If you are marketing a bottled water of some sort, you've got to stand out. Because let's be honest here… water is pretty much just water. Throw in some nutrients, sweeteners, or other differentiator, and maybe do something funky with your packaging, and then you might just have a chance. Or you could just add caffeine like Avitae.
During the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in Chicago last year, Avitae had a small little booth on a aisle across from the huge Monster Energy installation. Monster had models, hot tubs, giveaways, and a lot of foot traffic. One benefit of this, however, was that the crowds tended to build and back up folks to be near the Avitae booth. It's here that many may have discovered the simple caffeinated water in a funky bottle.
The ingredients are pretty basic: Purified water, natural caffeine, and natural citric acid. That's it. There are no calories or any other nutritional elements of note. With such a simple recipe, the product stands out with the uniquely-shaped bottle. It's basically a clear, upside-down plastic wedge. The plastic in the front is transparent to showcase the clear water, while the rear of the bottle features silver coloring and product information, with a well-designed transition between the two. It's a sharp-looking package!
Avitae comes in two versions, with differing levels of caffeine. Their base product is 45 mg, which features that amount of caffeine per bottle. They describe this as "about the same as a diet soda." Then there is the more potent 90 mg version, "about the same as a cup of coffee." For comparison, Mountain Dew contains 4.5 mg caffeine/oz. Avitae 45 mg comes in at 2.66 mg/oz, while Avitae 90 mg measures up to 5.33 mg/oz.
The product itself tastes very clean and unaltered. You could not really tell that anything such as caffeine was added to the water. I liked that. The caffeine effect was noted not to long after, however, as I did get a sense of "pep." Granted, I'm a new father to a 3-week-old newborn baby, so we've had many long nights. I'll take all the caffeine I can get these days, and Avitae fit the bill nicely. I guess there was a sense of less guilt associated with consuming the product, as it provided the benefits typically associated with caffeine without the added overhead of calories, syrups, or artificial sweeteners.
Avitae is clear, clean, and quite appealing — and that describes both the flavor and the great packaging. A unique approach for a simple idea!
Official Website: MyAvitae.com
Sounds like Water Joe.
http://www.waterjoe.com
May sound like waterjoe, but the end result is nothing even close. No offense, but you wouldn't catch me holding it…. I agree with the article, avitae=AWESOME!!
my fiancee got me some for christmas from tj maxx of all places. she likes anything that takes the place of energy drinks for me. i loved it, there is no diferance from crisp clean water but it gives you a little burst of caffine. we went back but all they had left was a 4 pack of the half caf version, still good
@Rob Geyer: What do you mean by "the end result isn't even close"?
Just that the difference in look and feel between avitae and waterjoe is like night and day. To each his own, but the look, feel, and taste of avitae is just soooo much better. Kind of like Coca Cola versus Sam's Club Soda…. Again, IMHO.
So basically "this one has a fancier bottle". To each his own is right. I shop based on price. Obviously I'm not going to buy something if it is cheap but tastes bad. I could care less if the bottle has a plain white label on it or if it is etched with rhinestones and hipster fonts.
Ever heard of someone trying to overcompensate? Avitae looks neat and has a cool bottle shape, but that's about it. The water quality is so-so and its purified water. I'm pretty sure they bottle this in Ohio, so who wants to drink purified Ohio water? I've tried the 45mg option twice in the past, its not enough caffeine to really do much. I believe water joe had 60mg, but it taste like crap. I love the idea of caffeainated water, but I'm still waiting for someone to do it right.
@Kane Ellis, you should try their 90mg version, when I can get it that's all I drink. No expert but purified water is purified water, regardless of where it comes from. Love avitae, and I've tried many of the others, and it's the only one that tastes like water.