Beverage Trends on CPGPulse by SnackMagic 🥤

In our first CPGPulse category trend report, we analyzed 150+ beverage brands on CPGPulse, a new data platform from my client SnackMagic.

We started by studying SnackMagic’s 9 categories to find patterns of what the top brands on their marketplace have in common. Most of the trends below that emerged in our research are not new. What’s most interesting to note is the staying power of the 8 beverage trends below with consumers over the last 2-3 years as Americans continue to prioritize hydration, energy, non-alcoholic seltzers, wellness, digestion, sleep, and immunity to help their bodies stay healthy and calm during a pandemic. Scroll for a visual dive into each trend.

Alongside growth over the last two years, indie beverage brands have been tackling new challenges to manage their costs of goods, a.k.a. COGs, in an ever-changing market. Sourcing materials as a small brand isn’t always easy, especially with the rise of inflation for both brands and consumers. The cost of aluminum cans, glass bottles, and freight trucks have gone up, and some international ingredients are difficult to source if your key supplier goes out of business or begins to prioritize their larger beverage brand customers. It’s also a challenging to get a co-packer for small runs, especially for limited edition flavors.

We encourage beverage founders to find a community of brands like Indie CPG (co-organized by Amrit), CPG House produced by Repeat, Startup CPG, and Naturally Network to share questions, answers, resources, ingredients, and vendor recommendations with each other.

What you’ll learn in our Beverage Trends on CPGPulse Report:

• Beverage Categories on CPGPulse

• Trends & Top Beverage Brands on SnackMagic

• Key Beverage Flavors & Diets

• Beverage Acquisitions in the Last Decade

Beverage Categories on CPGPulse

Trends & Top Beverage Brands on SnackMagic

Botanical Infused 🌺

Consumers are drawn to earthy, botanical beverages for digestive benefits, skincare in a bottle, soda alternatives, and relaxation. An herby seltzer makes the perfect mixer or non-alcoholic cocktail for moments when you want to be more present with friends.

Brands: Aura Bora, SOUND, Wildwonder, Rockaway, Dram, Pricklee, Cloud Water Brands, Soov, Teatulia, Artizn, Deep Water, Poppi, Hella Bitters, SkinTe, Backyard Bev Co.

Hero Ingredients: Herbs, flowers, and spices like lavender, hibiscus, rose, elderflower, ginger, turmeric, and mint. Often featuring little to no sugar and sweetened with fruit juice or sugar alternatives.

Notable brands not on SnackMagic: Minna, RUBY, Ghia, Rishi, Petal, VIVIC, Rù, Something & Nothing, The Qi, Berry Bissap, Waku, Seven Teas, Evy, Sunwink, Psychedelic Water, De Soi, Corsa, Mirth, Shaka Tea, LIMITLESS, Goldthread, Casamara Club, Three Spirit, Amass, Seedlip, Hoplark, Hoptonic, Needs & Wants, Saint Ivy, Trip, AVEC, Mingle, Auralis, Proposition Cocktail Co, Optimist Botanicals.

Focused Energy 🧠

Gut Health ✨

These beverages do double duty - refreshing with hidden benefits for digestive health, similar to the effect of taking fiber supplements.

“The rose is perfect in this, floral without being cloying - well-balanced with the guava. Left me wanting more!” – A five star review for Wildwonder’s Guava Rose on SnackMagic

Brands: Poppi, Vina, Agua Bucha, SkinTe, Wildwonder, Soov, Remedy Drinks, QULA

Hero Ingredients: Pre and probiotics, collagen, ginger, lemon, apple cider vinegar

Notable brands not on SnackMagic: OLIPOP, De La Calle, Better Booch, Health-Ade, Rowdy Mermaid, Bear’s Fruit, Kombucha Culture, Walker Brothers Kombucha, Halfday Iced Tea, Humm, Mayawell, Sunwink, Athletic Greens, Feel Goods, Golde Super-Ade, Corina’s Switchy, Caroline's Apple Cider Vinegar, Culture Pop Soda, BOONS Collagen Water, Reveal, Brighter Tonic, Shrubbly, Xicama

Healthy Hydration 🍋

Waterless 💦

Creating waterless beverages are sustainable in so many ways. They cost less for brands to produce and ship, and are portable for consumers to drink on a road trip, on a plane, or at the gym. Waterless beverages also inspire creativity to mix and match flavors or to mix into other drinks, like an electrolyte cocktail.

Brands: Craftmix, QULA, Tandem, Tick Tock Tea, Cure, ONE PART CO., Sow Good, Chagacinno, and electrolytes and tea on SnackMagic.

Notable brands not on SnackMagic: Tea Drops, Golde, Clevr Blends, Wylde One, Moon Juice, 8greens, Sunchaser, Four Sigmatic, Get Supr, Rasa, Copper Cow Coffee, Kuju Coffee, Viola Coffee, DripKit, NoonBrew, Blue Lotus Chai, Kola, Waterdrop, Livin Kombucha, Kencko, Athletic Greens, Everipe, Cusa Tea, Pique, Jolt, and recently launched Plink!

Immunity Boosters 💊

Similar to healthy hydration beverages, consumers continue to prioritize immunity drinks and shots as armor against seasonal allergies and the flu, or to prevent jet lag after not traveling for two years. I love to mix a Happy Moose shot with seltzer or coconut water - shout out to Ryan and Scooter if you’re reading this 👋

Brands: Kuli Kuli, Daysmith Coffee, Rockaway, Dose, Riff, Hana Tonic, Happy Moose Juice shots, Cloud Water

Hero Ingredients: Turmeric, ginger, lemon, blood orange, cayenne pepper, basil, adaptogens, Vitamin C + D

Notable brands not on SnackMagic: Vive Organic, So Good So You, Kor Shots, Proper Wild, Lumen, Bhoomi, House of Waris, Sunwink

Key Beverage Flavors & Diets

Sweet & Fruity

• Mango: Aspire Energy, Backyard Bev Co., Cape Cod Ginger, Craftmix, Dune, Dry Soda, Dune, Every Day People Coffee, Karuna, LMNT, Pricklee, Proper Wild, Remedy Drinks, Rowdy Energy, Sow Good, Tandem, Teatulia, United Sodas of America, Wave Soda, Wildwonder

• Coconut: Loco Coffee, Super Coffee, Cloud Water Brands, Tandem, Nature’s Own, Dune, Craftmix, Apres, Pricklee, Earth & Star, Aura Bora, ReJOY, Dune, Sow Good, NuRange, Artizn, Karuna, Allwello

• Blood Orange: Craftmix, Simple Times Mixers, Perfy, Cloud Water Brands, 4 Purpose Energy, SOUND

• Watermelon: Rowdy Energy, Aura Bora, Karuna, Teatulia, Rockaway, Pricklee, LMNT

• Passionfruit: Craftmix, QULA, United Sodas of America, Perfy, Wildwonder, Riff, Remedy Drinks

• Berries: Aura Bora, Wildwonder, Cure Hydration, Rockaway, Riff, Tandem, ReJOY, Pricklee

• Cactus & Prickly Pear: Aura Bora, Dune, Cali Water, Pricklee

• See Tart for notable brands featuring Yuzu, Lemon, and Grapefruit

Tart

• Hibiscus: Pricklee, Free Rain, The Republic of Tea, Rossa Mimosa, Wildwonder, Tick Tock Tea, Teaulia, Rockaway, Artizn, SOUND, One Part Co., Heavenly Tea Co Leaves, Two Leaves in a Bud, SkinTe, Every Day People Coffee & Tea, Taylors of Harrogate Tea, Dram, Remedy Drinks, Bardega Cocktails

• Yuzu: Kimono, Perfy, Artizn, Brooklyn Food & Beverage, Shaker & Spoon

• Lemon: Swoon, CURE Hydration, Tandem, Pura Soda, Wildwonder, SkinTe, Pura Soda

• Grapefruit: SOUND, SkinTe, Cloud Water Brands, Wave Soda, Heywell, Ardor, Citrus House Drinks, Hella Cocktail Co., Cure Hydration, Craftmix, One Part Co., Dram, QULA

Herbal, Earthy, Floral & Botanical

• Adaptogens: Perfy, Earth & Star, Daysmith Coffee, Free Rain, Magic Mind, Performance Tea, Chagachino, Rockaway, Dune, Heywell, The Republic of Tea

• Lavender: Aura Bora, Dram, Soov, Tick Tock Tea, Backyard Bev Co., The Republic of Tea, Dry Soda, Artizn, One Part Co.,

• Elderflower: Deepwater, Pura Soda, Root Elixirs, SkinTe, United Sodas of America, Wildwonder

• Lemongrass: Aura Bora, Teatulia, Rockaway, Tick Tok Tea, SkinTea, Heavenly Tea Leaves, The Republic of Tea, Remedy Drinks

• Lemon Balm: Dram, Tick Tock Tea, The Republic of Tea, Snoooze

• Basil: Aura Bora, Simple Times Mixers, Cloud Water Brands

• Mint: Brightfox, Aura Bora, Cloud Water Brands, Apres, Flow Alkaline Spring Water

• See Tart category above for brands featuring Hibiscus

Diets

• Low Sugar / No Sugar

  • Low: Soov, Cali Water, Pricklee

  • No: Aura Bora, SOUND, Remedy Drinks, LMNT, Tandem, Dram

  • Alt Sugars: Swoon, United Sodas of America, Poppi, Super Coffee

• Keto/Paleo

  • Perfy, Super Coffee, Craftmix, Hana Tonic, Cloud Water Brands, Cali Water, QULA, Wave Soda, Swoon, Aura Bora

• Vegan

  • Coffee: Loco, Earth & Star, Super Coffee

  • Oat milk based: Loco, Earth & Star

  • Coconut milk based: Apres

 Beverage Acquisitions in the Last Decade

Notable acquisitions in the last 10 years of non-alc beverages have centered around sports hydration, gut health and collagen, immunity, sparkling water, ready-to-drink coffee, and cleaner energy drinks. Historical notable beverage acquisitions pre-2012 represented healthier alternatives to soda, iced tea, energy drinks, and vitamin-enhanced water.

What makes a beverage brand have acquisition energy? A mass appeal product suite representing a trend with staying power, national or international retail distribution, effective at selling DTC and/or Amazon, low COGs, minimal operational complexity that can scale with the support of a larger parent company, approachable price point, formulation innovation, a strong leadership team, fits within a blindspot of the buyer, and/or presents an opportunity for the buyer to to reach a new customer demographic.