Unique flavours and useful components are among the new inventions that provide customers with a diverse selection of liquid alternatives.
Natural flavours and nutraceuticals in water are driving up demand for the hydration experience.
The flavoured water market has seen tremendous growth in the last decade, with both entrepreneurial and mainstream beverage brands stepping forward to offer their own spin on the concept. As nutritionists, health experts, and fitness gurus began emphasising the importance of water intake in people’s daily routines, consumers agreed, and water sales began to soar.
However, many customers find plain water dull, thus efforts were made to make water a more appealing beverage in order to compete with high-calorie choices while also increasing its nutritional content. New releases in this category have been improved to include distinctive flavours and beneficial additives that provide consumers with a diverse selection of liquid alternatives.
Even in its most basic form, making flavoured water has its own set of obstacles. It might be difficult for R&D teams to create a non-carbonated flavoured water that balances distinct constituent characteristics with a holistically enjoyable drinking experience.
Some well-known businesses have maintained their success in this field while remaining relevant to consumers using unique techniques. Hint Water, Inc.’s brand of flavour-infused and caffeine-infused waters is one example; PepsiCo’s Propel line of flavoured and vitamin/electrolyte-enhanced waters is another; and Nestlé SA’s Splash purified and flavoured waters is another.
The race bubbles
Defining the apparently insatiable market appetite for flavoured and improved waters, numerous smaller firms have seen significant success as well. Spindrift Beverage Co., Sanzo Water Co., and Free Rain Products, LLC are among those reaping the benefits of their efforts, since all of their products contain pure fruit juice or fruit purée.
Free Rain was the most daring, with more difficult botanicals, a greater juice concentration than usual (up to 20% fruit juice), and unique flavour combinations including Tart Cherry and Siberian Ginseng, Blackberry-Passionflower, and Blood Orange Ginger and Ashwagandha. Sanzo immersed himself in the Asian flavours experience, using exotic fruits like lychee, yuzo, calamansi orange, and Alphonso mango.
The flavour of these beverages is important in their creation, especially with the option to have minimal to no sugar. Certain flavour profiles have been demonstrated to outperform others. Citrus excels in this area since the oils used require the least amount of configuration.
Berry and mango flavours might be less cooperative, resulting in off-notes at high concentrations. When too much sulphur is put to mango, it develops sulphur undertones. However, this does not rule out the possibility of creating a beverage with more troublesome flavours.
Right Touch
When it comes to creating a pleasant finished product, the addition of sugars and acids influences how bold the flavours taste to the average consumer. Product development and taste modulation teams have had considerable success in this field by utilising modulating flavours and maskers. Such ingredient systems, on their own, can intensify characterising flavours while blocking off undertones. They can also improve mouthfeel.
Experts in ingredient and beverage creation can mix such flavour and masker/modulator substances to produce a specific blend for their customer. They will even do repeated organoleptic testing in-house. The customer will gain not only from the assistance of many aspects and inputs in keeping ingredients to a minimum, but they will also be better able to maintain their product positioned in its category.
Botanical Waters
The rush of functional beverages into the flavoured water industry is expected to continue in the coming year and beyond. Waters with additional nutrients including vitamins, minerals, protein, botanicals, antioxidants, collagen, and caffeine are already populating shop shelves and display cases. And the proliferation of cannabis-derived compounds in water drinks is only beginning.
Energy, beauty, athletic performance, relaxation, sleep, eye health, cognitive performance, gut health, immunity, weight management, and other benefits are all targeted by the labelling and marketing of enhanced waters. Botanically enriched waters are dominating this category. Ashwagandha, a supposed anti-anxiety herb, is one such component that has lately appeared in water drinks. It is frequently added to drinks for its adaptogenic properties; however, it can impart an unpleasant flavour and murky colour.
Maskers are required to mask ashwagandha’s unpleasant taste characteristic, which is typically characterised as “dirt-like.” Its principal bioactive components, with anolides, are lipid-based molecules that are very insoluble. To be used in an enhanced water product, lipid-soluble ingredients (such as vitamins A, D, E, and K, choline, coenzyme-Q10, or carotenoids such as astaxanthin, lutein, or lycopene) must be expertly microencapsulated in order to be rendered water-soluble without negatively impacting the appearance of the final beverage.
Natural caffeine sources for an extra energy boost are in great demand, hence guarana, yerba maté, green coffee, and green tea are prevalent in many water beverage items. Aside from the hydration advantages of pure water, many recent releases of improved and flavoured water incorporate component compounds such as an electrolyte blend (mainly potassium, magnesium, and sodium).
Other waters are derived from plants rather than ponds. While coconut water is the greatest and most prominent example, water from aloe, prickly pear, and other cacti, as well as trees such as birch (a popular drink in Slavic nations) and maple, are streaming into stores. Artichoke water and jicama water are two of the more unusual—and flavourful—examples in this category. The latter has the added benefit of having a naturally somewhat sweet flavour as well as a strong supply of vitamins and minerals.
According to Allied Market Research’s 2022 analysis, the flavoured water category is predicted to reach over $32 billion by 2030, rising at a CAGR of 5.5% between 2021 and 2030. This upward trend is expected to continue, in response to increased consumer demand for more functional, low-sugar, water-based hydration solutions.
With a growing choice of nutraceutical additives, the beverage sector will continue to explore the waters of water beverages. When combined with the adoption of new globally inspired flavours, keeping up with the expansion of this sector may be accomplished quickly and effectively.
Imbibe, Inc.’s Erin Costello is an associate. As an unrivalled R&D partner, Imbibe has been propelling the growth of the food and beverage sector since 1963. End-to-end food and beverage product development services from Imbibe improve upstream and downstream operations. Imbibe is able to unleash the potential of the food and beverage sector by generating novel flavours and ingredient systems that assist promote difference in meaningful goods for firms with modest internal resources to teams with advanced development skills.
Tiny Bubbles- just great
When it comes to ensuring that the flavour profile is agreeable, carbonation is frequently the way of least resistance. When adding extra flavour might have negative consequences (ranging from being prohibitively expensive to imparting off-flavour notes or violating regulatory restrictions), using carbonation is a strategy that enhances the scent and flavour of a beverage.
This is undeniably evident in the enormous and long-lasting appeal of sparkling waters. According to consumer research firm NielsenIQ, recent dollar sales for the sparkling water category show support for traditional soft drink alternatives. They’ve increased by 20.4%, amounting to $267 million in convenience store sales alone for the 52 weeks ending January 29, 2022.
Avoiding Troubled Waters
The FDA and EPA control bottled drinking water. While the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) contains no legislative definition of water, it is presumed that the ordinary consumer and industry expert knows that water is pure H2O. A commercial beverage cannot be termed “water” if it contains more than one component. Instead, it must include the terms “drink” or “beverage” at the conclusion of the product’s identifying standard.
Some businesses have gotten past these limitations by utilising innovative brand names that are not authorised by the FDA or USDA. Many businesses just incorporate the word “water” in their name. Despite the fact that their beverages contain additional additives, their selected brand names allow customers to directly link their goods with the pure liquid. On their identification statement, they often use more comprehensive language, such as “Nutrient-Enhanced Water Beverage,” “Sparkling Water Drink,” or others.