A semifinalist in BevNET's New Beverage Showdown 5, Taki Mai is marketed as a “naturally calming” kava supplement. While the coconut-flavored product has a rather polished look and a straightforward and enjoyable taste, we wonder about the marketability of a liquid supplement that is made with a niche ingredient and in a category, relaxation, that -- no pun intended -- appears to be slowing.
While it’s not the first beverage to feature a cereal and milk flavor — that honor belongs to Larry T’s short-lived Liquid Cereal — Cow Wow is certainly an innovative…
Koa, the first runner-up in BevNET's New Beverage Showdown 5, is marketed as an "organic water" made from 100 percent juice. Wait, what? A water made from juice? Yes, indeed. The company uses a unique and proprietary process to extract and clarify a blend of fruit and vegetable juices to create one of the most innovative water products that we've ever seen.
Sure, ready-to-drink tea remains a growth category, but the number of brands entering the space or extending current lines is increasing by the day. Crowded shelves makes branding and packaging of critical importance for brands to stand out amongst competing products. And the lack of a polished or innovative look is the most significant problem facing Pure Leaf, a line of iced tea drinks marketed by PepsiCo.
A semifinalist in the recently held New Beverage Showdown 5 at BevNET Live Summer '13, Minta is a new line of mint-flavored sodas. The brand comes in original and diet varieties, each of which are packaged in a proprietary 12 oz. bottle. While the drinks could use some minor tweaks in formulation, Minta has done a great job overall.
There are a number of energy drink companies that have incorporated coconut water into their products, but, generally speaking, it is an ingredient that often gets overpowered and lost among stronger flavors. Fortunately, that’s far from the case with this Hiball Energy's new Coconut Water variety. Instead, the beverage tastes, first and foremost, like a coconut water drink.
Yes, the market has -- seemingly overnight -- become flooded with new cold-pressed, high pressure processed juice brands. Most, if not all, utilize extremely high quality and/or organic ingredients, but does that mean the products taste good? Look good? Not necessarily, but in the in case of South Florida-based OnJuice, the company has done an excellent job with the formulation and packaging of its juice blends.
While there’s probably some way to turn Chasing Rabbits into a good-looking brand, it currently lacks any emotion that a consumer might connect to. Both the branding and the execution of the design leave something to be desired, starting with the seemingly random name that is “Chasing Rabbits.”
BuchuLife is a sparkling water that is enhanced with buchu oil, and ingredient that is positioned as having anti-inflammatory benefits. Unfortunately, the product is, at least in liquid form, very difficult to consume. Overall, this variety in this review -- as well as the rest of the BuchuLife sparkling water flavors -- needs serious improvement.
Packaged in the Philippines, Cocozia is a new USDA Organic coconut water that comes in an 11 oz. Tetra Pak container. While being organic and not-from-concentrate will help the brand gain some consumer following, we feel as though this product is going to have to do a lot more to make it in the competitive coconut water space.
Back from the dead, Oogave, which markets a line of organic sodas, has introduced LOCA, a new brand of 10-calorie soft drinks. The products, which are sweetened with a stevia…
Alley Oop is new citrus-flavored sports drink from Youthtopia Beverages. Unfortunately, the product, which is made with a blend of natural and artificial sweeteners, is anything but a slam dunk.
Heart of Tea recently launched two new varieties -- Lemon and "Victorian," a sweet black tea -- to its line of all-natural, ready to drink bottled teas. While the company has done well to create two great-tasting products, there are a couple hiccups with the each tea, one in terms of formulation and the other in its packaging.
Earlier this year, Zico introduced a reformulated version of its Latte variety, and our review team decided to take a second look at the flavor. Was there a significant improvement in taste? Read on...
