Let’s develop a drink – Olympic game winner for Brazil 2016

The Summer Olympic Games in 2016 will be held in Rio, Brazil, and there is a great possibility to launch a Brazilian drink with the help of the Olympics.

The rain forests of Brazil are full of various tropical fruits and herbs that are well identified with this country. Creating natural trending beverages with functional ingredients from Brazil will make a double explosion in the market with the trend combination of a healthy life style and the Olympics.

Fruits are one of the raw materials that could be used for beverage formulations. Açaí Juice is one of the trending drinks on Brazilian beaches. Due to the fact that the berry is being collected in the rain forests, the price of the juice concentrates might be high, so instead of using the juice we can suggest Açaí berry powder, extract or natural flavoring as an alternative. For marketing purposes, sometimes it is enough just to use a very small amount in combination with any other Fruit or herb.

Another well-known ingredient from daily Brazilian life is Yerba Mate. Just like coffee in Italy, mate tea is a way of communication in Brazil. This herb contains a great amount of caffeine, creating alertness and providing an energy boost for a whole day. Why not use it to create a ready-to-drink Yerba Mate Iced Tea? Another solution for an energy boost is Guaraná. Guaraná is the name of a fruit found in the Amazon and is very popular in beverages, as it provides an energy boost.

Graviola is a common name lately listed among the functional ingredients that are considered as cancer-treating. This fruit also grows in Brazil and its extract or juice powder could be used to create a unique functional drink. Its fragrance is tropical and fruity, musky and nice, and the taste, while definitely sour, is still sweet enough.

This fruit contains a variety of vitamins and minerals, and is both cholesterol free and low in calories. It is packed with B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and healthy fats and carbohydrates, as well as protein. These properties make it an ideal snack or a flavorful addition to a dessert.

Cashew milk drinks. These nuts are extremely popular in Brazil and are used not only for culinary purposes or as a snack, but also as a raw material for beverages. We offer a very trendy non-dairy milk made of cashew nuts.

For the creation of functional beverages with a connection to the Olympic Games, we have previously discussed the functional parts and in regard to the taste elements, we would suggest using the following flavors:

All of these exotic fruits are related to Brazil as they grow in the Amazon and are widely used in the traditional kitchen. As using the actual juices of such exotic raw materials might increase the cost of the final product, we suggest using natural flavorings in order to get the required taste.

One more way to have a great connection to Brazil is mocktails. These are a cocktail version without alcohol, so for the topic of the Olympics we suggest Caipirinha, which is a well-known cocktail with a taste of sugar, lime and Cachaça, a made from sugarcane juice. There are many different variations of Caipirinha, such as strawberry, passion fruit, tangerine or lychee.

There are so many options to use and enter the beverage market in an easier way by using the upcoming boost from the Olympics. Such products could be promoted more easily with a smaller budget using the world-famous Brazilian colors on the packaging and including ingredients that are popular in Brazil. Most likely there are not many people who would be indifferent to the Olympic Games.

Original article was published in Beverage Industry Blog.