If fizz is essential for a picnic lunch, choose a cold-brew concentrate and add chilled sparkling water just before serving. Tesco Groceries gives a dilution method for its unsweetened concentrate, while Starbucks Coffee At Home shows how to finish cold brew with sparkling water; a ready-to-drink cold coffee needs an explicit sparkling or carbonated label to meet the same brief.
If you can bring sparkling water and mix your drink when you serve it, a cold-brew base gives you a way to make fizzy coffee without choosing a milky iced latte or a cocktail. Starbucks Coffee At Home uses cold-brew concentrate, ice and sparkling water for this kind of drink.
An unsweetened concentrate lets you decide whether to add anything else. Tesco Groceries lists Tesco Finest Unsweetened Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate and gives a method for diluting it; check the bottle label for any dietary requirement.
A coffee liqueur is a different choice from a non-alcoholic picnic drink. Waitrose lists Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur at 21% alcohol by volume, and Sainsbury’s lists Tia Maria Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur at 20%.
Start with the finished drink: decide whether it must be sparkling and non-alcoholic, then check the base and what you will need to bring.
| Priority | What to check | Your needs |
|---|---|---|
| Fizz | For a ready-made drink, look for an explicit sparkling or carbonated description. For a concentrate, check its dilution directions and add sparkling water when serving. | I want bubbles in the finished coffee, not just a cold drink. Mixing at the picnic works if I can bring sparkling water and ice. |
| Sweetness and ingredients | Check the exact drink’s ingredients and sugars information, including any additions you plan to make. Tesco Groceries identifies its Finest concentrate as unsweetened. | I’d rather choose what goes into my glass than assume every cold brew has the same ingredients. |
| Alcohol | Check the product category and alcohol by volume: Waitrose lists Mr Black liqueur at 21%, while Sainsbury’s lists Tia Maria liqueur at 20%. | For a non-alcoholic picnic coffee, I need a coffee drink or base rather than a coffee liqueur. |
| Serving and carrying | Check the concentrate’s serving directions, pack format and storage instructions. Tesco Groceries gives a method using 100 ml concentrate and 100 ml cold water; a sparkling-water version also requires you to bring the mixer. | If I’m making drinks away from home, I need to carry what I’ll mix and serve, not just the coffee. |
| Caffeine information | Check the exact pack for caffeine information if the amount matters to you; do not assume concentrates and ready-to-drink coffees have the same serving size. | I want to know what a serving contains before deciding how much to pour. |
Cold brew describes the coffee, not the alcohol status of the finished product. Waitrose lists Mr Black at 21% alcohol by volume, and Sainsbury’s lists Tia Maria at 20%.
For a non-alcoholic picnic drink, check the product category and alcohol information before choosing a coffee base.
Marks & Spencer lists cold-brew coffee and sparkling drinks in its drinks range, but that does not make its Oat Latte Cold Brew Coffee a carbonated drink. Comunicaffe International reported Sandows sparkling soda flavours in 2018; that report does not establish what is stocked now.
Look for sparkling or carbonated wording on the drink you intend to buy, or plan to mix cold brew with sparkling water.
Mixing concentrate with sparkling water in advance means carrying an already opened, fizzy drink. Starbucks Coffee At Home instead adds sparkling water to cold brew over ice as the finishing step.
Carry the components separately and combine them when you are ready to drink.
The details that matter may differ between drinks and pack versions, particularly when you are checking sugars, allergens or caffeine.
Read the label on the bottle or can you buy rather than relying on a description of another version.
Tesco Groceries lists Tesco Finest Unsweetened Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate as a base for a drink you mix yourself.
Marks & Spencer’s drinks catalogues list Oat Latte Cold Brew Coffee 250 ml and sparkling drinks.
Coffee Friend describes a 200 ml Sandows ready-to-drink cold brew, while Comunicaffe International reported Sandows sparkling soda flavours in 2018.
Waitrose lists Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur.
Sainsbury’s lists Tia Maria Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur.
A portioned cold-brew concentrate for mixing with sparkling water at the picnic, rather than a pre-carbonated drink.
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Portioned concentrate can be carried to the picnic and mixed with sparkling water when you serve it; it is not a pre-carbonated drink.
The product name labels it zero sugar and zero fat. Check the pack for caffeine and energy information if those details affect your choice, and confirm its alcohol status on the pack if avoiding alcohol is essential.
Pour cold-brew concentrate over ice and add chilled sparkling water when you are ready to drink. Starbucks Coffee At Home uses that sequence; if using Tesco Finest concentrate, Tesco Groceries gives 100 ml concentrate and 100 ml cold water as its standard dilution, so check the bottle directions when preparing your serving.
Check the exact drink’s pack or product description for sparkling or carbonated wording. Marks & Spencer lists cold brew and sparkling drinks in its range, but listing them together does not establish that its Oat Latte Cold Brew Coffee is fizzy.
No. Waitrose lists Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur at 21% alcohol by volume, and Sainsbury’s lists Tia Maria Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur at 20%; neither meets a non-alcoholic drink requirement.