We were tasked with applying our knowledge of plant-based craft and medicinal mushrooms to contribute to Dirttea’s stellar lineup of products by working on two super mushroom blends.

We created a new cacao blend, as the team required an upgrade from their original cacao product, and a brand new matcha blend.

These two blends were put through vigorous product development processes, with over 30 trials and taste tests to ensure the balance between flavour, cost-effectiveness and active ingredient ratios.

A key focus when developing these products is acquiring the perfect balance of flavours between the different active ingredients and mushrooms. It was important to ensure that one ingredient doesn’t overpower the rest and takeover the blend. This was a challenge, as certain mushrooms have very distinctive flavours that could easily affect the overall taste of the product.

Through a thorough testing process, we found a balance where the mushroom flavours were present but was not overpowering the drink itself.

Another challenge of this project was ensuring they maintained their quality, consistency and flavour when mixed with water, as well as milk.
These blends needed to be creamy and delicious, even if the consumer opted to use water as their liquid.

Some of these flavours were quite strong when not calmed by the use of a creamy liquid, so we pulled ideas from our plant-based arsenal and got creative in order to make sure these blends would be quality in any form. We’re pleased to say we achieved the perfect blend even if a consumer was mixing with water.

While conducting these trials, we discovered that the Tremella mushroom, when used in the cacao blend had a natural caramel-like sweetness. This allowed us to forego any added sweetener in the cacao blend, allowing us to confidently state that it is “sweetened by nature.”

Dirtea were extremely happy with the result of the final blends and the cacao product has now become the top seller in the range. The matcha blend is set to be launched very soon.