Cold Brew vs. Iced Coffee: Trends, Taste, and the Surprising Winner

As the winter months come to a close, coffee people everywhere know an important seasonal question is just around the corner:

Cold brew or iced coffee?

It is the annual showdown between the two go-to cold coffee options. While both give coffee drinkers that chilled caffeine fix, they are far from the same drink.

What is the difference between cold brew and iced coffee?

Although both are served cold, cold brew and iced coffee are made very differently.

Iced coffee is typically brewed hot, just like regular drip coffee, then cooled down and poured over ice. Because it starts with hot water, it usually has a brighter, more familiar coffee flavor. Depending on how it is prepared, it can also taste a bit sharper or more acidic.

‍Cold brew, on the other hand, is made by steeping coffee grounds in cold water for an extended period of time, usually 12 to 24 hours. That slower process creates a smoother, less acidic, and often more concentrated drink.

What does seasonality look like?

Both drinks clearly follow the seasons.

As summer fades, iced coffee and cold brew both head into hibernation around September. Search interest drops by an average of 17% for iced coffee and 19% for cold brew, and the decline continues through the fall and early winter.

By January, both drinks hit their seasonal low points. Compared with their yearly peaks, searches for iced coffee are down 69%, while cold brew falls 62%.

But when the weather starts to shift, cold brew wakes up first.

Around April, cold brew sees its first major seasonal bump, with search volume rising 8% on average. Iced coffee, by comparison, increases just 1% during that same stretch.

Still, iced coffee should not be counted out. Once late spring turns into summer, iced coffee begins to surge:

• April to May: up 8%
• May to June: up 9%
• June to July: up 8%

So while cold brew gets an earlier start, iced coffee tends to hit harder as peak summer arrives.

Who wins overall?

Looking at overall search share, iced coffee comes out on top. Across the full data set for the United States, iced coffee accounts for 62% of searches, compared with 38% for cold brew.

And the gap is getting bigger.

After narrowing between 2022 and 2024, iced coffee’s lead over cold brew widened sharply in 2025 and early 2026. So far in 2026 year-to-date, iced coffee is seeing about 79% more search interest than cold brew across the United States.

So while cold brew remains a major player, iced coffee is currently winning the popularity contest.

The Northwest is cold brew's sanctuary

That said, the national story is not the whole story.

There are still parts of the country where cold brew holds the advantage, especially in the Northwest. In fact, cold brew beats iced coffee in:

• Oregon: 53%
• Washington: 51%
• Montana: 51%

It also comes very close in places like Colorado and Idaho, where the split is nearly even. The Northwest seems to be cold brew territory.

Iced coffee dominates in the Northeast and Appalachia

Meanwhile, iced coffee is strongest in parts of the Northeast and Appalachia.

The states with the highest share of iced coffee searches are:

• West Virginia: 68%
• Rhode Island: 67%
• Kentucky: 67%
• Delaware: 67%

These markets lean heavily toward traditional iced coffee, making them some of the clearest strongholds in the country.

Where is growth happening fastest?

Some of the most interesting movements are not just in who leads today, but in where interest is growing the fastest.

This suggests the map is still shifting. Even in states where one drink already dominates, the other may still be gaining momentum. A great example is West Virginia where ice coffee currently dominates but cold brew is gaining ground.

So who wins: cold brew or iced coffee?

For now, iced coffee is the overall winner. It commands a larger share of searches nationally, accelerates aggressively heading into summer, and has widened its lead in the last year.

But cold brew is far from fading away. It still owns key pockets of the country, especially in the Northwest, and it tends to be the first of the two to wake up when spring arrives.

In other words:
Cold brew may start the season, but iced coffee owns the summer.

Source: Google Trends, U.S. search interest data (Feb 2022–Mar 2026)