Brain juice: This Singapore beverage start-up combines the best of East and West for its productivity drink

As a millennial with two young kids, Paul Tan often encounters “the 3pm crash”, which requires an energy boost to get through the day. As a former FX trader in the corporate banking industry, the long hours and “always on” mentality left him tired and drained.

When the pandemic hit, he saw how his wife, Cherie Lui, a former regional marketing manager, was also tired while they were working from home. She cites insomnia and general sleep issues related to caffeine intake from drinking coffee.

The couple’s shared sluggish experiences were the main inspiration for starting Flojo, a Singapore-based drink company, in April. Tan had dabbled in the wellness industry, creating tinctures primarily targeted at the North American market.

Still, he and Lui turned their focus to what they call a “productivity drink”. With US$600,000 ($791,000) from angel investors, they launched Flojo at this year’s FHA Food and Beverage trade show in Singapore. 

Flojo, a portmanteau of “flow state” and “mojo”, is made of carbonated water and tea extract and uses a potent mix of Western and Asian herbs (such as reishi mushroom, echinacea, and calendula), scientifically proven to boost one’s cognitive function.   

While many energy drinks are on the market, none are geared directly at focus and productivity. To this end, Tan and Lui wanted to ensure their product was science-driven, healthy, and plant-based.

East meets west

For the science, the couple enlisted Lui’s childhood friend, neuroscientist Dr Christine Wong, who shares co-founding credits. “We also work with a neuroscience research lab in Canada, where Christine is based, and use a cutting-edge platform that combines both AI applications and biological experiments to study hundreds of different herbs and thousands of their bioactive components to craft the botanical formula,” Lui shares.

It took about a year to refine Flojo’s taste profile and align it with the botanical formula created by the lab. 

Tan goes into further detail, explaining how the plants and herbs chosen for Flojo have cognitive benefits, including improving focus, alertness, and stress management, utilising technology to find the best combinations. Although each ingredient is used in small doses, the overall blend in a can of Flojo is designed to support enhanced mental clarity and alertness.

A look at the ingredients in Flojo also shows a clear relationship to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “For thousands of years, TCM has shown these plants and herbs work,” says Lui. “Now science is catching up, and studies have shown how each herb affects cognitive pathways.” What’s interesting about Flojo is that it also includes Western plants.

“We use herbs like ginseng and reishi but also incorporate Western adaptogens such as echinacea and rhodiola. We wanted to show how combining Asian and Western herbs can work well together.”

Mushroom magic 

Surprisingly, the largest compound in Flojo is the reishi mushroom, also known as lingzhi. “Mushrooms being used in food is emerging in terms of science,” says Tan. “So our idea is to not just be the first productivity drink in Asia, but also the first mushroom-based drink.” The mushroom is added to the botanical mix as a concentrated liquid.

“This is better than if you brew it or use it dry because that can cause a lot of sedimentation,” explains Lui. “As a pure liquid concentrate, you just add it in and don’t need much of it.”

Tastewise, however, Flojo is very much fungi-free. “It tastes like a light, sparkling tea,” says Lui. “There is some yerba mate, which tastes like an earthier, green tea and black tea in there because many people like that taste but may not want the caffeine impact. Combined, there is only 18mg of caffeine in Flojo, about the maximum amount of caffeine a decaffeinated coffee can have.”

The rest of the flavouring is derived from real fruit, with no added sugar. Currently, Flojo has two flavours on the market: Peach Lychee and Mango Yuzu.

Making functional beverages work

Bringing something new to the market has not been without its challenges. “People have not really heard of productivity drinks before,” says Lui. “We want to highlight what mental energy means to people. How is it different from physical energy?” 

The eventual solution was to pasteurise the drink and add the herbs at a safe temperature afterwards. “The carbonation and PH level also help extend the shelf-life,” added Tan. For their initial production run, Flojo produced 13,000 cans. For their next run, they’re upping it to 21,000. 

With the launch of a new flavour, Guava Passionfruit, in September, Flojo’s founders are feeling positive, believing that a new, genuine focus on wellness is evident in big corporations and finance institutions — also their most interested purchasers. “I think we’ve reached the moment in Asia where everyone is thinking more about wellness,” says Tan.

“You can see how it’s grown here in Singapore, with ice baths and meditation becoming more mainstream. As part of this, procurement people within companies have also started to see that this is a good way to engage employees. They’re starting to realise that healthier options in a pantry can be a way to make people happier.”