Where Did the Ube Trend Come From? Its History and Rise on Social Media

Ube is nothing new: it has been grown and eaten in the Philippines for generations. What is new, though, is its sudden explosion across social media and Western café menus in recent years. Here's how it became a global trend.

The early days: Instagram and the first viral hits

Ube started becoming “Instagram-famous” around 2016, most notably with the ube donuts at Manila Social Club in New York, which went viral thanks to a color nobody had seen before. From there, the ingredient began winning fans well beyond the Filipino community.

Landing in mainstream coffee chains

By 2020, ube had firmly settled into independent American coffee shops, before spreading to Australia and Europe. The real turning point came when major international chains like Starbucks and Costa Coffee launched their own ube lines (Ube Vanilla Velvet Latte, Ube Vanilla Macchiato, the Sweet Ube range...), backed by marketing campaigns largely designed for TikTok and Instagram.

Why does it work so well on social media?

According to industry analysts (GlobalData), more than 60% of Gen Z and millennials use social media to discover new food products, and over half enjoy sharing their finds online. Ube's intense purple ticks every box for content that performs: it's instantly recognizable in a feed, highly photogenic and unusual enough to stand out from matcha or regular coffee.

The “next matcha”?

Many beverage industry experts are already comparing ube's trajectory to matcha's a few years ago: a traditional Asian ingredient, long a well-kept secret in the West, that gradually becomes a menu staple thanks to social media. According to Datassential, mentions of ube on restaurant menus have grown by more than 128% in 4 years.

A trend still in its infancy in France

Unlike in the United States, where ube is already well established, the trend is only just getting started in France and across Europe more broadly. Which makes now the perfect time to discover this ingredient, before it becomes as much of a staple as matcha or pumpkin spice!

Taste the trend before everyone else

No need to wait for it to reach your local café: with our Ube Latte powder, 100% purple yam and caffeine-free, you can make the purple drink taking social media by storm at home, in 90 seconds.

To get started, read what ube really is and try our iced ube latte, our most shared recipe.