Alan Steppe
The constantly rising awareness of what is healthy or unhealthy has vastly influenced the foods and drink market, forcing the producers to modify their ingredients to achieve clear labels on their products. The search for a replacement for pre-sweetened, and artificially flavoured drinks has led to the appearance of functional beverages – natural tea extracts, caffeine and cold brew coffee solution. What are functional beverages and why are they good for our health?
What are functional beverages?
Functional beverages have a specific ingredient list with a positive influence on our bodies if produced by renowned manufacturers, taking care of the quality of their products. The ingredients may include vitamins, minerals and probiotics, herbs, mushrooms, and electrolytes, with low amounts of sugar, or completely sugar-free, and no artificial substances.
There are some companies that have such drinks in their offer, yet one functional beverage producer called Finlays is well worth attention, as it guarantees naturally and sustainably sourced caffeine, and it’s only one of its valuable features.
Types of functional beverages
Finlays offers four basic functional beverage types, including cold brew coffee, tea extracts, just-add water solutions and caffeine powder.
Cold brew coffee is made out of 100% green beans and brewed cold without pressure to extract the best taste and flavour. Thanks to low temperatures (below 27 degrees), coffee has a really difficult to notice acidity and bitterness. It’s also triple-filtered for a rich and smooth flavour. No addition of sugar makes the drink a really healthy option, with all the minerals and vitamins coffee, has to offer.
Tea extracts rich in antioxidants, can do wonders for your well-being and health. As the tea extracts are harvested on a tea farm located in Africa, and processed at the same day, keeping them fresh.
Another example of Finlays’ functional beverage is Just Add Water, which is a range of single-serve sachets to dissolve in cold water. Each sachet is a blend of tea and botanical powder, balanced into a refreshing and healthy drink.
Those who need a mental boost with caffeine should definitely try caffeine powder, which can be a base for energy drinks or even pharma.
Benefits of functional beverages
There are plenty of reasons why people should drink functional beverages, giving our bodies lots of minerals and vitamins, and helping us keep hydration balanced, our heart healthy, and our mind focused and bright.
Tea extracts used by renowned manufacturers, such as Finlays, provide our bodies with bioactive compounds, which are naturally derived. Polyphenol, which is one of the compounds, aids in coping with stress, lowers the risk of heart diseases, positively influences our weight, and boosts our mood.
Caffeine has a very positive impact on the activity of our brain and nervous system, but it’s best to drink the one that naturally occurs, not when it’s synthetic. Functional beverages should definitely be free of sugar, calories, preservatives, added chemical, pesticides, and non-aqueous solvents.
The list of negative ingredients is quite long, so make sure you buy functional beverages without them, as you most probably don’t want to absorb them. You can trust Finlays, as the company follows a clean labelling policy.
There are three more important words, which should be associated with functional beverages – organic, versatile, and sustainable. It’s great when foods and drinks are healthy for us, yet, it’s really important not to harm the environment during growing or harvesting the plants.
