A limited-time Gochujang Caramel Latte — built around fermented Korean chili paste, caramel syrup, and Oatly Barista Edition oatmilk — is now available at participating TOUS les JOURS bakery cafés nationwide through November 30, marking one of the more culturally specific fall beverage LTOs to hit the café segment this season.
Served hot or iced, the drink layers espresso and Oatly Barista Edition with sweet-and-spicy gochujang caramel syrup, vanilla oat cold foam, and Lotus Biscoff cookie crumbles. The build translates gochujang — a fermented Korean chili paste with a deep, complex heat — into a drinkable format that sits squarely in the sweet-savory flavor trend gaining traction across specialty beverage menus.
From Pop-Up to National Scale
The concept traces back to a collaboration between Oatly and Brooklyn-based Korean-American artist Yaeji, who created the original iced Gochujang Latte for Café Yaeji, a New York pop-up celebrating Korean café culture through music, art, and coffee. TOUS les JOURS adapted that foundation into a caramel-forward interpretation designed for its broader café footprint. "Yaeji helped us turn gochujang into a completely unexpected coffee experience at Café Yaeji, and TOUS les JOURS gives us the chance to take that idea from one weekend in New York to people across the country," said Michael Lee, EVP and Executive Creative Director, North America at Oatly.
For TOUS les JOURS, the LTO is a direct extension of a deliberate strategy to introduce U.S. guests to Korean flavors through everyday café touchpoints. "With Oatly, we're taking a familiar Korean ingredient in an unexpected direction, pairing gochujang with caramel and coffee," said Max Gallegos, Chief Marketing Officer of TOUS les JOURS. The brand has leaned into Korean cultural programming this year, having served as the Official Bakery Café Sponsor of BTS THE CITY ARIRANG NEW YORK and participated in KCON LA 2026.
Operator Implications
The rollout is relevant for café and bakery operators tracking how Korean ingredients are migrating from ethnic-specialty contexts into mainstream restaurant beverage innovation. Gochujang's crossover into coffee drinks signals that the pantry of fermented, umami-forward Korean condiments — already established in food — is now finding a foothold in the beverage daypart. For operators considering seasonal LTOs, the pairing of a culturally specific ingredient with familiar caramel and oat formats offers a replicable template: anchor the unfamiliar with something comforting.
The brand is also activating the launch with in-café merchandise at five locations — Cerritos, Brea, La Habra, Union St., and Madison Square Park — where an exclusive Oatly x TOUS les JOURS keychain is available with purchase, on a first-come, first-served basis. A social sweepstakes, #SipIfYouDare, runs on Instagram through November 15, with five $100 TOUS les JOURS gift cards as prizes. Winners are set to be announced November 18.
Owned by CJ Foodville, TOUS les JOURS operates more than 200 U.S. bakery cafés and more than 1,750 locations globally. Oatly, headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, is available in more than 60 countries and has built its U.S. foodservice presence largely through café and specialty coffee channel partnerships — making this collaboration a natural extension of both brands' existing strategies in the specialty coffee and café segment.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
