Ethique founder launches tablets to replace soft drinks

Brianne West, founder of Ethique, has launched a new drinks format designed to replace bottled soft drinks with a tablet that dissolves in water.

Sold under the Incrediballs brand, the effervescent tablets make a 350ml flavoured drink. They are sugar-free and intended for use with tap water or other liquids.

West said the format is aimed at reducing single-use plastic in the global soft drinks market. Industry estimates cited by the company put annual production at 583 billion single-use plastic bottles worldwide, with less than 10% effectively recycled.

Tablet format

Incrediballs positions the tablets as a plastic-free alternative to ready-to-drink beverages. West said they remove the need to ship water in plastic bottles in markets where safe tap water is widely available.

"When safe water is literally on tap in most people's kitchens in places like Aotearoa, Australia and the UK, it makes no sense to ship it around the world in plastic bottles," West said.

"We have been misled into believing bottled water is safer and healthier, but this just isn't true in most cases," she said.

The tablets come in what West described as certified home-compostable card packaging. She said the design avoids plastic laminates and uses water-based inks.

"We wanted to develop a product range without introducing complicated recycling that doesn't work in the real world at scale, and is very much a greenwashing campaign created and pushed by the oil and gas industry," West said.

Science background

Effervescent tablets are common in pharmaceuticals and supplements, but they typically require high-barrier packaging. Conventional formats often use plastic tubes or foil-based packs because moisture and air can trigger premature reactions.

West, a trained biochemist, said the Incrediballs approach relies on a stabilisation process linked to co-crystal technology developed at the University of Bradford. She said development took seven years.

"There's a reason this hasn't been done at scale by major pharmaceutical players. It's deceptively simple chemistry, but extremely difficult to control," West said.

She said the patented system wraps active ingredients such as citric acid and sodium bicarbonate with compounds including nicotinamide and creatine, preventing a reaction until the tablet is fully immersed in water.

"This is something pharmaceutical companies have been trying to solve for years," she said.

Market plans

Incrediballs is positioning the product as a mainstream alternative to bottled beverages, rather than an occasional or travel option. West said the brand will focus initially on direct-to-consumer sales, supported by a small number of independent retail partners.

"We're trying to remove the assumption that beverages must be shipped as liquid in plastic," West said.

The first four flavours will be available to order online, with additional ranges scheduled over time. West said early interest from supermarkets and offshore markets has been strong, including from trans-Tasman retailers.

She also linked the compact format to export and logistics economics, arguing it reduces shipping volume compared with ready-to-drink products.

"The new format removes the water and plastic, cutting shipping volume by over 99%, so we can export 100 times more product in the same space, with the same value but a fraction of the carbon footprint," West said.

Targets and pipeline

West said the business aims to prevent 50 million plastic bottles from entering the waste stream by 2030 and 300 million by 2050. It also plans to expand into functional beverages using New Zealand ingredients, including manuka, kawakawa and kiwifruit extracts.

West said more than 15,000 people follow the brand across mailing lists and social platforms and provided feedback during product testing. She said the business is targeting USD $1 million in revenue in FY27 and has a longer-term ambition to reach annual turnover of USD $1 billion.

"We're not trying to be niche or a travel product. We want to be present on every drinks aisle," West said.