Vim + Vigor, or “V+V Apothicaire” as the company now refers to itself, has expanded its offerings from cold-pressed juice to include chilled drinkable soups. The soups, which come in three flavors, including Heirloom Gazpacho, Kale Avo’ Basil, and Harvest Melange, are said to “marry European culinary influences and functional nourishment.”
With its sharp branding and intense flavor, Matcha LOVE is one of our favorite brands that Ito En has created for the U.S. market. In fact, it was the winner of the award for “Best Tea” as part of BevNET’s Best of 2015. Matcha Colada, which blends coconut water (70 percent), matcha, green tea and natural flavors, is the latest line extension for the brand.
NÜMOO is a line of organic high pressure processed nut milks that are made without the use of stabilizers, gums, or any other additives commonly found in dairy alternatives. The product line, which was announced in February, comes in strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee flavors and four different nut milks: cashew milk, almond milk, pecan milk, and pistachio milk.
The advent of brands like Honest Tea has changed the conversation around the RTD tea category to address the origins of the tea used inside the product. Still, the rich heritage of English tea has, at least in the past decade, been somewhat overlooked. Enter Thea’s English Standard Tea, which, as the name suggests, is focused on bringing that story back to life.
Modern Alkeme is a self-described “Clearing Tonic” and is available in a single 8 oz. formulation that is high pressure processed. On the surface, this appears to be a new take on a cleanse product, with a suggested regimen of two bottles per day for three days along with plenty of water and a healthy diet, followed by a bottle per day for daily maintenance.
Pressery Coconut Drinking Vinegar is a line of organic cold-pressed beverages that are made with juice and coconut vinegar. Pressery, which is a Colorado-based company that also produces a line of traditional cold-pressed juices under the same brand, has done a great job of creating something that is authentic but approachable.
The Ginger People, which is a company that has long focused exclusively on ginger based food and beverage products, has partnered with Gordon Biersch Brewing Company to produce Bottoms Up, which was apparently designed with ginger beer purists in mind.
There’s a lot of SKU-shuffling from bigger companies like Bolthouse, Naked, and Odwalla, as established varieties are replaced by organic or new products get pushed through the system.
Chia Star’s new "shakes” are plant protein-based smoothies. Unlike the company’s core line, comprised of juice-based and pasteurized offerings, the Shake line is high pressure processed and uses coconut milk as its base.
Sparkling coconut water drink CocoMazing is one of those ideas that you wonder why it hasn’t been done before. Combining coconut water (from concentrate), sparkling water, flavoring, sugar and stevia, the product hits on a variety of trends, including coconut water, flavored water, organic sourcing and low-calorie sparkling beverages.
Garden of Flavor, a marketer of cold-pressed high pressure processed (HPP) juice drinks, has added a second line to the company’s suite of products: Cold-Pressed Energy. Available in four varieties with a suggested retail price of $5.99, these products have 100mg of natural caffeine from guayusa as well as added probiotics.
Harmless Harvest has moved on from HPP and is now employing microfiltration to continue to avoid heat-intensive pasteurization. The company also uses a new bottle which uses 24 percent less plastic compared with the old one. What everyone will want to know about these changes are whether or not the changes are an upgrade, a downgrade, or a lateral move.
X.O.I. is Boston-based brand of Vietnamese Gac fruit beverages that launched with three flavors. Gac fruit, a “superfruit” from Southeast Asia, is, a relatively neutral-tasting fruit that is, at least in this application, similar to a melon in flavor and has a slightly gritty consistency.
Teya Chia Tea is a line of chia-based beverages that were created with the mission statement “to create delicious, healthful products that are nutritionally balanced and feature unique flavor combinations from around the globe.”
