Don’t have TIME to drink from a CUP?
CHEWABLE GUMMIES, WITH A CUP OF COFFEE’S WORTH OF CAFFEINE IN TWO CUBES, HOPE TO TAKE BITE OUT OF MARKET.
A hot new startup was making people’s hearts race — in a literal sense — on the streets of Austin, Tex., during March’s fashionable South by Southwest festival.
Nootrobox Inc. representatives handed out red- and-yellow packets of Go Cubes, chewable gummies with about half a cup of coffee’s worth of caffeine per cube. As word of the sugar- coated pick- me- ups spread, people started seeking out the freebies.
“It was turning a lot of heads,” said Nootrobox co- founder Michael Brandt. “People would come up with their three friends and say, 'Can we all have one?'"
The South by Southwest buzz and some high- profile media mentions from The New York Times and BuzzFeed have led to a rush on Go Cubes, which Brandt said are currently only available on back order.
Canada is one of the biggest markets for the gummy coffee, with orders rivalling those from California and New York, despite the currency difference and a US$5 shipping fee that bring the cost per two- cube dose to about US$2.30.
The widespread appeal of Go Cubes has Brandt believing that they could one day take market share away from coffee. Considering that market was worth US$ 81 billion in 2013, according to researcher Euromonitor International, even a small slice would make him wildly wealthy.
But changing the habits of loyal coffee drinkers will require a product that seems normal and tastes great, both of which are going to be challenges for Nootrobox.
Chewable coffee certainly sounds like a strange idea, but it could be the least outthere product Nootrobox offers.
The company’s focus is nootropics, supplements designed to improve cognitive functions such as thought, memory and creativity.
Nootropics has gained a dedicated following among a subculture of people who see the human body and mind as systems to be hacked, not unlike a computer. But to take the concept from obscure online message boards to the mainstream, the company needed something a little more palatable to the average person.
An obvious choice was caffeine, the western world’s most widely-used and socially acceptable mind- altering substance.
Caffeine plus L- theanine, a relaxing amino acid found in tea that some research suggests balances out caffeine’s jittery effects, are known among nootropics enthusiasts as a good com- bination for beginners and are what Nootrobox decided to use as the two main active ingredients in Go Cubes.
As a result, it can market a product that has all the benefits of coffee, but without all the things that are annoying or inconvenient — the jitters, fear of spilling, inconsistent dosage levels and eventual crash. Unlike hacking your brain by experimenting with strange powders ordered over the Internet, these are concepts the average person can get behind.
With typical Silicon Valley bravado, Brandt wants to disrupt not only our traditional coffee habit, but our relationships with our minds.
“People drink coffee or they drink alcohol. People do stuff that affects their mental state,” Brandt said. “It makes a lot of sense to us … that something could be better than coffee.”
The concept also appears to makes sense to famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist firm Andreesen Horowitz, which invested US$2 million in Nootrobox in December. Two months earlier, Nootrobox raised US$ 60,000 to launch Go Cubes through the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo, sending pre-orders to 1,500 backers.
Chris Schmidt, an analyst at Euromonitor who covers the vitamin and dietary supplement industry, said he can see nootropics catching on.
The global dietary supplement market was worth US $51 billion in 2015. Euromonitor expects it will continue to grow by three to four per cent annually, with products that make specific health claims growing particularly quickly.
“The idea of a smart pill, I think, resonates with a much wider demographic base,” Schmidt said. “A 25-year-old guy may not be worried too much about his heart health or his eye health, but he’s going to really want something that’s saying, hey, this will help you perform better at work.”
Energy drinks are already a huge category that’s growing faster than soft drinks overall, Schmidt said. Go Cubes offer a similar effect — one cube has 50 milligrams of caffeine — without the fizzy, sugary liquid sloshing around in your stomach.
But many of those liquids have the notable advantage of being delicious, while the reviews for Go Cubes are decidedly mixed.
National Post staff who tested Go Cubes unanimousl y agreed Nootrobox has some work to do on the taste and texture.
The cubes come in three flavours — mocha, pure drip and latte — and it’s hard to tell which one you’re getting, making for a Russian roulette- like experience if you don’t like the distinctive and bitter “pure drip” ( no one did) or the somewhat cloying mocha ( reactions ranged from “the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” to “huh, OK”).
All three have a lingering aftertaste frequently described as similar to burnt diner coffee.
But at least they taste bet- ter than caffeine pills, according to Kyle Skayman, a 28- year- old self- described “caffeine fanatic” who coowns an independent pharmacy in Hamiota, Man. Skayman said he reduced his daily coffee intake to three cups from 10 before trying Go Cubes and has now cut down to just one cup a day, plus a couple of the gummies.
“I’m perking up more from two cubes than I am from the coffee I’m making,” he said, adding that if Go Cubes become available in Canadian retail stores, “I can certainly see myself buying them on a regular basis.”
Skayman said he heard about the product through an email from IndieGoGo after supporting a friend’s board game. Other Canadian customers — most of whom seem to be entrepreneurs and creative professionals — said they learned about Go Cubes from media coverage or Andreesen Horowitz’s podcast.
But the company is operating in a regulatory grey area by shipping products to Canada that don’t have a natural product number, which is technically required by Health Canada for any supplement making health claims.
At t he height of t he energy- drink craze in 2013, Health Canada l aunched an inquiry into products with added caffeine, which a spokesman said was continuing.
Nootrobox only sells products with ingredients the U. S. Food and Drug Administration considers safe and offers a comprehensive breakdown of what’s in each supplement.
Nootrobox’s Brandt said he would be happy to talk to regulators about his products if they are concerned, but pointed out that people who use Go Cubes know exactly how much caffeine they are consuming, unlike the variable amount found in coffee and other foods.
Brandt said Go Cubes are meant to be a supplement taken in measured and specific doses, not a candy to casually snack on. For now, he sees them catching on as something coffee lovers stash in a bag or in a desk drawer for times when a freshly prepared hot beverage isn’t convenient.
“You can have a cup of coffee now, you can save Go Cubes for later,” he said. “I think it’s complementary.”