The modern trend to live a healthy lifestyle with lots of exercises, good quality food and drinks is more and more popular in Europe. The recent years experienced a significant rise in the interest with beverages that not only quench thirst but also offer additional functional benefits, addressing specific needs or enhancing well-being. What are functional drinks and why is the trend for them growing?

What are functional drinks?

One of the most often chosen beverages around the world is water. We have been told it’s one of the healthiest drinks for our bodies, yet without the detailed information, it really helps our body hydrate. The body absorbs plain water slowly, and it’s difficult to say it is able to hydrate the body well.

That’s where functional health beverages come into action, being able to address specific needs and enhance well-being. They not only quench thirst and hydrate the body, but they also provide health benefits and cater to specific purposes. By containing vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, adaptogens, and other compounds, they greatly influence the energy level, immunity, relaxation, mental health, and focus.

How to choose valuable functional drinks?

Lots of manufacturers claim to sell functional drinks, which will do wonders for the consumer’s health, but when the ingredient list is checked, they appear to be simply water with lots of sweeteners and artificial ingredients that have nothing in common with functional drinks.

Start by reading the list of ingredients, trying to identify the ingredients that you know well and that have been proven to positively influence overall health. According to studies, one in five European consumers is working on reducing their consumption of artificial flavours, colours, and sweeteners. They are only used to make the product look more appealing, which is harmful to our bodies.

One of the greatest features of functional drinks is their natural ingredients, and the great demand for those can be easily illustrated by the increase in the number of energy drinks with natural ingredients by 178% since 2016.

Last but not least, any beverage you drink for the benefit of your health cannot harm the environment. It’s really important to be able to trace the production chain of the drinks, with the claim of the producer of sustainability. 76% of Europeans believe this is the key point of healthy drinks.

What can your body gain from functional drinks?

With the wide range of functional drinks, it’s not easy to find out what to drink to get the best results. To make the choice easier, it’s advisable to trust the offer of experts in the field, one of them being Finlays. They offer cold-brew coffee, tea extracts (just add water), and caffeine powder. Let’s analyse what each of them has to offer for your health.

To start with cold-brew coffee, as most people drink it at least once a day, there is no better and healthier energy drink than this one. It has nothing to do with these artificial energy drinks, which may be dangerous for your heart, but uses only natural ingredients and thoroughly prepared and brewed coffee beans.

It’s the best source of caffeine, much healthier than traditionally brewed coffee, without added sugar and few calories. Thanks to the unique gravity extraction technology, it’s possible to keep the finest flavours from the beans and get smooth and rich cold-brew coffee. The drink is refreshing and authentic, without any soluble coffee or bulking agents, with green bean coffee coming from sustainable farms and an easily traceable production chain.

Tea extracts are the source of an abundance of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenol, which helps alleviate stress, reduce cardiovascular risk, help lose weight, and improve general well-being. The tea extracts don’t contain sugar, preservatives, chemicals, pesticides, or non-aqueous solvents, and coming from organic sources, they don’t harm the environment.

Tea and botanical powder called Just Add Water are hidden in a single-serve sachet treasure that only needs to be dissolved in cold water. Such functional drinks improve our immunity thanks to the blend of green tea, apple, and ginger flavours, accompanied by baobab and acacia.

Purple tea is a natural antioxidant, preventing your body from growing older. They also boost energy levels as well as digestion with the mix of black tea and acacia extracts. Why not create a functional drink with caffeine powder? It can be successfully used in energy drinks or pharma, turning a usual coffee drink into something powerful and tasty.