Count the clear cups in your town this summer. They’re in the drive-thru line, at the gas station checkout, in the cooler aisle, on the campground picnic table. Cold coffee has gone from a seasonal treat to a year-round habit, and operators without a frozen cappuccino machine on the counter are watching customers carry that revenue out of someone else’s store.
The good news: you don’t need a barista, a brewer, or a dairy fridge to get in. You need a frozen beverage machine, a bag of mix, and cold water. DSL has Taylor FUB machines in stock right now across Western Canada, ready to pour.
The Numbers Behind Canada’s Cold Coffee Shift
Coffee is still Canada’s most-consumed beverage. The Coffee Association of Canada’s latest Canadian Coffee Drinking Trends study found that 71% of Canadians drank a coffee beverage the previous day, even as food and beverage prices climbed. Demand isn’t shrinking. It’s shifting.
And it’s shifting cold. Tim Hortons reported that cold beverage sales grew 8.6% in Q4 2025 and now make up nearly 27% of its total beverage sales, the highest fourth-quarter mix the chain has ever recorded. That happened during a Canadian December. Cold coffee is no longer a summer category.
The momentum carried into 2026: cold beverages climbed another 10% year over year in the first quarter, even as consumers tightened their spending elsewhere. And when Tim Hortons published its most-ordered items of 2025, the Iced Capp was Canada’s most-ordered cold drink, again.
Your customers already know this product. They already crave it. The only question is whether they buy it from you or drive somewhere else for it.
The Machine: Taylor FUB Units, In Stock Now
Taylor Frozen Uncarbonated Beverage (FUB) machines are the workhorses behind frozen coffee, slush, smoothies, frozen cocktails, and iced tea programs across the country. One machine handles the whole frozen beverage category, and DSL has units in stock at our Western Canada branches with no long factory lead times.
Spotlight: The Taylor Model 430
The Model 430 is the one we recommend most for operators adding frozen coffee. It’s a compact, countertop, single-flavour unit that fits where a floor machine won’t: a c-store counter, a campground canteen, a snack bar, a cafe backbar. Load it with Iced Java mix in the morning and it holds the product at your set consistency all day, pour after pour, no skilled operator required.
Higher volume? The FUB line also includes dual-flavour and floor-standing models, so the program scales with you.
Make the Machine Sell for You
A frozen beverage machine is also a merchandising surface. The Model 430 accepts custom graphic panel decals, which means the front of the machine can advertise the product freezing inside it. Our test kitchen unit wears a custom Iced Java wrap, and it does exactly what point-of-sale should do: customers see it, want it, and order it. If you’re launching a frozen coffee program, a branded panel is one of the cheapest signage investments you’ll make.
The Mix: Iced Java, Just Add Water
The product side is even simpler than the equipment side. Iced Java is our Canadian-made frozen cappuccino mix, a powdered blend with the coffee, creamer, cocoa, and sweetener already in the bag. Mix one 907 g bag with 4 litres of cold water, stir, pour it into the hopper, and the machine does the rest. No brewing, no dairy handling, no blender, no waste at close.
Each case holds six bags with an 18-month shelf life, so you can stock up ahead of your busy season without spoilage risk. The finished product is a smooth, creamy frozen cappuccino with the texture customers expect from the major chains.
It’s available to order now on our online shop: shop Iced Java mix.
The Profit Math
Here’s why frozen coffee earns its counter space. Your exact numbers will depend on your sell price, cup size, and traffic, but the margins on a powdered mix program are strong: at a typical 16 oz price point, operators can clear an estimated $2 to $3 in profit per cup.
That per-cup margin compounds quickly. A location moving 50 cups a day, a few cups an hour at a busy counter, could generate nearly $49,000 in annual profit potential from one countertop machine. Higher-traffic locations can roughly double that. There aren’t many menu items that clear that bar with this little labour: your staff pulls a handle and snaps on a lid. Or skip the labour entirely and run it self-serve. Taylor FUB machines are built for it, customers happily pour their own, and it’s exactly why frozen beverage bars are a fixture in convenience stores. The machine sells, pours, and upsells while your staff stays on the till.
Figures are estimates and will vary based on your actual costs and sales.
One Machine, Nine Flavours: Add Flavor Burst
Here’s where a single-flavour machine stops being a limitation. Pair the Taylor 430 with a Flavor Burst frozen beverage system and you can offer up to 8 additional flavours from the same hopper of Iced Java, each one injected at the push of a button as the drink pours.
With a frozen cappuccino base, the flavour combinations practically write your menu board for you:
- Mocha for the double-chocolate coffee crowd
- Hazelnut for a cafe-style twist
- Toffee for a rich, buttery upgrade
- Chocolate because it never misses
- Pistachio for a trending flavour customers can’t find everywhere
- Caramel for the classic sweet-and-salty pairing
- Vanilla for the smooth and simple crowd
- Butter pecan for a dessert-in-a-cup finish
Every flavour is a reason for a repeat visit, and flavoured versions justify a premium price on the same base product. One hopper, one mix, nine drinks on the menu.
Two Premium Upgrades: Espresso and Soft Serve
Once the base program is running, two simple add-ons turn Iced Java frozen cappuccino into a premium menu line.
Add a Shot of Espresso
Want a bolder version for the serious coffee drinker? Pull a fresh espresso shot over the top of a finished Iced Java. The hot shot cuts through the sweetness, deepens the coffee flavour, and turns a frozen treat into something closer to an affogato. It’s a one-step upgrade your menu can price accordingly.
Any espresso machine can do the job, but if you’re building the beverage station from scratch, a Franke superautomatic coffee machine is the natural companion. Franke machines pull consistent, barista-quality shots at the push of a button, with no barista required, which is the same self-serve simplicity that makes the FUB program work. We’re admittedly biased, but there’s a reason Franke and Taylor sit side by side in our test kitchens: together they cover the entire coffee menu, hot and frozen, from one counter.
Blend In Soft Serve
The other direction is dessert. Blend a swirl of vanilla soft serve into a finished Iced Java for a richer, creamier drink, or crown the cup with a swirl on top. Either way, it’s the frozen coffee and ice cream mash-up customers already order by the millions at the major chains, and it moves the drink into a higher price tier for a few cents of added product cost. If you’re already running a Taylor soft serve machine, the upgrade costs you nothing but a menu line. If you’re not, it’s a strong case for making the ice cream program and the frozen coffee program share a counter: two machines, one destination, and a reason to visit in every season.
In Stock and Ready to Pour
Frozen coffee season is here, and this is one program you can launch in weeks, not months. DSL has Taylor FUB machines in stock now, Iced Java mix on the shelf in Edmonton, and Flavor Burst systems ready to bolt on.
Want to taste it before you commit? Our test kitchens in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Port Coquitlam are available for hands-on trials. Contact us or call 1-800-665-1125, and we’ll help you build the whole program: machine, mix, flavours, and the 24/7 service coverage to keep it pouring.
DSL has been the exclusive Taylor distributor in Western Canada since 1957, with service teams across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.