Good karma for local cola
A six-pack of New Zealand soft drink companies are blazing a trail for bottled beverages, writes Josie Steenhart.
Soft drinks are not usually known for their good qualities, but a growing number of local companies are setting out to change things one bottle at a time, producing high-quality, delicious beverages that are genuinely good – whether health-wise, ethically, environmentally or all of the above.
‘‘There was no fair trade cola when we started trading with West Africa, so we created our own direct trade system,’’ says Karma Cola marketing manager Angela Barnett. ‘‘We were awarded the Fairest Fairtrader Award two years ago – chosen out of 27,000 fair trade products in the world.
As well as trading fairly for the cola nuts, from every bottle of Karma Cola sold, proceeds go back to the cola farmers in Boma village, Sierra Leone, to help them rebuild their war-torn communities.
Since bottling the first batch of Karma Cola in 2012, more than US$75,000 ($103,735) has gone back into everything from local education, businesses and healthcare to infrastructure and forest rehabilitation.
All Karma Cola’s drinks are also organic, using ingredients that are kind on the planet, as harsh chemicals aren’t allowed. Aroha founder Mark Dillon says the thing that sets them apart is the integrity of the juices they use.
‘‘To us, ‘integrity’ firstly means taste, but it also means supporting local community. We harvest wild, grow our own, and source fruit from local farmers. We’re always on the lookout for tastier fruit that can be sourced closer to our facility. This both supports local community and helps reduce transportation in an already carbon dense food and beverage industry.’’
Dillon says these elements are too often overlooked. ‘‘To me these elements seem so obviously essential to sustainability, but ‘green wash’ from different marketing approaches seems to have confused the average customer. We’re coming to a crunch time with our economy and our environment where we’re going to be forced into getting these two elements reprioritised whether we like it or not.’’
Aroha also maintain product integrity by using a special pasteurising technique.
‘‘Pasteurisation often degrades the fruity goodness inside juices but with our method of tunnel pasteurising, the goodness we put in the bottle stays in the bottle.’’
‘‘Humble Honey Soda tastes better, feels better and is better for the world we live in,’’ says Aisha Daji Punga, future ventures director at Frucor, the boutique brand’s mother company.
‘‘With just seven humble natural ingredients, Humble is a replenishing soda that promotes wellbeing – nurtured by the goodness of honey bees. Inside every bottle is two teaspoons of Kamahi honey, a honey with complex flavours produced on the West Coast of the South Island, mixed with spring water and a touch of lemon.’’
‘‘Humble is not only good for you, it’s good for the environment,’’ Daji Punga says.
‘‘With the world’s bee population in rapid decline, the Humble Honey Soda team wants to make a difference and help improve the plight of the local honey bee, so for every bottle sold, Humble assist with bee pollination, placing hives in the community and distributing Humble seeds to encourage people to plant the right flora our bees love, nurturing their ecosystem so they can thrive.’’
Wellington’s Six Barrel Soda Co was launched to ‘‘shake up a flat soft drink market with a new level of quality,’’ says co-founder Joseph Slater.
‘‘Our sodas use real ingredients so have a freshness that’s different to most others. We’re trying to set the bar high for what soft drinks can be.
‘‘We make soda, not health food, but in doing that we try to make drinks that are better for you, by using natural, mostly organic ingredients, fair trade organic sugar and less sugar than most.
‘‘As an independent producer it’s always been important to us to use quality ingredients from suppliers who are trying to do good in their communities too. We’ve always used fair trade sugar for example, the premium you pay for it means the growers get paid properly, plus the quality is great. We try to do this across the line for our ingredients.’’
‘‘Plus you’re supporting the local economy. It’s crazy to me that our biggest drinks companies are imported and poor quality, when there are so many quality local companies.’’
‘‘What sets us apart is that we only use freshly squeezed fruit instead of concentrates,’’ says co-owner and director Marleen Suy.
‘‘We also only use New Zealand grown fruit, fair trade at home, we look after our own farmers first, and support the local economy.
‘‘We don’t use any additives, preservatives, artificial colours or flavours, and our drinks are low in sugar – about 50 per cent less sugar than others.’’
And while Pete’s Natural bottle labels alone could cheer you up, they also use New Zealand-made glass, made of up to 80 per cent recycled glass, and help other small beverage companies by contract bottling for them.
‘‘Lately we’ve been involved in contract bottling for a YES [Youth in Emergency Services) project from Wanaka,’’ says Suy.
‘‘The students had developed an elderflower drink and were looking for a company who could bottle it for them. They have now scheduled their second batch to be bottled. It’s a great feeling to help such entrepreneurial youngsters.’’
Hakanoa Hand-Made make ginger beers from scratch with a wild culture of yeasts and lacto bacilli sourced from fresh ginger root.
‘‘There’s only good stuff in there, the fresh ginger root, fresh New Zealand lemon juice, organic fair trade raw sugar, organic sultanas and dried ginger,’’ says founder and brewer Rebekah Hay.
‘‘And we kept all the bad stuff out – no preservatives, no gluten, no starch or gum or those ubiquitous acidifiers and antioxidants. Our sugar is also lower than most.’’
Hakanoa Hand-Made also donates to a variety of charities each year, from school fundraisers and the City Mission to their ‘‘favourite charity of all,’’ Garden To Table.
‘‘We’re part of the Sustainable Business Network, and practice what we preach,’’ Hay says.
‘‘So far that has been about fair wages, flexible working hours, fair trade, sourcing locally and fresh first and organically second, and building our business up to something big enough to make a difference.’’