The latest innovation insight from Gama Compass™
MANCHESTER – 29th January 2016: This week we focus on the stellar rise of matcha as an ingredient in new FMCG products, featuring as our case study a launch that takes the on-trend green tea powder and combines it with coconut water and high pressure processed fruit and vegetable juices to create a new health-enhancing ‘superdrink’ – Evolution Fresh Organic Coconut Matcha Smoothie.
Launched in September last year as a new addition to Starbuck’s line of Evolution Fresh green juice line in the US, Evolution Fresh Organic Coconut Matcha Smoothie invites consumers to “dive into an invigorating medley of tropical fruit, coconut water and matcha green tea that naturally recharges as it refreshes”. Offering a “green vegetal, purist taste”, the smoothie blends cold-pressed, high pressure processed tropical fruit ingredients such as pineapple juice, coconut water and mango with a number of vegetable juices, as well as matcha in the form of a powder: offering “more flavour and texture” than conventional green teas, according to a Starbuck’s press release.
As much as benefitting from the ‘natural’ and ‘healthy’ associations of green tea in general, matcha has a distinctive advantage over regular teas in its positioning as a ‘whole food’, with its essential qualities and nutrients ostensibly left more intact than in standard infusion and brewing methods. Whether for its taste, health, textural or even colour properties, matcha could remain an ingredient to watch across food and drinks – and even in other industries such as personal care – as consumers around the world continue to seek out the functional and the flavourful from among the crowds of products now competing for attention on supermarket shelves.
Image source: Starbucks
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