Fortified coffee products have boomed in the last three years, allowing the instant coffee segment to attract older consumers who have typically grown up drinking fresh, ground coffee, according to researchers at Euromonitor.

"Indonesia, as one of the big coffee-producing countries, has a well-established coffee culture, but the bulk of sales still go on fresh coffee," explained Ratna Handayani, the firm's Indonesia analyst.

Instant coffee tends to be consumed by the younger generation who are not so concerned about taste and more interested in coffee's function in keeping one alert, she added.

However when the wellness company Citra Nusa Insan Cemerlang (CNI) launched a ginseng-fortified instant coffee in 2003, and attracted strong demand, other coffee makers realized that such a product could help them appeal to the older generation.

"This kind of product doesn't have such a great taste so it will do better with older consumers who are buying it for ginseng's health properties," said Handayani.

Ginseng is known throughout Asia for its energy-boosting properties, and is also thought to generate heat.

Instant coffee is, anyway, a growing product in Indonesia, as urban consumers are increasingly drawn to convenience foods. However the traditional herb has further fuelled this growth.

It has helped increase the sales of fortified coffee by 32 per cent between 2002 and 2005, according to Euromonitor, and by 18 per cent during last year alone, helped by intensive advertising campaigns.

CNI, a direct marketing company, is still the market leader with CNI Ginseng Coffee, but a spate of newcomers have entered the market, including South Korean producer Hanmayum with its Hi Red Korean Ginseng Coffee.

"Indonesians don't really consider coffee to be unhealthy so decaf products didn't take off," said Handayani. "Fortified products tend to be seen as better than 'healthy' variants as they have something added."

Overall, fortified coffee sales only totalled US$0.7 million in 2005 but Euromonitor expects this segment to grow by nearly 90 per cent between 2005 and 2010.

Future sales will be driven by new products. For example, the leading instant coffee brand in the market, Sari Incofood's Indocafe, has introduced ginger-fortified coffee during 2006, which is likely to be copied by other players.

There is also some interest in other herbs, including Korean plant extracts.

Elsewhere in the region, fortifying instant coffee with functional ingredients has already taken off in Japan, where the health-obsessed market can opt for coffees containing calcium, black soybeans, polyphenols, or oligosaccharides.

The segment registered value sales of US$52 million last year and is set to grow to US$71 million by 2010, according to Euromonitor.

But fortified instant coffee, particularly ginseng coffee, also has the potential to be a huge hit in South Korea, Malaysia and China within the next decade.

"Ginseng is a very well known ingredient in traditional chinese medicine, and as such, there is potential in particular in Asia where functional products are, compared to Western countries, very easily accepted," said Euromonitor.