trends at Nestle. While its long been popular around the world, instant coffee has blown up among American coffee drinkers in recent years, Jhung says. Nestle-owned Nescafe has experienced double-digit annual sales growth, and the company launched Nescafe Ice Roast and Nescafe Gold in recent years. Despite some misconceptions to the contrary, instant coffee is coffeeits freeze-driedand consumers are increasingly drawn to it because it now marries convenience with craft offerings, Jhung says. That’s a bubble burst [that] over the last three or four years. INNOVATION ABOUNDS All of these coffee trends are indicative of a renaissance of sorts in various segments of food and beverage driven by younger consumers who see food as art, as Jhung notes. And Nestle is putting a lot of money behind keeping up with the tastes of these coffee drinkersincluding launching specialty flavors like Thai iced coffee and a lavender coffeewhich makes for a fun time to be at the helm of Nestles business, he adds. Its not a boring category, he says. You talk with the retailers, you talk with the consumers, it gets peoples energy up when they talk about how they drink their cup of coffee.
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E-Commerce
Until recently, it was a little-known program to help Black and Latino students pursue business degrees. But in January, conservative strategist Christopher Rufo flagged the program known as the PhD Project in social media posts that caught the attention of Republican politicians. The program is now at the center of a Trump administration campaign to root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education. The U.S. Education Department last week said it was investigating dozens of universities for alleged racial discrimination, citing ties to the nonprofit organization. That followed a warning a month earlier that schools could lose federal money over race-based preferences in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life. The investigations left some school leaders startled and confused, wondering what prompted the inquiries. Many scrambled to distance themselves from The PhD Project, which has aimed to help diversify the business world and higher education faculty. The rollout of the investigations highlights the climate of fear and uncertainty in higher education, which President Donald Trump’s administration has begun policing for policies that run afoul of his agenda even as he moves to dismantle the Education Department. The Trump administration asked colleges to explain ties to The PhD Project There is a range of nonprofits that work to help minority groups advance in higher education but The PhD Project was not well known before Rufo began posting on X about its work with colleges, said Jonathan Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents. Its not hard to draw some lines between that incident and why 45 institutions that were partners with The PhD Project are getting this investigation announced, he said. The 45 colleges under investigation for ties to the organization include public universities such as Arizona State, Ohio State and the University of California, Berkeley, along with private schools like Yale, Cornell, Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Education Department sent letters to the universities informing them its Office for Civil Rights had received a complaint and they were under investigation for allegedly discriminating against students on the basis of race or ethnicity because of a past affiliation with The PhD Project. The letters set a March 31 deadline for information about their relationship with the nonprofit. In a statement, the PhD Project said it aims to create a broader talent pipeline” of business leaders. This year, we have opened our membership application to anyone who shares that vision, it said. Colleges tread carefully on inquiries that threaten federal funding Public reaction from the universities leadership has been minimal and cautious, with most issuing brief statements saying they will cooperate with investigators and refusing further comment. Colleges may see reason not to push back. The Trump administration has shown willingness to withhold federal funding over issues involving antisemitism allegations, diversity programs and transgender athletes. At Columbia University, under fire for its handling of pro-Palestinian protests, the administration pulled $400 million in federal money and threatened billions more if it does not comply with its demands. There is a concern that if one university steps up and fights this then that university will have all of their funding cut, said Veena Dubal, general counsel for the American Association of University Professors. They are being hindered not just by fear but a real collective action problem. None of these universities wants to be the next example. Some colleges moved swiftly to stop working with The PhD Project. The University of Kentucky said it severed ties with the nonprofit on Monday. The University of Wyoming said in a statement that its college of business was affiliated with the group to develop its graduate student pipeline, but it plans to discontinue its membership. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas issued a statement saying three professors participated in the program, but two no longer work at the university and a third was killed in a shooting on campus in 2023. Arizona State said its business school is not financially supporting The PhD Project this year and it told faculty in February the school would not support travel to the nonprofits conference. A campaign against the nonprofit’s work began on social media Similar fallout came in Texas earlier this year, when Rufo began posting on X about the PhD Project. Texas A&M is sponsoring a trip to a DEI conference, Rufo posted on Jan. 13. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, accused the university of supporting racial segregation and breaking the law. The next day Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot posted on X that the university president will soon be gone unless he immediately fixed the matter. Texas A&M responded by withdrawing from the conference, and soon after at least eight other Texas public universities that had participated previously in The PhD Projects conference also withdrew, the Texas Tribune reported. Rufo has not responded to a request for comment. Some of the schools under investigation raised questions about where the complaints against them originated. Montana State University said it follows all state and federal laws and was surprised by the notice it received and unaware of any complaint made internally with regards to The PhD Project. Six other colleges are being investigated for awarding impermissible race-based scholarships, the Education Department said. Additionally, the University of Minnesota is being investigated for allegedly operating a program that segregates students on the basis of race. At the University of California, Berkeley, hundreds gathered Wednesday on the campus known for student protests. But this one was organized by faculty, who stood on the steps of Sproul Hall, known as the birthplace of the free speech movement in the 1960s. This is a fight that can be summed up in five words: Academic freedom is under assault, Ula Taylor, a professor of African American studies, said to the crowd. In a campus email Monday, Berkeley Chncellor Rich Lyons did not specifically mention the investigation targeting his school. But he described the federal governments actions against higher education as a threat to the school’s core values. A Berkeley without academic freedom, without freedom of inquiry, without freedom of expression is simply not Berkeley, Lyons said. We will stand up for Berkeleys values and defend them to the very best of our ability.___ Cheyanne Mumphrey and Jocelyn Gecker, AP education writers Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report. The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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E-Commerce
Colleges and universities are warning international students to avoid leaving the U.S. for spring break amid the Trump administration’s continuous deportation threats. Even though international students are in the U.S. legally on student visas, schools are expressing concern that if those students leave the country, they won’t be allowed back in. The warnings come as Trump has proposed travel bans targeting 43 countries, some highly publicized deportations have already taken place, and new raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at colleges and universities have stoked fear in many. In an email Thursday, NYU administrators warned both students and faculty against any “nonessential travel,” especially to the countries Trump targets in his proposed travel bans. While we are not extending that same guidance to our entire international community, we would suggest that if you are uneasy or have some hesitancy about international travel right now, you consider remaining in the United States during the break out of an abundance of caution, the email said. Likewise, Brown University released similar guidance in a school-wide email. “We understand that many in our community are feeling a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety as news media share reports of federal deportation actions against individuals who are non-U.S. citizens,” Russell C. Carey, executive vice president for planning and policy and interim vice president for campus life at Brown, said in the email shared with USA Today. Carey added, “Potential changes in travel restrictions and travel bans, visa procedures and processing, reentry requirements, and other travel-related delays may affect travelers ability to return to the U.S. as planned.” Columbia University and Cornell University have posted similar warnings on their websites. Under Trump’s orders, a recent series of highly publicized and potentially illegal deportations have been reported on lately. Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident and graduate of Columbia University, who helped organize protests last spring against Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza, was detained by ICE agents and taken to an immigration jail in Louisiana. A judge ordered Khalil to be kept in the U.S. for now, but in a social media post, Trump warned that the arrest would be the “first of many” and called those who speak against Israel’s U.S.-funded bombing of Palestine “antisemitic” and “anti-American.” The post warned, We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our countrynever to return again. Following Khalil’s arrest, a physician at Brown had her visa canceled when returning to the U.S. from her home in Lebanon, despite a judge’s order. A French scientist was also denied entry to the U.S. after immigration officials found texts on his phone that were critical of Trump. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the texts “could be qualified as terrorism.” It’s not the first time colleges and universities have urged international students to avoid travel at certain times. Last year, schools warned international students to get back on U.S. soil before Trump took office, fearing that if they did not, the administration’s new travel restrictions might prevent their return. At the time, Northeastern University in Boston, which has the second-highest number of international students (after NYU), sent an alert from the Office of Global Services to the schools international community: To minimize potential disruption to your studies, work, or research, we strongly recommend returning to the U.S. no later than January 6, 2025, the start of Northeasterns Winter/Spring academic term. This will allow you to be present on campus before possible restrictions take effect.
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E-Commerce
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