Raising the functional beverage bar: Drinks are becoming more specific and creative

From simple “functional” and “hydration” claims to more complicated body-, brain- and mood-boosting callouts, added-benefits have become table stakes for beverages as consumers increasingly eschew empty calories and look to make every sip count.

According to new research from the trend tracking and market research firm Spate, the popularity of the term “functional beverage” across Google, TikTok and Instagram grew a staggering 491.8% year-over-year, qualifying the trend as having “medium popularity.” More important, though, is what the trend signals. According to Spate, the uptick in use of the phrase shows consumer adoption of an industry term at scale and underscores an important shift in how they evaluate beverages. Specifically, Spate says it emphasizes how “shoppers increasingly think in terms of what a drink does, rather than what it is.”

But as shoppers become more sophisticated and selective about their drink choices, the added benefits, ingredients and formats they want are shifting – as is the marketing, branding and packaging that best resonates given beverages’ double-duty as status symbols for many shoppers.

In this episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast, the founders of four emerging brands share where they see challenges and opportunities within the functional beverage category, including where there is white space for innovation, market saturation, how they are cutting through the competition and explaining to consumers the benefits their products proffer. This includes a deep dive into the potential for protein in drinks with insights from the entrepreneur behind the sparkling bone broth beverage marrō and the nutritionist who created H2Pro+ Protein Water. The founder of BrainFood shares insights about the emerging demand for cognitive support and the power of her sparkling nootropic brain health drink to support focus, mental clarity and stress management. And finally, an insider with the supplement drink mix company Avro Life shares how the functional category is fragmenting into occasions and needs.

BrainFood offers energy without caffeine

According to Spate, energy is one of the most popular functional benefits across Google, TikTok and Instagram with 818,500 mentions from June 2025 to May 2026, representing an increase of 18.7% year over year. Energy drinks also are the top functional beverage by popularity increase with a year-over-year spike of 40.3%, according to the report.

But more energy doesn’t necessarily mean more caffeine. It might mean more of the vitamins and minerals needed to boost focus, brain wellness and stress balance, which when not adequately supported can feel like burnout, exhaustion and brain fog.

Megan Burton, the CEO and co-founder of the sparkling water startup BrainFood, saw this distinction as an opportunity to break free from competitors in the traditional energy drink category and offer consumers something more than stimulation from caffeine, which can cause jitters and result in a subsequent crash.

“BrainFood is a lightly sparkling water with nutrients to support brain wellness. It is infused with vitamins and minerals to support things like focus, stress balance and overall brain health,” said Burton, who has a background in biomedicine and whose co-founder is a psychiatrist.

The drinks include B12, zinc and vitamin D along with adaptogens, antioxidants and amino acids to support the body and brain.

Notably missing from that list is caffeine. And Burton says that is on purpose

“Everything is caffeinated at this point,” said Burton, who admits she loves a “good French press black coffee,” but added caffeine too late in the day can negatively effect REM and deep sleep, potentially making people more tired the next day.

Burton says her decision to skip the caffeine in BrainFood also follows a subtle, but important shift in how consumers are thinking about what ‘energy’ means. Burton explains consumers are breaking the concept down to understand if by energy they mean being able to focus on a task or run a marathon. They are then tailoring their solutions based on their needs.

Protein’s popularity continues to rise

The consumer shift towards specific outcomes rather than a generic promise of energy or wellness also is showing up in one of the biggest functional-beverage trends of all – protein.

According to Spate, the popularity of “protein packed” as a functional beverage benefit is up 1,700% year over year, and the popularity of “protein water” is up a whopping 155.8% year over year.

Among the many protein waters hitting the market to meet this demand is H2Pro+ Protein Water, which co-founder and certified nutritionist, fitness coach and wellness creator Sloane Davis says stands out because it actually tastes like water and offers more than protein.

She explains the beverage has 15 grams of protein plus 4 grams of fiber and electrolytes in each bottle.

“You’re already drinking water. Why not make it work smarter for you?” she said. “The protein satiates you, and the electrolytes are going to keep you hydrated.”

H2Pro+ also is designed to eliminate some of the friction associated with other protein beverages – so, no small scoop lost in a tub of powder, no shaker and no chalky texture.

Consumers want drinks with benefits for specific moments

Consumers are increasingly interested in how that function fits into a particular moment in their day – which is opening the door for beverages that do less, but better.

This is the premise behind Avro Life’s line of functional supplement drink mixes made with PharmaGABA, according to Marianne Lyles, who is the growth and marketing director for Avro Life Co.

“The category that we are building is calm performance. So, we have a lot of energy and caffeine culture, which can lead to spikes and crashes, and we are building a platform that says you can also start from a calm, balanced place and perform really well from there,” she said.

She explained that PharmaGAMA is the foundation for the company’s entire line, which includes options with added magnesium in the ‘calm’ blend and the ‘focus’ blend features a dose of Cognigrape, which is a standardized red grape polyphenol extract that has been studied for improving attention, memory and mental clarity.

That kind of benefit specificity that Avro and others offer raises the bar for brands. As the category gets more crowded, consumers have more choices and opportunities to decide whether a product actually delivers on its promise.

“People are looking for a product that actually delivers on the functional claim,” Lyles said. For example, can they feel the effect?

She adds Avro has science to back up its claims and a variety of flavors so it can deliver on two fronts.

Marrō offers refreshing twist on bone broth

The tension between increasingly sophisticated functional claims and the very basic need to actually enjoy drinking the product is the foundation for marrō – a bone broth unlike any other, according to founder Nick Foreste.

“We are the first ready-to-drink bone broth designed to be enjoyed cold and out of the can. So we are lightly carbonated, and the kicker is we’re fruit flavored. So it’s so wild. It’s a very, very different take on traditional broth, but we’re 98% bone broth,” he said.

He explained that that idea for marrō came to him while he was training as an ultra runner. Traditional bone broth offered benefits his body needed to recover, such as collagen, but he didn’t want to drink it hot when he was sweating after or during a run, and cold soup was “disgusting.”

His solution: Swapping fruit flavors for bone broth’s more traditional savory notes, adding a hint of carbonation and chilling it for a refreshing beverages that quenches thirst and delivers benefits.

Marrō is taking something consumers already associate with nutrition and wellness – bone broth – and completely rethinking what the drinking experience can look like. That requires retailers to rethink where the beverage should be. Rather than in the soup section, Foreste says the beverages is best placed next to the kombuchas, cold pressed juices and turmeric shots.

Once a product can be defined by the benefit it delivers, rather than by a key ingredient or traditional beverage segment, the boundaries around that category start to get pretty blurry.

Takeaways

Taken together, these four brands illustrate just how broad the definition of a functional beverage has become.

Brain Food is focused on brain wellness, focus and stress. H2 Pro+ is essentially turning water into a vehicle for protein, fiber and electrolytes. Avro is building around different mental and physical states — calm, focus and energy. And Marro is taking the nutritional proposition of bone broth and putting it into a cold, carbonated, fruit-flavored format.

They’re very different products. But they share one important characteristic: They’re all starting with a consumer need or desired benefit and building the beverage around it. And as consumers become more familiar with the language of functional beverages, the brands that win will be the ones that most clearly answer communicate the benefits – and give consumers a reason to come back for another sip.