A short defence of bitterness

Most fizzy drinks are built the same way: a lot of sugar, a bit of acid, and a flavour sitting on top. It’s a formula that works, in the sense that people drink it. Nobody remembers it.

Bitterness is the thing that makes you stop and notice what’s in your mouth. It’s why people like grapefruit, dark chocolate and coffee, and it’s almost completely missing from the drinks aisle.

Where it comes from

In our drinks it’s mostly the peel. The oil and the pith of a grapefruit or a blood orange carry far more character than the juice does. We leave the bitter parts in on purpose, and then use the herb or spice to give that bitterness somewhere to go.

How much is too much

There is a ceiling. Somewhere past it, a soda stops being refreshing and starts being medicinal. We found it with grapefruit and rosemary together, two bitter things fighting, and poured the batch away after fifteen minutes.

Sweet is easy. Bitter makes you pay attention.

The trick is that bitterness lets you use less sugar. A drink with something to say doesn’t need 10 g of sugar per 100 ml to be interesting. Ours sit between 4 and 5 g. You can read the whole argument on the ingredients page.