Nomad Trading Co.

Announced last summer, Nomad Energy drink is a cascara-based energy drink that is the follow up to the company’s line of ready-to-drink cascara teas.

Positioned as a plant-based energy drink, the product relies exclusively on cascara (aka coffeefruit) and the caffeine that it naturally provides; in this case 120 mg. With only six additional ingredients -- sparkling water, organic lemon juice, organic lemon extract, organic maple syrup, Himalayan pink salt, and ascorbic acid -- it certainly has a clean list of ingredients.

As for flavor, it’s definitely a pleasant tasting product and one that we’d consume on that basis alone. The blend of cascara, lemon, and maple is well-balanced, flavorful, and has just the right amount of each flavor. With 22 g of sugar, the product is sweet but not overwhelmingly so, and the pink salt provides a finishing note that helps round it all out.

On the packaging front, the product features a shrink sleeve label on a 12 oz slim can. The design is a two color motif that, for the most part, has an illustrated look to it. It does a good job of communicating that it’s an energy drink, but it doesn’t mention cascara or the flavor profile on the front of the can (side note: a callout of the caffeine content would be great, too).

Given that the product will compete with other natural energy products such as Runa, which has both multiple flavors and is upfront about being a guayusa beverage, we feel as though this is something that Nomad will need to address in the short term. Even adding a note about this product having lemon and maple flavors would be very helpful in our opinion.

The only other obvious thing for this product is to become entirely USDA Certified Organic. That, too, will help it against some of the products that it is likely to compete against in the energy set.

In the end, Nomad Energy seems like a smart pivot for the brand that takes it beyond the tea category and into the energy set, a place where consumers are seeking the functionality that cascara offers. There’s room for refinement and development, but it’s a pretty nice start.

Nomad Trading Co. is a new line of cascara beverages that is available in three flavors, Original, Hibiscus, and Cascara + Lemonade (which we did not get to try).

For the uninitiated, cascara is a drink that’s made with the brewed skins of the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean (that thing that’s ultimately roasted and turned into your cup of coffee). It’s a beverage that has gained some buzz over the past couple of years, with companies ranging from startups to Starbucks getting in on it. But it’s definitely not yet a fully realized concept.

That said, there’s certainly opportunity for more brands to get a piece of the action. For Nomad, they’re approaching this with a non-carbonated product that presents itself much like a bottle of tea. The bottle, the branding, and even the color of the liquid are similar to other products in the tea set, which certainly gives it a potential home at retail.

Diving in a bit further, we like the overall aesthetic that they’ve created. It’s nice looking and has visual polish, although we think there’s a bit too much text on the lower half of the bottle. We’d also love to see a slightly larger callout for the caffeine content (64mg - 110mg depending on the flavor). The Cascara + Lemonade, which, as previously mentioned, we did not get to sample, has the most appealing label of the three since it has the most prominent callout for the flavor.

Speaking of flavor, these are mild and clean in their execution. They’ve focused on keeping it low in sugar and calories (30-40 calories and 5-7g of sugar per bottle) and the products are quite refreshing. And to take that thought a step further, the Original variety doesn’t have anything in it aside from water and cascara, so the sweetness is entirely from the fruit. It has a subtle earthiness to it and a slightly tart finish and we’d ultimately compare it more to black tea than coffee. The Hibiscus flavor adds coconut sugar as a sweetener, but we definitely wouldn’t call the product sweet. The floral flavor of hibiscus is a nice touch -- it adds an extra layer of depth that you won’t find in the Original.

Really our only question for this product is whether or not Nomad has done enough to explain what this product is. It’s not something that has high consumer awareness, so giving the consumer a quick and easy way to understand it is paramount. Otherwise, we imagine that some of Nomad’s ability to succeed ultimately depends on how others succeed in building the category as it certainly won’t be driven by a single startup brand.

Overall, we wish we were able to try the Lemonade variety, but what we did sample was enjoyable and well executed for the most part.