TOUS les JOURS and Oatly are banking on spice-forward coffee to drive foot traffic through the fall season—a smart play for bakery-cafés competing for the RTD and specialty beverage dollar.

This is a straightforward co-brand play: TOUS les JOURS, the Korean bakery chain with 150+ U.S. locations, has partnered with Oatly to push a limited-run Gochujang Caramel Latte through October and November. The drink layers espresso, Oatly’s barista-grade oat milk, a gochujang-caramel syrup (sweet with savory umami kick), vanilla oat cold foam, and Lotus Biscoff crumbles on top. It’s built on Oatly’s earlier gochujang latte collaboration with Korean-American artist Yaeji—so there’s precedent that this flavor profile sells.

From a retail operations standpoint, this move makes sense. TOUS les JOURS already owns the morning beverage occasion at their bakery counters, and gochujang syrup is on-brand for their customer base—younger, urban, ethnically diverse, and primed for bold flavor. Oatly gets distribution through a network of 150+ company-controlled locations and franchise partners, which beats traditional foodservice placement in scope. The activation includes limited-edition keychains at five flagships and an Instagram sweepstakes ($100 GCs), so there’s social lift built in. For buyers and operators, the real value here is testing whether Korean-inspired café beverages can sustain velocity beyond novelty, especially as the spice-forward flavor trend tightens across ready-to-drink and hot coffee categories.

The gochujang trend has real legs in specialty coffee, and Oatly’s existing brand equity in plant-based coffee solutions means consumers will actually try this. The question for category buyers is whether a two-month run builds enough data to decide on permanent SKU rotation. Watch the social metrics and redemption rates—they’ll signal whether Korean-fusion coffee is a one-off or the start of a broader menu strategy for TOUS les JOURS.