‘Mood beverages’ are booming. These are drinks that help influence consumers’ moods and emotions: such as relieving stress and promoting relaxation.
So what are the ingredients that are driving the category forward?
Focus on botanicals
Botanicals are the star of the show in mood beverages: conveying functional benefits in a natural way.
And consumer confidence in these ingredients has grown. Two years ago, only 38% of consumers believed botanical supplements were safer than over-the-counter or pharmaceutical products: today that figure is up to 66%, notes Suresh Lakshmikanthan, Ph.D., B.Pharm, Chief Business Officer at Natural Remedies.
And crucially, they offer an alternative to drugs.
“Pharmaceutical drugs that target anxiety, stress and sedatives work by chemically overriding the body’s stress system. They can be effective, but they carry risks like dependency, side effects and dose tapering.
“Botanicals like holy basil, ashwagandha and rhodiola rosea work differently, they act as adaptogens, meaning they help the body “adapt” to stress rather than just masking the symptoms.”
Ashwagandha dominates the adaptogen market with a 26% share in 2025, attributed to its wide range of applications in stress relief, immunity boosting and cognitive health. “It’s arguably the post child of the adaptogen movement,” says Lakshmikanthan.
Other ingredient in the toolkit include lion’s mane and reishi mushrooms, saffron, rhodiola rosea, maca, lemon balm, hops, green tea extract, chamomile, lavender, basil, CBD, valerian, St John’s Wort, l-tyrosine, l-tryptophan and choline.
Then there’s holy basil tulsi: an ingredient that ‘may be the category’s most underestimated asset’.
And the classics remain key. “Lemon balm, L-Theanine and chamomile occupy the gentler end of the spectrum, commonly used in several applications for their mild calming effects,” said Lakshmikanthan.
Finding the right formulation
Should beverage brands choose one hero ingredient to shout about: or create combinations of several?
“Here is where strategy meets science,” says Lakshmikanthan, who alongside his Bachelor of Pharmacy holds a Ph.D in International Business and Leadership alongside an MBA in International Business in the US.
“The instinct of many beverage brands is to find a single hero ingredient and build around it a simpler story, simpler label, simpler supply chain. And in some cases, a true hero ingredient can carry a product alone, particularly when clinical substantiation is strong and consumer trust in the ingredient is already built.
“But the most sophisticated formulations and increasingly the most commercially successful ones use combinations. The logic of combination is physiological: stress is not a single mechanism but a cascade the HPA axis, the nervous system, cortisol, neurotransmitter balance, sleep architecture. The art is in choosing ingredients that work at different points in the cascade without competing or causing unwanted effects.”
The challenge, therefore, is to pick the best ingredients and formulate them into the most effective combination: all while keeping the brand message simple.
“The brands that win in this space will be the ones who can communicate that complexity matrix, into a great efficacy story with clean ingredients, and a format that consumers actually want to consume,” said Lakshmikanthan.
