21 Jun
date powder latte

Date Powder: The New Trend in Modern Coffee Shops and Healthy Concepts

An ancient desert fruit, ground into a powder, is finding its way into lattes, smoothies and premium drinks. Here is why coffee shops, juice bars and healthy restaurants are paying attention.

Date powder has long been associated with cookies, cakes, energy balls and baking. Today, it also shows real potential in beverages: indulgent coffees, plant-based lattes, smoothies, protein shakes and premium cold drinks. To explore every use, read our guide to Date Powder in Modern Beverages.

Why Date-Sweetened Drinks Are Trending

The most interesting development isn’t dates as a snack or a baking ingredient. It is the rise of date-sweetened recipes: drinks and desserts sweetened with dates rather than white sugar or flavoured syrup.

Trend observers have already spotted date-sweetened snacks, chocolates and ready-to-drink coffees

[1]. Brands no longer sell only “less sugar”; they tell customers what they sweeten with.

 

Date powder is more than a simple sweetener. It is made from dried dates that are finely ground: a fruit-based ingredient with a naturally rounded flavour, notes of caramel and dried fruit, and uses that go well beyond baking.

From a technological point of view, date powder is obtained by drying and grinding the fruit. This format improves its shelf life, handling and incorporation into different recipes. Depending on the process and the date variety, the powder offers solubility and blending properties that allow it to be used as a natural sweetening powder in food formulations [2].

Cafés are showing similar interest. Whole Foods Market named “The Great Date” one of its top food trends for 2023, highlighting date sugar and a date-cardamom latte [3]. Food & Wine featured a

tahini date latte from New York’s Librae Bakery in 2024 [4], and Pop & Bottle launched a cold brew oat-milk latte sweetened with dates in 2025 [5].

In practice, one ingredient can build a whole drink menu:

  • Coffee bar: date latte, date cappuccino, date flat
  • Cold and blended: iced date frappé, date smoothies, chocolate-date or tahini-date
  • Beyond the cup: porridges, desserts and toppings, using the same ingredient across the

 

How Date Powder Adds Nutrients to Your Drinks

Refined sugar mainly provides sweetness and energy; whole-date powder may also keep small amounts of fibre and minerals. A widely cited review reports around 314 kcal and 8 g of fibre per 100 g of dates, plus potassium, magnesium, copper and selenium [6].

What date powder brings to a beverage

 

Component

In dates

What it means in your drink

Natural sugars

Main component

Sweetness and energy, with no refined sugar added

Dietary fibre

~8 g per 100 g [6]

About 0.8 g per tablespoon, which sugar and syrups don’t offer

Potassium, magnesium

Present [6]

Small mineral contribution from the fruit

Copper, selenium

Present [6]

Trace minerals naturally found in dates

Phenolic compounds

Present [7]

In a 2024 study, milk drinks with more date powder showed higher fibre and phenolic content

Energy

~314 kcal per 100 g [6]

About 31 kcal per tablespoon (~10 g)

Per-tablespoon values assume about 10 g of powder. Actual values vary with the date variety, drying, particle size and spoon size, so always use your supplier’s or wholesaler’s nutrition label for menus and packaging.

Why Is Date Powder Attracting Coffee Shops?

Date powder brings a fruity, caramelised sweetness to recipes built on one simple, recognisable ingredient. Studies show it is mainly made of the fruit’s natural carbohydrates, with some fibre and minerals depending on variety and drying [9].

Consumers increasingly look for short, understandable ingredient lists. A date powder labelled “100% dates” meets this clean-label expectation particularly well.

Research confirms the growing interest in natural alternatives to refined sugar, while reminding us that any sweetener, even from fruit, should be consumed in moderation [10].

For a coffee shop, organic store, healthy restaurant or juice bar, date powder is more than an ingredient: it can become a recipe platform and a way to stand out.

A traditional latte is a common product. A Date Latte becomes a signature drink, easy to tell, photograph and recommend. To add real value, three things matter:

  1. Quality date powder with a fine particle size, from a reliable wholesaler that delivers consistent batches.
  2. A stable recipe, without too much sediment and with controlled

Research on date valorisation also highlights several formats (juice, syrup, paste, fibre and powder) used to create value-added food products [11].

 

Date Powder Wholesale and Commercial Opportunities

Market reports point in the same direction. According to Mordor Intelligence, the global date-sugar market was worth USD 438.72 million in 2025 and is expected to reach USD 642.27 million by 2031, with powder as the largest form segment [12].

Other firms publish very different estimates, because they don’t measure the same scope, price

level, regions or method. These figures shouldn’t be combined, but they all agree on one point: the market is growing.

For café owners and buyers sourcing date powder wholesale, the direction matters more than the exact figure. Date powder is being positioned for beverages, bakery, snacks, dairy alternatives and food service, with a focus on clean label, convenience and shelf stability [12].

A FreshPlaza article on Natural Delights Organics shows Medjool dates moving beyond snacking into smoothies and better-for-you desserts [13]. Its figures come from the company, so they are a commercial example rather than independent proof.

 

Conclusion: Date Lattes as Signature Coffee Shop Drinks

After Matcha, Pistachio and Ube Lattes, dates are entering the world of signature drinks. The Date Latte already appears on café menus in the United States, Australia and the Middle East, hot or iced, often with cardamom, cinnamon or sea salt.

Odysseus Coffee (Farmington, Michigan) offers a Date Latte, hot or iced, with a natural, rich date flavour [14].

Luna La Mer (Brooklyn, New York) includes a Date Latte on its coffee menu, alongside the Pistachio Latte, the Spiced Maple Latte and the Matcha Latte [15].

The Qahwa (Australia) offers an Iced Salted Date Latte combining caramelised date syrup, espresso, cold milk and a pinch of sea salt [16].

Not all these venues use date powder: some use date syrup or flavouring. But they confirm that the Date Latte is an understandable, attractive and adaptable format. With 100% fruit date powder from a specialist wholesaler, a brand can offer a more transparent version, with sweetness from the fruit rather than a syrup.

To go further, coffee shops can create a Sahara Date Latte or a Golden Date Latte: more than a flavoured latte, a drink with an origin, a texture, natural caramel notes and a story inspired by the oases.

 

 

References

 

T R E N D S A N D C A F É I N D U S T R Y

S C I E N T I F I C S T U D I E S

M A R K E T R E P O R T S A N D T R A D E P R E S S

C A F É M E N U S C I T E D

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G

SupplySide Food & Beverage Journal. Date Sweeteners Elevate Flavor and Functionality (2026). https://www.supplysidefbj.com/