THE ORIGIN OF SPRUCE

THE ORIGIN OF SPRUCE

This blog explores how Spruce came about, why Powder To The People became a mantra for both brand and product, and how we got our name.

It took a lot of time and effort to get Spruce ready – it had to be natural, delicious and environmentally friendly. Being 100% natural was a little tricky, but well worth the challenge. Ensuring Spruce was delicious was time-consuming but a lot of fun. Making Spruce entirely plastic-free was almost insurmountable, but we got there in the end, and boy was it worth it.

Spruce is the first plastic-free drink of its kind, and this was only possible because of our powdered format.

I hope you enjoy the read.

POWDER TO THE PEOPLE

I had been sitting on the idea of Spruce for a little while, but it was rough round the edges. I knew I wanted to flavour water, and I wanted it to be natural, tasty, healthy and good for the environment. But I wasn’t sure how to piece all this together.

I still had a full time job, and a demanding one at that, and I spent as much time as possible figuring out how I could bring this concept to life. Once I had confidence Spruce had legs I quit my job and set to work.

I researched, tried and attempted to manufacture many different incarnations of Spruce before settling on a powdered format. The beauty of powder is its purity and the sheer natural essence; Powder To The People was born.

Powder also gives us the chance to package the product in a very environmentally friendly way… but more on that later…

POWDER TO THE PEOPLE

Powder also gives us the chance to package the product in a very environmentally friendly way… but more on that later…

MADE FROM REAL FRUITS

With powder, you can take real fruits, vegetables and plants, and capture their aroma, taste and profile without needing additives, bulking agents or preservatives.

Transforming delicious fruits and veggies in to a powder is quite complex. All Spruce’s ingredients are sourced in the UK, and through an amazing heat and drying process, they’re transformed in to a fine natural fruit powder.

This powder is so aromatic it knocks your socks off; Spruce is light and refreshing, but even so, you get a beautiful sense of the underlying ingredients when you tear open a sachet.

With powder at the core, I knew I had a product that was natural and I was tasting enough to know it had the potential to be delicious.

MADE FROM REAL FRUITS

With powder, you can take real fruits, vegetables and plants, and capture their aroma, taste and profile without needing additives, bulking agents or preservatives.

This powder is so aromatic it knocks your socks off; Spruce is light and refreshing, but even so, you get a beautiful sense of the underlying ingredients when you tear open a sachet.

With powder at the core, I knew I had a product that was natural and I was tasting enough to know it had the potential to be delicious.

SUGAR FREE AND 100% NATURAL

In order to make this powder the perfect accompaniment to water, you need to add a few other natural ingredients to get the balance just right. Natural ingredients such as citric acid, which is naturally found in most fruits, need to be added back in to get the balance spot on.

I was playing around with a multitude of ingredients, flavours, and concepts – and with the help from a few very talented and knowledgeable individuals, I started formulating a few flavours that consistently hit the spot.

Spruce’s Garden Party, Mellow Yellow and Wild Child were formulated, and after hours and days of DIY R&D, testing and subsequent professional tasting sessions, I had the flavours jumping and now had something natural and delicious.

PACKED WITH ESSENTIAL VITAMINS

I have always been keen to make this product a healthy soft drink and I wanted each small Spruce sachet to punch well above its weight.

Having a flavoured water that boasts a multivitamin blend is awesome, and I am really happy with the quality and density of ingredients that we’re able to include.

Spruce is high in Vitamin D, Vitamin C and 5 of the complex B Vitamins. These essential vitamins are a cornerstone of good health, and combined with a good and balanced diet, Spruce is teeing you up with a cracking foundation.

PACKED WITH ESSENTIAL VITAMINS

I have always been keen to make this product a healthy soft drink and I wanted each small Spruce sachet to punch well above its weight.

Having a flavoured water that boasts a multivitamin blend is awesome, and I am really happy with the quality and density of ingredients that we’re able to include.

NATURE ORDINARY PRODUCT

The last piece of the jigsaw was the trickiest to overcome – being environmentally friendly. The term is broad, and there are lots of different ways to achieve this. I could have decided to use less plastic than traditional flavoured waters and squashes, or used a (potentially) friendlier product such as tin. But, I wanted Spruce to be bold and I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before. I wanted to be plastic-free.

With Spruce being a natural fruit powder this became possible. I decided to pack the product in sachets – but as you may or may not know – most sachets on the market have plastic in and can’t be recycled (because they’re multi-layered and a mix of materials), which is criminal.

There are lots of brilliant innovations happening in the packaging industry, and after A LOT of research, failed attempts and head-scratching, we successfully trialled a home compostable material that worked perfectly with Spruce’s natural fruit powder.

SACHET AWAY

I think of our home compostable sachets as a bit like a banana skin: they naturally keep the goods fresh and decompose once you’re done with it. So now, Spruce was natural, delicious and very much environmentally friendly.

I believe Spruce is a real testament to the ingredients from which it came. With a natural fruit powder at the core, our sachets are healthy, delicious, sustainable, and the perfect complement to water.

And there is something quite circular about it all. Once you’ve finished with your sachet, it is fully home compostable – Spruce can return to the ground and start life all over again.

So, Sachet Away!

SPRUCE THE NAME

Finally, a quick word on our name ‘Spruce’. I have been asked where it came from, and to be honest, it just leapt out mid-jog (which is when most of my creative work happens!).

I wanted something juicy, not too corporate, and Spruce is the perfect fit. It rhymes with juice (kind of) and sounds upbeat and a bit Aussie, which I like, having spent a few years living in Sydney.

Besides sounding good, ‘spruce’ is a great fit for what our product is. The verb ‘to spruce something up’ (as in “I am going to spruce up my garden”), is essentially what we’re doing with tap water. We are taking tap water and giving it a little jazz to make it easier and more enjoyable to drink. Water is being spruced.

Lastly, spruce is a tree, and a fine one at that. As Spruce took shape, and compostable packaging became a reality, it’s amazing to share our name with a huge evergreen coniferous tree that has such powerful environmental connotations.

SPRUCE THE NAME

Finally, a quick word on our name ‘Spruce’. I have been asked where it came from, and to be honest, it just leapt out mid-jog (which is when most of my creative work happens!).

I wanted something juicy, not too corporate, and Spruce is the perfect fit. It rhymes with juice (kind of) and sounds upbeat and a bit Aussie, which I like, having spent a few years living in Sydney.