Sipping on seaweed has joined the latest Australian consumer drink trends with Boost Juice adding seaweed to its limited edition menu in 2024.
The seaweed-inspired drinks offered early in 2024 were the Pash & Splash Crush and a velvety Sea & Tea Smoothie.
Boost Juice Product Development Manager Zoe Nunez says the company wanted to explore something novel, experimenting with umami flavours – and umami is something that seaweed has plenty of. Umami-rich ingredients often add a depth of flavour and complexity to food and drinks.
“After exploring numerous ingredients, we ultimately fell in love with the flavour that roasted seaweed brought to Boost,” says Zoe.
Both Pash & Splash Crush and the Sea & Tea Smoothie were developed internally, through much experimentation, to determine which other flavours would pair well with seaweed.
Pash & Splash incorporates the tanginess and sweetness of citrus fruits like orange and passionfruit. Sea & Tea combines the creamy flavours of coconut, mango and green tea.
“Any drink we launch to market requires our consumers’ tick of approval and we received an enthusiastic thumbs up in both our internal and external market research,” says Zoe.
Australia is the first country to try Boost’s seaweed offering. The company has 580 stores in 13 countries.
Tapping into the seaweed trend
Zoe says an increasing number of Australians are integrating seaweed into their snacking habits, whether influenced by the latest TikTok trends or the constant emergence of new seaweed snack flavours in our supermarket aisles.
“At Boost, we love to push the boundaries with product innovation and are constantly looking to launch captivating flavours to our customers, even if it means venturing beyond traditional ingredients you’d find on a drinks menu."
The drinks use roasted Nori seaweed snacks. Nori is made from red Pyropia seaweed species, which is farmed extensively in South Korea.
“As there is a growing trend of seaweed snack consumption, our product development team experimented with a variety of flavours of roasted seaweed snacks, ranging from sea salt to olive oil and even wasabi," explains Zoe.
“However, it was the sesame-roasted seaweed snacks that ultimately provided that distinctive edge to the campaign: Don’t think it – drink it!”