Snaxshot#49: Tasty Tablets

can we fizz in your mouth?

A newsletter on upcoming food and beverage trends that offers a curation of brands and aesthetics written by Andrea Hernández.

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🔮 Peek into the future:

• Introduction to Fizzics 101

• Instant Legacies

• Dissolvable Dynasties

• PLINK! gets fizzy with it

• Oracular Spectacular

• Spoonful of News

Let’s Get Fizz-ical

Whether you were a Tang orangutan or were drinking the Kool Aid, literally—our generation is no stranger to powder drinks, watching your milk turn strawberry after a few spoonfuls of Nesquik was like an alchemy trick, and to be honest as a child, gave a bit sense of autonomy, you get my gist. Looking back at how I was introduced to dissolving tablet drinks, it was mainly health related, like when my stomach ache was so unbearable I’d unwillingly gulp down an Alka-Seltzer or keeping sniffles away during flu season by binging on Airborne tablets, not something I’d consider fun per say. Alas, that is where it all begins, see effervescent, or carbon tablets, date back to the 1800s as a way to help mask the taste of “curatives” and during the time that is now referred to as the “water cure craze”.

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See back in the 1800s, doctors and scientists alike, believed water could cure it all, as during the 17th century the chemical make-up and physiological benefits of various salts such as Glauber's salt and Epsom salts had come to light. The US experienced a whole boom of “water cure towns” think mineral springs, which in our day and age, would be the equivalent of a weekend in Ojai? Alas, this was more affordable for those who could leisure, and thus the need for a more “to-go” cure, if the springs won’t come to Mohammad, well you know where this leads. Scientists began attempting to replicate salt mixtures found in naturally occurring mineral waters using off-the-shelf ingredients, mixing these kinds of salts — especially carbonates and tartrates — with flavorings like lemon into an effervescent compound with citric or tartaric acid, led to the creation of “fruit salts” — adjacently sparked the seltzer craze, but we will talk about Veni Vidi Vichy another time.

At the end of 1950s, Fizzies came into existence, brought to you by the makers of Bromo Seltzer, which was an anti acid drink conceived at the beginning of the 1900s. The “just add water” soft drinks were marketed to children, and by the end of the 60s, they were doubling Kool Aid sales, Fizzies were literally a cultural icon of their era, referenced in movies and tv shows alike of the time. However, many of their ingredients later became banned by FDA, lol and though Fizzies has seen many a resurrection, trying to appeal to the Boomer generation, they went from instant drink sensations to being sold at nostalgic candy stores, and ultimately were discontinued in 2016.

In the end Kool Aid had the last laugh, as its been able to survive the rising tide against sugary drinks by expanding into myriad of products including sparkling and unsweetened packets to combat its sickly sweet reputation and remain as the “budget beverage” it started as. And though powder drink mixes stand the test of time, there is something about effervescence tablets that reigns supreme, according to fizzics 101, the benefit of effervescent tablets is that they dissolve completely and evenly meaning that localized concentrations of ingredients cannot occur, as opposed to liquid or powder mixes, contributing to better taste, dissolving tablet drinks have yet to fizzle out, and the influx of emerging brands looking to capitalize on this continues to grow, appealing to our generation’s need for more sustainable alternatives to bottle and plastic, but also indulging us in wanting a more customized experience.

EFF YOUR PLASTIC BOTTLES

—Nestle, Pepsi and Coca Cola are the biggest offenders to the planet when it comes to plastic bottle waste and we are tired of the greenwashing

—Scientists have officially found microplastics have been found in human bloodstream for the first time, because yummm plastic!

—Plastics in the US will outpace coal in carbon emissions by the end of the decade, isn’t that fucking insane?!

—Millennials and GenZ continued to be leading the sustainability push as consumer cohort, influencing Gen Alpha along the way.

—Effervescent tablets market has been on the rise, thanks to supplements and are decaying non-fungible corpses, but quickly growing in other applications

Emerging D&D (drop and drink) have experienced tremendous success —take for example Nuun, dissolving functional tablets that promote “better” hydration, was bought by BigFood giant, Nestle, back in 2021 for an “undisclosed amount” but we all know it was Scrooge McDuck type of money. Cometeer has basically innovated on instant coffee space with their frozen capsules that dissolve in water, with the ability to be able to seal freshness and quality, with the equal convenience instant powder formats offer. The company recently raised $35 million in series B, and with good reason, their coffee puckets can stay fresh for 3 years while frozen, and can personally attest of their convenience while traveling, serving as a good cup of coffee that won’t make you want to spit out while in flight.

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Tea Drops has also seen incredible success bringing the D&D format to tea, recently securing $5 million in funding, bringing it to a total of $8.4 million since they launched back in 2015. Tea Drops bringing innovation to a multi billion dollar market, that had long been known for “tea bags” —drops are the new bags, you heard it here first. Daily Harvest has also seen benefit in creating their almond tablets that offer consumers a better and healthier version of alt-milk favorite, foregoing the need for yucky additives, and as all of the above, contributing to less overall packaging and water waste, redeeming almonds reputation as unsustainable. From spirulina, to kombucha, even cannabis is experiencing a D&D renaissance, the “transform your water” movement spreads far and wide.

Macro Thirst Meets Micro Drinks

Emerging as a category leader of the “micro drinks” is Austrian based, Waterdrop, a company that has reached $100 million in revenue across 12 different countries, in just a span of five years, equal parts function, hydration and sustainable lifestyle, they most recently have delved into sports with their latest Adriana Lima collaboration. The company recently raised a whopping $70 million recently, having entered the US last summer, racking $10 million in sales in this market, expecting to triple that number by the end of 2022, they are an omnichannel brand, but rely mainly on DTC and their consumers skew older GenZ and millennial.

Taking the D&D approach is what has led to their blitz-like international success, considering that these tablets are much more scalable than actual bottles, not to mention that fits within the modern consumer’s criteria of embracing sustainable living, Waterdrop is also taking a “cradle to grave” marketing approach creating products that cater to the likes of Gen Alpha, selling their cute animalesque water bottles alongside their micro drinks, to the aging millennials and genxers who need their functional plant based vitamins to complement our quasi nihilistic lives on a deteriorating planet. Waterdrop also gamifies hydration through their app and allows consumers to cash in perks for being properly hydrated, smart considering millennials are so thirsty, reference our “water wars issue” for more on that.

Get Fizzy With It x

Within the D&D category, PLINK! is a new brand is launching today, that sits at the intersection of wellness, convenience AND fun. Drinking water is inherent human nature, it usually accompanies us in gatherings, we cannot stray far from our watering hole days, we are mammals after all, and PLINK! is here to remind us of the fun and social nature tied to hydration. Founded by Maxwell Luthy and Luke Montgomery-Smith, the duo re-imagined the effervescent tablet as good times in a cup, not segregated by functions or utility but appealing to all ages and occasions. The brand comes in multiple flavors, and creatively packaged in a whimsical box flip top box that doubles as an accessory and most likely the envy of any other brand launching this year. In the same way Kool Aid and Fizzies embraced hydration as fun, a juxtaposition of how it has most recently been marketed to aging millennials, better-for-you or functional, they are reminding us that drinking water is a basic human experience, it’s just not that serious, it’s human.

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Millennials and GenZ alike are the “waste not but want all” generation, and why PLINK! has also been born in D&D format they are too trying to approach beverages with a more sustainable approach, yes though the tablets come individually wrapped, it’s still less waste, these tablets would not fair well exposed to air, why brands like Waterdrop, Tear Drop etc, take a similar approach. As part of how they call it, JAW, (just add water) movement, as an effervescent tablet packed with flavor they are able to stand out from their liquid or powder counterparts, equal parts convenience and fun, music to our ears, and when it can double as an IT accessory or a signaler, it’s a killer combination. Their fun, bright and unapologetically loud vibe is something that emanates from the founders themselves, it’s less obnoxious than having an animated gigantic jar of red ooze burst into every scene saying “Oh Yeeeaaah” (can we also note how weirdly sexual that is) though if you think about it we’re basically normalizing “fizz in mouth” —ok, ok I digress, when it comes to PLINK! the brand speaks for itself.

You bring the water, PLINK! promises to bring the flavor and the vibes. We’ve told you about them previously on “Shapeshifting Foods” and “Food in 2025” like the brands we’ve mentioned above, catering to climate change is unfortunately a reality, (hello microplastics in blood) and PLINK! is taking on a mainstream approach to brings affordability and sustainability in one. We will likely see more D&D rise as technology also improves the ability to fuse ingredients packed tightly in these tablets, but for now you will have to the judge, you can try PLINK! for yourselves today, and you can use this code SNAXSHOTMADEMEPLINK20 to get 20% off your order (don’t worry, I make absolutely no money from these) and let us know if you believe PLINK! is the new drink.

Oracular Spectacular

A subsidiary of the Snax Television Network

Shhhhhhhhh!!!! My favorite show’s about to start “What’s New, You Ask?”

Today’s show is brought to you by —the letter S, the color Red and readers like you.

STUSH, CANADA

STILL WATERS, NEW ZEALAND

SOMME SPRITZ, AUSTRALIA

GRUPPETTO, AUSTRALIA

Non-alcoholic aperol spritzes just in time for summer bb!

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ODDBALL, NYC, USA

Vegan jelly snacks!

PERSIAN APOTHECARY, UK

Absolute stunning presentation, the brand is normalizing women in hijab in packaging.

LIBERATION FOODS, UK

These are some pretty chic cashews.

HOP POP, NEW ZEALAND

Pre-biotic seltzer boom is hitting down under!

Spoonful of News 🥄

• CPG —cringe packaged goods, this brand is creating RTDs for celebrities that signals we’ve reached bottom of the canned drink.

• Coca Cola settles Fairlife animal abuse lawsuit for $21 Million.

• Publix plunges into fast delivery powered by Instacart.

• Of note, China holds first cell agriculture forum.

• Shocker to absolutely no one CPG brands actually thrive after being divested by BigFood, LMAO.

Snax Concierge 🛎️

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