Green machine: meet Melbourne’s latest non-alc brand Motive Matcha

When Melbourne-based entrepreneurs Sally Ballantine and Jo Saadie launched non-alcoholic, ready-to-drink sparkling drink Motive Matcha in July, they had no idea they would have a few more months of lockdown to contend with ahead.But despite the challenges of lockdown, the brand is now reaching a nationwide audience through Dan Murphy’s and Sans Drinks’ online stores. Here, co-founder Sally Ballantine shares an insight into the brand’s journey so far. Inside FMCG: How did Motive Matcha come about?Sally Ballantine: Jo and I are great friends with similar backgrounds: we both worked in management consulting and finance roles, had our own personal businesses, and are both mums of beautiful families (with seven kids between us!). We love time with our families and friends but also share a passion towards healthy eating and exercise. We were really attracted to matcha and its amazing benefits but always thought it can be awkward to consume. Between powders and other supplement forms, it was difficult to make a part of your routine. So one day we started playing with the ingredient to make it an accessible, easy to drink, tasty everyday treat.Motive Matcha was born! Over the next four years we engaged food technologists, sourced the very best ingredients, and organised for Australian based manufacturing.Today, we are so proud of our Motive Matcha range: a refreshing, no sugar, low-calorie drink that brings the centuries-old wonder ingredient of matcha into Australians’ every day.Why was matcha an ingredient you wanted to champion?Matcha has so many health benefits, it is an unrivalled superfood and it is the real deal. Once you start researching it you cannot “unknow” its benefits. The high levels of antioxidants, the metabolism boost, and the amino acid L-theanine supporting mental clarity, focus and calm energy. If you are health aware it is naturally something you want to include in your diet. We just wanted to make drinking matcha quick, easy, accessible, and tasty.The non-alcoholic beverage segment is booming right now. Why was this an important segment for you to be involved in?Consumers are moving towards drinking less and drinking better for you. Motive Matcha is both these elements – the power of matcha combined with all natural ingredients is huge, healthy and better for you. We are finding that consumers are choosing health drinks like Motive Matcha instead of alcoholic options.We can see that large multinational manufacturers have committed a proportion of their portfolios to non-alc which shows the category is here to stay and will grow.What are the key emerging trends you’re seeing in beverages?Health and immunity are definitely trending right now in the beverage industry. Consumers are increasingly health and well-being focused and the pandemic is causing more people to be interested and seek out immunity propositions. Mental clarity is trending which Motive Matcha delivers through the unique combination of natural caffeine and L-Theanine.Gone are the days of the high sugar fizzy drink.The craft industry in beverages is moving from alcoholic into non-alcoholic where consumers are looking for unique, interesting, and quirky healthy beveragesWhere to from here?We believe Motive Matcha as an RTD has a huge future. The functional drink space is already proven and growing. Motive Matcha is the first Australian made Sparkling Matcha and the first of its kind to hit the Australian market, we see this as a massive benefit and opportunity. We are focused on making it available to as many people as possible – through a range of channels.