Summer Fancy Food Show: Key drink trends

Ancestral teas

Companies looking for the next wave of caffeinated beverages are turning to an ingredient in their own backyards: Yaupon. Once enjoyed by Native Americans, yaupon tea contains powerful antioxidants and is a natural source of caffeine. A cousin of yerba mate and guayasa, yaupon is North America’s only known plant that contains caffeine.

“Every time I ran into a yerba mate drinker, I gave them this and they always preferred it,” said Lou Thomann, founder of Asi Tea, in an interview with Beverage Daily. Asi Tea, one of the food show’s newest products and the first ready-to-drink yaupon tea, is based on ancient recipes with modern brewing techniques. The company hopes to inspire other growers to explore native ingredients with other American superfoods like the aronia berry, paw-paw fruit, and American ginseng.

Ancestral eating is evolving beyond the Paleo diet as beverage makers seek new flavors, unique ingredients and sustainable production. For the background behind this trend, see our Food + Drink trend report.

Super waters

One of the most buzzed-about products on display was birch water. Companies like Säpp are touting the water made with birch tree sap as the next organic super-drink. Made with birch tree sap, birch water has a light sweetness and a range of nutritional benefits from proteins to vitamins and minerals. The company also makes two herbal infusions—nettle and rosehip—that expand on its health proposition.

Since coconut water exploded, the door has opened for other water alternatives. “The functional water category is among the fastest growing trends within the beverage space,” a representative from Säpp told The Innovation Group. “We believe the size of the pie is growing – we see customers switching over from coconut water, sugary cold-pressed juices, using birch water to supplement their daily hydration, and also from a lot of the ‘infused waters’ when they see birch water is made by forests, not formulas.”