Costa Coffee is to trial new Express machines which serve both hot and cold drinks across convenience stores.

The trials will take place across 40 selected locations in Bristol this summer, offering more than 500 different varieties of coffee. As well as coffee, the Costa Express machines will also serve iced fruit cordials.

Costa Express UK and Ireland director Nick Orrin said: “We’re delighted to begin trialling our Costa Express Hot & Iced drinks machine. The technology is nothing short of a gold-standard level of innovation – a world’s first for the self-service coffee machine industry – and we’re proud to lead the charge as our customers can now enjoy their favourite hot or iced barista quality, machine crafted coffee.”

The trials have already gathered interest from convenience retailers. One store owner, who asked not to be named, told RN: “I can see the machines gathering lots of demand in my shop. They will be popular in both the summer and the winter as well.

“Look around major cities in London and you see people drinking ice cold coffee even in the winter months. They’re just a nice treat to have.”

Convenience retailers had previously reported high demand for self-serve cold drinks machines such as Tango Ice Blast during the winter.