Review: Zola Coconut Water with Espresso

The introduction of Zola Coconut Water with Espresso follows the launch of a number of coconut water and coffee blends seen over the past year. In the case of this product, Zola has done a good job formulating a balanced beverage in which the coffee does not overwhelm the coconut water, something that offers a distinct point of differentiation from competing products.

Balance the Books, Forecast the Future at Beverage School

BevNET is delighted to announce the addition of Chris Fenster of Propeller Industries as a speaker at Beverage School in San Francisco on Sept. 12. Mr. Fenster will be speaking about the best ways to structure an early-stage beverage company financially with a focus on clear record keeping, accurate forecasting and a true understanding of sales channel margins as tools for avoiding common pitfalls and improving strategic decision-making.

Ventura Leaves Coba to Join PepsiCo Emerging Brands Unit

Arnold Ventura, the Stanford Business School-trained MBA who started the Coba line of Mexican themed drinks, has left the business to join PepsiCo's Naked Emerging Brands group as a natural product channel strategist.

Energy Drinks Conference — Widely Spread, Hardly Understood

Scientists have been meeting during The Use and Biology of Energy Drinks: Current Knowledge and Critical Gaps, a conference held Thursday and Friday at the Neuroscience Center Building in Rockville, Md. to try to determine the extent of research into these products, which have come under increasing regulatory scrutiny.

“All you gotta do is act naturally”

It seems that Ringo and the Beatles were well ahead of their time, beverage wise. Using a little poetic license, I assume they meant things should be natural. Yes, I know they didn’t really mean that, but I wanted a lead-in to the theme of natural, and I love the Beatles.

Review: Just Coco

Overcrowding, and not enough differentiation between products. In recent years, we'd be talking about the energy category (which still fits the bill), but today, the same can be said about the coconut water space. And in the case of Just Coco, a new line of coconut waters from Brazil, we have to ask: why would consumers purchase this brand over whatever they're already drinking?

Coke Defends Safety of Aspartame in New Ads

Amid growing concerns about the safety of artificial sweeteners, and faced with declining sales of its diet carbonated soft drinks (CSD) The Coca-Cola Co. has launched a series of new ads defending the company’s use of aspartame.

Review: Limonitz Mint

In the midst of thriving demand for lemonade comes Limonitz, a line of sparkling lemonades that are sugar-sweetened and USDA Organic certified. In our review of the company's mint-flavored variety, we find the product to be a very straightforward and enjoyable beverage, and one that definitely seems like a nice approach to the organic soda set.

Beverage School San Francisco Agenda Posted

It’s a full day, and it will cover everything from investment, financial forecasting and packaging design imperatives to the world of marketing online.

Channel Check: Energy Drinks

Line extensions are officially the name of the game here, as we see why the combination of Coke distribution and Monster Energy is so potent: look what it’s done with Monster Rehab. It’s now bigger than Rockstar, according to IRI. Meanwhile, Java Monster and Red Bull Total Zero are also huge products in their own right, filling out strong market niches.

Enhanced Water’s Second Wave

Enhanced water. The segment carries quite a bit of resonance among beverage people because of the heady run of Vitaminwater in the early 2000s, and the outsize sum that Coca-Cola ultimately paid to buy it in 2007. Then things kind of went flat.

Review: Red Jacket Juices

Based out of the Finger Lakes region of New York, Red Jacket Orchards markets a line of cold-pressed juice blends, most of which use apple juice as a base. The products, which require refrigeration, are quite good, but land in a seemingly strange white space between shelf stable and “raw” juice products...