Renewal Launch of Two Products: 'UCC Cold Brew BLACK PET 500ml' and 'UCC Cold Brew LATTE PET 500ml' on March 30, Featuring 'Mizu-ire' (Water Brew) Technology!
UCC Ueshima Coffee Co., Ltd. will relaunch its PET bottle 'UCC Cold Brew' series on March 30. Utilizing their unique 'Mizu-ire' cold-water brewing method, the updated BLACK and LATTE products offer a cleaner, refreshing taste to meet growing demands for thirst-quenching beverages amid prolonged summer heat.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: March 30, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: March 30, 2026 at 22:56 (3h 56m after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 24, 2026 at 05:42 (582h 45m after Collected)
UCC Ueshima Coffee Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture; Capital: 100 million yen; President: Hiroshi Shibatani; hereinafter "UCC") will renew and launch two PET bottle coffee products, 'UCC Cold Brew BLACK PET 500ml' and 'UCC Cold Brew LATTE PET 500ml', on Monday, March 30. These products feature a clean, easy-to-drink, and mellow taste achieved through UCC's 'Mizu-ire' (water brewing) technology.
Since last year, UCC has been using the term 'Mizu-ire' to describe iced coffee that is carefully brewed with water, sparing no time and effort. By 'brewing' with 'water' without applying heat, it features a clean taste with little bitterness and a rich aroma.
In recent years, Japan's annual average temperature has been rising due to the effects of climate change, with an increase in extremely hot days, and it is expected that we will continue to suffer from severe heat in the future. According to the Japan Weather Association's long-term weather forecast, the rainy season is expected to start and end earlier this year, the heat will arrive sooner, and the lingering summer heat from late summer to autumn will be severe (*1). Because the hot period throughout the year is becoming prolonged, the market for thirst-quenching beverages to relieve dry throats continues to expand. The demand for iced coffee, which combines thirst-quenching properties with gourmet appeal, is also on an expansion trend, as seen in the establishment of sales at convenience store counters, the spread of 'cold brew' menus at cafes and coffee shops, and the increase in users who enjoy rapidly chilled iced coffee brewed from ground coffee beans at home.
Based on this market background, UCC wants many people to enjoy 'Mizu-ire' coffee, which has little bitterness and a clean, mellow taste with a rich aroma. Since last year, UCC has been expanding a wide product lineup and menu of 'Mizu-ire' coffee as a new standard for iced coffee across all sales channels of the UCC Group, including home use, commercial use, and restaurants, globally, regardless of whether it is domestic or overseas, to respond to diverse needs. Specifically for home use, in addition to rolling out bag-type products in the regular coffee category and PET bottle-type products in the beverage category, continuous activities to convey 'Mizu-ire' coffee and its benefits at storefronts and sampling events resulted in the recognition rate of the term 'Mizu-ire' reaching about 40%. Considering that the general 'Mizudashi' (cold brew) has about a 70% recognition rate and 'Cold Brew' has about a 40% recognition rate, it was a year in which the recognition of 'Mizu-ire' made steady progress. (UCC research)
'Cold Brew - Mizu-ire' Highly Aromatic and Clean Coffee Characteristic of Iced Coffee
The PET bottle products of the 'UCC Cold Brew' brand are favored by many for their clean and mellow taste with reduced bitterness, as well as the 'Mizu-ire' coffee concept and stylish packaging. The annual sales volume in 2025, when the renewal was implemented, significantly surpassed the annual sales volume of the previous year.
In this renewal, while preserving the original high aroma and mellow taste of regular coffee, we further pursued the clean aftertaste and drinkability unique to 'Mizu-ire' coffee, and updated the packaging design to convey the brand's worldview more clearly.
There is no change in the fact that it incorporates coffee beans characterized by fruitiness and adopts UCC's proprietary roasting profile (*2). For the BLACK, by increasing the blending ratio of the fruity coffee beans and reviewing the extraction conditions, we pursued a clean feeling and drinkability, enhanced the coffee feeling at the beginning of drinking, and finished it as an iced coffee where you can feel the richness while having a clean feeling in the throat. Also, regarding LATTE, we have...
Since last year, UCC has been using the term 'Mizu-ire' to describe iced coffee that is carefully brewed with water, sparing no time and effort. By 'brewing' with 'water' without applying heat, it features a clean taste with little bitterness and a rich aroma.
In recent years, Japan's annual average temperature has been rising due to the effects of climate change, with an increase in extremely hot days, and it is expected that we will continue to suffer from severe heat in the future. According to the Japan Weather Association's long-term weather forecast, the rainy season is expected to start and end earlier this year, the heat will arrive sooner, and the lingering summer heat from late summer to autumn will be severe (*1). Because the hot period throughout the year is becoming prolonged, the market for thirst-quenching beverages to relieve dry throats continues to expand. The demand for iced coffee, which combines thirst-quenching properties with gourmet appeal, is also on an expansion trend, as seen in the establishment of sales at convenience store counters, the spread of 'cold brew' menus at cafes and coffee shops, and the increase in users who enjoy rapidly chilled iced coffee brewed from ground coffee beans at home.
Based on this market background, UCC wants many people to enjoy 'Mizu-ire' coffee, which has little bitterness and a clean, mellow taste with a rich aroma. Since last year, UCC has been expanding a wide product lineup and menu of 'Mizu-ire' coffee as a new standard for iced coffee across all sales channels of the UCC Group, including home use, commercial use, and restaurants, globally, regardless of whether it is domestic or overseas, to respond to diverse needs. Specifically for home use, in addition to rolling out bag-type products in the regular coffee category and PET bottle-type products in the beverage category, continuous activities to convey 'Mizu-ire' coffee and its benefits at storefronts and sampling events resulted in the recognition rate of the term 'Mizu-ire' reaching about 40%. Considering that the general 'Mizudashi' (cold brew) has about a 70% recognition rate and 'Cold Brew' has about a 40% recognition rate, it was a year in which the recognition of 'Mizu-ire' made steady progress. (UCC research)
'Cold Brew - Mizu-ire' Highly Aromatic and Clean Coffee Characteristic of Iced Coffee
The PET bottle products of the 'UCC Cold Brew' brand are favored by many for their clean and mellow taste with reduced bitterness, as well as the 'Mizu-ire' coffee concept and stylish packaging. The annual sales volume in 2025, when the renewal was implemented, significantly surpassed the annual sales volume of the previous year.
In this renewal, while preserving the original high aroma and mellow taste of regular coffee, we further pursued the clean aftertaste and drinkability unique to 'Mizu-ire' coffee, and updated the packaging design to convey the brand's worldview more clearly.
There is no change in the fact that it incorporates coffee beans characterized by fruitiness and adopts UCC's proprietary roasting profile (*2). For the BLACK, by increasing the blending ratio of the fruity coffee beans and reviewing the extraction conditions, we pursued a clean feeling and drinkability, enhanced the coffee feeling at the beginning of drinking, and finished it as an iced coffee where you can feel the richness while having a clean feeling in the throat. Also, regarding LATTE, we have...