Hot beverages with adaptogens
As well as wanting to recreate restaurant-quality experiences at home, consumers are also seeking functional foods with benefits, another after-affect from the pandemic.
Earlier this year Tastewise, the AI-powered real-time food intelligence solution that predicts changing consumer needs based on over 78,000 restaurants and delivery menus, 20 billion social interactions, and 115,000 home recipes online, shared the top consumer food and beverage trends for 2022.
One trend was hot beverages with adaptogens for functional health. Leading adaptogens come from the world of fungi, with reishi and cordyceps taking the top spots. They are particularly relevant for hot beverages, with one third of reishi and cordyceps discussions featuring tea or coffee.
Consumers see adaptogens as having medicinal properties (with interest rising +50% YoY); particular emphasis is on functional health benefits such as stress relief (+25 YoY) and brain function (+22% YoY), Tastewise noted.
Examples might include an ashwagandha latte, or Sweet Revolution’s latte created using a chicory root coffee-alternative blend and enhanced with Lion's Mane Mushroom powder.
Another example is HotTea Mama, which has created specialist tea blends aimed at menopausal women after spotting a gap in the market for products that target this issue.
The brand selected natural herbs that have been used for millennia to support with some of the most common symptoms - from irregular periods and heavy blood flow, to anxiety, lack of sleep and hot flushes. These include Raspberry Leaf, which it claimed can lessen heavy menstrual flows; Ginseng, believed to improve mood changes, and increase length and quality of sleep; Gingko Biloba, said to improve blood circulation and cognitive function; Liquorice, which it said can help reduce the occurrence and length of hot flushes; and Valerian, which it claimed reduces stress and anxiety, aid sleep.
Image: Getty/RHJ
