I mentioned in my last post that healthy, simpler beverages were still trendy for 2014. While functional beverages (as people in the industry tend to call them) have been heavily marketed since the 2000s, it only really started to gain momentum when “fitness” drinks like Gatorade and Powerade hit the shelves that soda alternatives started to become popular.
But other than those two brands, what other functional drinks do you know that are available in Canada? The only ones that come to mind for me is Fuze and VitaminWater, and they’re pretty loaded with a couple tablespoons of sugar and long ingredient lists.
Here’s one that’s set to hit the Canadian market in the upcoming months: Activate!
This nifty drink claims zero calories, naturally sweetened and delivers “fresh” vitamins from a capsule inside the cap. It’s naturally sweetened with stevia leaf extract as its sugar substitute.
I know some people don’t mind the taste of just stevia as a sweetener, but it left a strange, unpleasant aftertaste for me.
Their main selling point is that the added vitamins and nutrients that you’d find in other functional beverages will degrade over a certain period of time. It’s right to a point since many vitamins are water-soluble and the drinks tend to taste a little funky after some time.
To release the nutrients into the water, you have to twist the coloured knob at the top until you see the stuff hit the water. Keep in mind, you really need to do this or else you’ll be drinking a bottle of plain ol’ water.
Shake the bottle, let the vitamins settle and dissolve, and then you’re good to go!
Now, I have no doubt that Activate provides a pretty good amount of nutrients… They’ve taken the liberty to mention that TWICE to me on the bottle.
Seriously, America. Do you really need to be told twice that there’s 100% vitamin C and 30% vitamin A and such of your recommended daily intake? I think you guys are smarter than that!
That aside, the vitamin intake seems to be pretty high and it can serve as a supplement to your daily vitamin. Good thing it tastes exactly like Flintstones Vitamins!
They must use the same type of flavouring agent as the makers of Flintstones Vitamins because I was suddenly 6 years old again, slowly chewing on a chalky, grape-ish tablet only I was sitting at my desk, sucking back on an Activate.
I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not since it definitely triggered an emotional reaction, but it wasn’t a necessarily good reaction…
Verdict: It’s pretty good considering it’s a vitamin-enhanced drink. I’m not a big fan in general of these things, but I enjoyed it while it lasted. Will I buy it? Maybe, if I knew that I haven’t been eating too well and I wanted a small vitamin kick. But, I wouldn’t buy it because of its features; namely the zero calories, stevia substitute and the “fresh” vitamin release cap.
What do you think of functional beverages? Do you like Activate?
xoxo,
B.elle
Cafe Lilium 