Get ready for guava, the tropical fruit perfectly poised to move deeper onto American beverage menus. Its flavor game is impressive, evoking a floral aroma with a taste profile best described as a blend between strawberry, mango and pear, sometimes with a hint of citrus. A versatile fruit with global roots—grown in Latin America, the Caribbean, India and Southeast Asia—guava also plays comfortably in any number of cuisines.

Several drivers are pushing guava into sharper focus in modern beverage development. “There’s always interest in the ‘next’ tropical fruit,” says Claire Conaghan, Datassential trendologist and associate director. “We’ve had a few years of other tropical fruits making headway, and it is now time for guava. It’s showing pretty massive menu growth—up 40 percent on menus over the last four years—and that growth is almost all in beverage.”

Today’s menu developers are leveraging guava’s unique flavor and striking color in both non-alc and boozy beverages. Creative flavor play is lighting the path to opportunity here. Bar Margot, a New American lounge in the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, features smoked guava in both its zero-proof Lil’ Coltrane, with rosemary and sparkling water, and in its Call Me Coltrane cocktail, pairing the smoked guava with Belvedere gin, Cocchi Americano and lemon. The Kingfisher Spritz at Kingfisher, a French-Vietnamese restaurant in San Diego, features white guava along with Select aperitivo, Mommenpop Ruby Red Grapefruit, peach, lemon, orange and prosecco. Swig soda shop, based in Lehi, Utah, demonstrates how guava can play in the trending dirty soda world: Its Guava Have It stars Mountain Dew, guava, strawberry and coconut cream.

HELLO, COFFEE? MEET GUAVA

Guava is making its debut on the coffee scene, too, offering an Insta-ready layer of contrasting color that is perfectly aligned with today’s demand for fun coffee drinks. At Junbi, a matcha-centric café based in Los Angeles, the Guava Matcha Cold Brew sports premium matcha and all-natural housemade guava purée, served layered with cold-brew coffee, for a memorable visual impact. Qargo Coffee, an Italian-inspired café based in Miami, features guava in a few spots on its menu, from the Guava Java Latte (with guava, espresso and milk, topped off with whipped cream and caramel sauce) to the Guava Bay Cold Brew, a blend of cold brew, guava and lemon.

Credit: Paper Son / Qargo Coffee

The Guava Pillow coffee soda (left) is topped with guava purée foam and dusted with li hing powder at San Francisco’s Paper Son Coffee. Qargo Coffee adds guava and lemon to its Guava Bay Cold Brew (right).

“As menu developers, guava gives us that touch of adventure, that sense of exotic, along with this ‘Oh my gosh! What is this flavor?’” says Pam Smith, RDN, founder of Shaping America’s Plate, a menu-development consultancy. “Guava features an interesting blend of tart and sweet, with a balanced flavor that lingers. Guava is bright, and it pairs so well with ingredients that grow where the fruit grows. So, think about warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom or chai.” Foxtail Coffee Co., based in Orlando, Fla., features those flavor pairings in offerings like the Spiced Guava Chai Shaker—with iced spiced Florida chai, guava, condensed milk and a dash of cinnamon—and the Guava Cardamom Cold Brew, starring housemade cold brew with cardamom, vanilla and guava cold foam. Paper Son Coffee, a modern coffee shop in San Francisco, highlights guava’s eye-catching color in its eclectic Guava Pillow, a coffee soda adorned with an impressive guava foam and dusted with li hing powder.

GUAVA MAKES A SPLASH

Guava brings its tropical tones to just about every category on beverage menus. And for Jeremy Bringardner, corporate executive chef of Mendocino Farms, the exotic fruit offers an easy layup for beverage innovation. “Guava has this adventurous, tropical, almost floral profile. You feel like you’re sitting on a beach in paradise when you drink something with guava in it. It’s remarkable,” he says. “I was working on seasonal lemonade builds and needed to balance those against our more complex beverages featuring ginger and kale, which require puréeing and then straining. I started thinking, ‘What simple purée can I add to our lemonade?’ Guava, with its exotic profile but approachable flavor, was a no-brainer.”

Credit: Rooh / Arlo Wynwood

Highlighting guava’s rising popularity in margaritas, the Guavalution at San Francisco’s Rooh features tequila, guava, agave, lime and ginger (left). Guava goes by its Spanish name in the Guayaba Mojito at Miami’s Arlo Wynwood (right), and is paired with rum, basil and fresh-pressed sugarcane, then topped with sparkling wine.

On the cocktail front, the guava margarita is leading the charge, with variations popping up everywhere. Cantina La Martina, an innovative Mexican restaurant in Philadelphia, offers a Guava Margarita garnished with a lime paleta. And proving guava’s ability to straddle cuisines, the Yuzu Guava Margarita at Donabe, a Japanese steakhouse in Scottsdale, Ariz., layers tequila blanco, St-Germain, guava, yuzu, lime and a buzz button garnish.

Its gorgeous pink tones move guava into other areas of the cocktail development arena. For Pride Month, ART NoMad at Arlo NoMad Hotel in New York, serves I’m Coming Out, a drink featuring vodka, guava, elderflower, pink peppercorn and Fee Foam (a vegan cocktail foamer), topped with edible glitter. Altamirano Restaurant & Bar in San Francisco highlights guava cider in its colorful Hello It’s Me drink, adding aloe liqueur, black tea, lemon and a Lambrusco float.

Culinary consultant Rebecca Peizer encourages a strategy of maximizing guava’s tropical flavor when creating beverage builds. “Try using the balanced flavor and slightly thicker-than-water texture of guava juice to make ice cubes as a tropical inclusion in cocktails and zero-proof drinks,” she says. “As the ice melts, beverages with both lighter grain alcohols and bolder, smokier, brown libations intensify into a lip-smackingly good thirst quencher.”