Natural Colouring for Performance Drinks
Naturalness Trends in Beverage Space
“Better-for-you” products and those supporting holistic health and wellbeing goals are popular with consumers seeking to clean up their diet in recent years. Brands across the beverage industry are innovating and renovating to meet rising consumer demands for natural ingredients with new launches in energy drinks, sports drinks, flavoured waters, functional beverages, and more.
Case Study: Colour Adding Value to Performance Drinks in the USA
Even though Mintel data shows that less than 13% of all new flavoured water launches in the past three years contain colour, consumer spending and consumer research data both indicate that shoppers prefer colourful beverages.
More than half of the top 50 Flavoured Water SKUs in the United States contain colour.
IRI 2023
Of the top 50 Flavoured Water SKUs in the United States, those with colour had 29% higher dollar sales than those that are colourless in the last three months (IRI 2023). This aligns with Sensient’s extensive proprietary research, which has shown consistently that optimized, flavour-appropriate colour increases purchase intent and consumer flavour perception in beverages.
In Europe, Mintel data shows that around 20% of all performance drinks launched in 2022 contain colouring. Consumer research data indicates that shoppers prefer beverages in which the colour matches their flavour expectation. In fact, Sensient’s research on the value of colour confirmed that optimized colour choice increases purchase intent and flavour perception.
Ensuring Colour Stability in Performance Beverages
Acid Content
Applications with low pH level may require the use of natural colours that can withstand acidic conditions. Selecting anthocyanins delivering stable shades for beverages is one of the possible options.
Packaging
Beverages often have clear glass or plastic packaging, and in that case light-stable colours will be necessary. Sensient’s colour team works regularly with our customers on accelerated and real-time light stability testing.
Ingredient Interaction
Functional ingredients like vitamins, minerals, and caffeine may interact with natural colour ingredients to impact performance. If multiple emulsions are in place within the same formula (such as flavour, cloud, and colour emulsions), it can improve stability to work with Sensient’s team to combine these into a single system.
Sip the Rainbow—Naturally!
Naturalness is important to consumers. 46% of Italian consumers state that they would drink sports drinks or energy drinks/shots more often if they were exclusively made with natural ingredients. (Mintel, 2021)
These solutions can help you get started formulating with nature’s rainbow:
Bold reds and juicy pinks is possible with cost-effective anthocyanins like black carrot and purple sweet potato. Sensient’s colouring foods and natural colours based on black carrot are a high-performing solution for unique hues from light pink to deep red and purple.
Sample Natural Reds and Pinks for Performance Beverages
For energetic or immunity-signaling oranges and yellows, colour experts look to the carotenoid family. Beta carotene and turmeric offer a range of bright, saturated colours in the citrus shade family. Since these colours are naturally oil soluble, Sensient’s Advanced Emulsion Technology (AETTM) can be used to stabilize the emulsions and help them blend seamlessly into water-based formulas. Pure-STM Paprika is a purified version of paprika that removes any unfavourable flavour off-notes from the spice source while maintaining a visually stunning vibrancy.
Sample Natural Oranges and Yellows for Performance Beverages
Bold green shades can be achieved with Sensient’s natural solutions based on Copper-Chlorophyllin. Expertly crafted blends with shades of yellow based on high-performing colouring foods or natural colours create the perfect hues for a variety of flavours…. imagine refreshing mojito, sweet apple, delicate mint-cucumber, or cooling herbs to catch consumers’ interest.
Sample Natural Green Shades for Performance Beverages
Caramel offers developers a wide range of browns from light tan to dark chocolate shades. However, for brands seeking to replace it, caramel-free Natural Brown solutions based on fruits and vegetables will be an option.
Sample Natural Browns for Performance Beverages
Beverages wanting a cloud, which can contribute to a perceived juice content or connect with a target flavour visual, can use Sensient’s Avalanche™ Nebula, a clean-label whitening and cloud solution designed for beverage applications.
Sample Cloud for Performance Beverages
