Seattle’s Best Coffee, part of Starbucks Corporation, announced the latest addition to its “Anywhere Great Coffee is Needed” marketing strategy: its new line of iced canned lattes. Following a successful West Coast test in 2010, this marks the brand’s entrance in the $1.4 billion U.S. ready-to-drink category. This move capitalizes on the growing trend in iced coffee beverages that, according to the NPD Group, accounts for about 20 percent of sales in coffeehouses and quick-serve restaurants with more than 1.2 billion servings in 2010.

Made with the same premium coffee as the Seattle’s Best Coffee hand-crafted beverages, the line includes an Iced Latte, Iced Vanilla Latte, and Iced Mocha Latte, each with 130 calories. Through the North American Coffee Partnership (NACP), a joint venture between Starbucks Corporation and PepsiCo Inc., the lattes will be available in major grocery, convenience, and other retail stores beginning in late January with a suggested retail price of $1.49 for a single 9.5-ounce can and $4.99 for a four-pack. Building on the “Anywhere Great Coffee Is Needed” campaign that debuted earlier in the year, the product line will be supported this spring by a significant marketing campaign that will use the brand’s fun and optimistic voice to show many ways the new Seattle’s Best iced lattes can now be enjoyed.

“With this move we’re continuing to deliver on our ‘Anywhere Great Coffee Is Needed’ strategy by bringing a new kind of convenience to iced coffee, which is the fastest growing segment in premium coffee,” says Michelle Gass, president of Seattle’s Best Coffee. “Through our test we confirmed that consumers are looking for a great tasting iced coffee beverage in an on-the-go format and at only 130 calories per serving, it’s a product they can enjoy at breakfast and throughout the day.”