Innovation Insight: Pacific Organic Bone Broth

Innovation Insight: Pacific Organic Bone Broth

In the innovation spotlight this week is a new health drink tapping into the growing popularity of savoury flavours in the hot beverages market – Pacific Organic Bone Broth.

Adding a functional spin in the developing niche of savoury hot drinks, Pacific Foods has unveiled its new line of Organic Bone Broth, a product designed to be “sipped by the cup” as “a delicious, satisfying addition to your everyday routine”.

Bone broths, inspired by ancient recipes from diverse cultural traditions, have more recently undergone something of a revival, particularly with the surge of interest in ‘paleolithic’ and other dietary regimes advocating simple, unprocessed ingredients and emphasising higher protein and lower carbohydrate intake. For their proponents, bone broths offer a diverse range of health benefits, from enhanced levels of protein and amino acids to the presence of collagen, a skin-enhancing functional ingredient that occurs naturally in the gelatine found in meat bones.

Pacific Organic Bone Broth, which comes ready to drink and in a range of flavours, makes a virtue of both its convenience and its ostensible health benefits: high in protein (9g per 240ml cup), it is also low in calories, and free of carbohydrate and fat. As if to underscore this nutritional profile, it borrows from the milk category with its choice of packaging – an aseptic screw-cap carton.

Nutritional benefits aside, Pacific Organic Bone Broth also highlights the possibilities for functional drinks in terms of product experience. Notable exceptions such as the long-standing Bovril “beef tea” brand apart, hot savoury health drinks have remained a little-explored segment. Signs of change may be on the however, especially in the US where savoury, health-oriented teas are starting to make their presence felt: 2012 saw the launch of Millie’s Savoury Teas, ‘sipping broths’ that blend green tea with savoury flavours such as tomato & basil and Indian spice, while in 2013 Numi launched an organic tea ranging combining “real organic vegetables, wild herbs, decaf tea and aromatic spices”.

The key to success for ‘savoury teas’ and ‘sipping broths’ may be more than just functional benefits and novel flavours: by virtue of their soup-like qualities, such products tap into that other all-important area of consumer appeal – comfort. Millie’s Savoury Teas are promoted as “comfort food in a broth”, Numi Organic Tea as a “a satisfying experience”, while, for its part, Pacific Organic Bone Broth is marketed with the slogan “Sip. Savor. Soothe”. This notion of comfort, allied to functional benefits, allows such products to be marketed as a more holistic “wellbeing” solution, something which could help hot, savoury health drinks secure a more permanent footing in the expanding functional food and beverages space.

Additional sources: Numi Organic Tea / Millie's Savoury Teas