Taco Bell Corp. announced the permanent launch of its first-ever Cold Brew with Cold Foams lineup. The announcement was made on May 21, 2026. The rollout is at Live Más Café locations.
The lineup is available starting today. Taco Bell offers the product at Live Más Cafés in Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Southern California.
Taco Bell launches four SKUs. These include Cold Brew Plain. It prices the drink at $4.59 for 16 oz and $4.99 for 20 oz.
The flavored options include Purple Velvet Cream Cold Brew, Caramel Dulce Cream Cold Brew, and Vanilla Cream Cold Brew. Taco Bell prices all flavored versions at $4.59 and $4.99.
Liz Matthews serves as the spokesperson for the announcement. She holds the role of Global Chief Food Innovation Officer at Taco Bell.
Taco Bell positions the launch as part of its goal to reach $5 billion in beverage sales by 2030. Taco Bell is headquartered in Irvine, California. Yum! Brands owns it as a subsidiary. The company has operated for more than 64 years.
The Cold Brew: A Proprietary Latin American Arabica Blend with Air Roasting
The Cold Brew uses a proprietary blend of medium and dark roast Arabica beans sourced across Latin America, including Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Mexico.
As a result, this reflects a customized, exclusive blend developed for the Live Más Café program. In addition, it represents a new large-scale procurement channel tied to Taco Bell’s $5B beverage goal.
The beans are air-roasted rather than drum-roasted. Air roasting uses hot air circulation instead of a rotating drum. This process, in turn, creates more even heat distribution and reduces smoky or bitter roast notes.
Consequently, it produces a cleaner flavor profile suited for cold brew applications, where roast character is more pronounced.
The coffee is then slow cold extracted over 12 to 24 hours. During this process, it extracts soluble flavor compounds while limiting acidic components.
As a result, the outcome is a smooth, low-acid, full-bodied cold brew concentrate.
Overall, air-roasting and cold extraction work together to create a clean base designed to let Cold Foam flavors layer without harsh coffee notes.
The Three Cold Foam Flavors: Ingredient Architecture
Purple Velvet Cream Cold Foam is the most sourcing-specific variant. It features horchata-inspired flavor notes and Taco Bell’s signature purple hue.
Specifically, the flavor profile draws on horchata elements such as rice, cinnamon, vanilla, and mild sweetness. Taco Bell adapts it for a dairy foam system. The formulation requires compatible rice or rice-flavor compounds, along with cinnamon and vanilla inputs.
In addition, its purple color requires a natural system in the purple-to-violet range, likely butterfly pea flower extract or other anthocyanins. These must remain stable in a dairy fat matrix.
Notably, butterfly pea flower extract has seen rising adoption in foodservice since 2023 due to its visual appeal and social media impact. Its use here reflects one of the most mainstream QSR deployments to date.
Meanwhile, Caramel Dulce Cream Cold Foam requires a buttery caramel system with dulce de leche-like depth. It must perform in a whipped dairy foam matrix at cold temperatures.
Similarly, Vanilla Cream Cold Foam requires a smooth, lightly sweet vanilla system.
Finally, Taco Bell labels all variants as made with natural flavors. This indicates sourcing from natural flavor manufacturers.
Live Más Cafés as Taco Bell’s Beverage Innovation Lab
Taco Bell operates Live Más Cafés as its beverage-focused restaurant format. In particular, these locations serve as test sites for beverage innovation in select markets.
Accordingly, Taco Bell launches the Cold Brew with Cold Foams as a permanent menu addition, not a limited-time offer. This signals long-term confidence in the coffee daypart.
As a result, Taco Bell’s $5B beverage goal by 2030 makes this launch strategically significant. Today, fountain drinks and Freeze products still drive most beverage revenue.
Therefore, to reach $5B, Taco Bell must expand into coffee occasions. This includes morning and afternoon dayparts that McDonald’s McCafé, Dunkin’, and other QSR players currently dominate.
In this context, Taco Bell positions the Cold Brew for all-day coffee consumption. This targets a segment where the brand has historically been underrepresented.
Finally, Taco Bell designs the Purple Velvet Cream Cold Brew for visual appeal and social media sharing. This drives organic trial beyond paid media.
The Taco Bell May 21 Triple Launch
Taco Bell is executing multiple simultaneous launches across food, protein, and beverage categories on May 21, 2026. This includes the Cantina Chicken Mexican Pizza, the Shredded Beef Dipping Taco with Nacho Fries, and the Cold Brew with Cold Foams.
This reflects a coordinated, multi-platform rollout strategy across its core menu pillars.
Why It Matters
Taco Bell’s Cold Brew launch introduces sustained demand for Latin American Arabica beans within a QSR procurement system tied to long-term beverage expansion.
It also signals continued demand for air-roasted specialty coffee inputs and cold extraction systems at scale.
The Purple Velvet Cream Cold Foam adds demand for natural purple color systems, likely butterfly pea flower extract or anthocyanins, in dairy-based applications.
It also requires cinnamon, vanilla, and caramel flavor systems sourced from natural flavor manufacturers.
All three Cold Foam variants rely on dairy heavy cream for stability and texture. This adds a recurring dairy procurement stream within Taco Bell’s beverage program, supporting scaled cold foam production across Live Más Cafés.
FAQs
What is Taco Bell’s Cold Brew with Cold Foams?
Taco Bell’s first permanent Cold Brew lineup at Live Más Café locations. It features smooth cold brew made from air-roasted Latin American Arabica beans. It is available plain or with three Cold Foam flavors: Purple Velvet Cream (horchata-inspired with purple hue), Caramel Dulce Cream, and Vanilla Cream. Prices start at $4.59 (16 oz) and $4.99 (20 oz).
Where is it available?
Exclusively at Live Más Café locations in Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Southern California. Launch began May 21, 2026.
What is special about the coffee?
It uses a proprietary blend of medium and dark roast Latin American Arabica beans. The beans are air-roasted and slow cold-extracted. This creates a smooth, low-acid, full-bodied cold brew base.
What is Purple Velvet Cream Cold Foam?
A purple-hued cold foam with horchata-inspired notes of rice, cinnamon, and vanilla. It is made with natural flavors and was previewed at Taco Bell’s Live Más Live event.
What is Taco Bell’s beverage goal?
Taco Bell aims to reach $5 billion in beverage sales by 2030. Live Más Cafés serve as the innovation platform for new beverage concepts and flavors.
What was the May 30 launch promotion?
Guests who purchased any medium Cold Brew at participating Live Más Cafés on May 30, 2026 (from 7 a.m.) received a limited-edition branded bandana, while supplies lasted.
About Source86
Taco Bell’s Cold Brew with Cold Foams launch reflects rising demand for medium and dark roast Latin American Arabica green coffee beans. These beans are processed to air-roasting specifications. This supports smooth, low-acid cold brew at Live Más Café locations.
The program also requires natural purple coloring systems such as butterfly pea flower extract. Comparable anthocyanins may also be used. These are used for Purple Velvet Cream Cold Foam.
It also includes cinnamon and vanilla flavor compounds. These create a horchata-inspired profile. Caramel systems are used for dulce de leche-style foam variants.
Dairy heavy cream supports stable, pourable cold foam textures. This applies across all QSR beverage applications.
At Source86, we connect QSR beverage operators and foodservice distributors with wholesale sourcing partners. These partners supply Arabica beans, natural colors, flavor systems, and dairy inputs. They support large-scale cold brew and cold foam programs.
Whether sourcing coffee beans, natural colorants, or dairy cream for foam stability, Source86 helps brands build reliable supply chains. These support QSR beverage innovation. Contact Source86 today to start your sourcing search.
