The "Porridge Predicament" of Grain Beverages: The Technical Challenge Behind Hema's Rice Drink

This year, "rice" has become a hot ingredient in the beverage market. Hema's recent launch of its Rice Drink and Millet Drink has garnered attention with selling points like "Wuchang rice" and "slow-extraction process." On social media, reviews such as "smooth texture" and "authentic rice aroma" are not uncommon.

But upon closer inspection, one question lingers: Is this a beverage, or porridge in a bottle?

Image source: Xiaohongshu @嘉嘉ziya_

The "Porridge Predicament" of Grain Beverages

Currently, grain beverages often suffer from a common tendency: making drinks the way you'd make porridge. When rice transitions from a supporting ingredient to the star, problems emerge:

First, the flavor profile is too simple. As an ingredient, a light rice aroma enhances other flavors. But when it's the main event, "light" often becomes "bland."

Second, repeat purchases are questionable. Initial novelty purchases might be significant, but why wouldn't consumers just buy a cup of hot porridge instead? It's cheaper and served warm.

A deeper issue is that many brands have jumped into the grain beverage category, merely copying labels like "natural" and "no additives." The taste of their products is largely similar, leaving the market fragmented—a situation of "product categories exist, but brands don't." Most grain beverages remain at the "drinkable" level, far from reaching the threshold of "craveable."

From "Porridge" to "Drink": The Technical Backbone of TELLCAN SCIENCE

Transforming grains into a true "beverage" requires overcoming a series of technical hurdles. This is precisely the domain where TELLCAN SCIENCE excels:

• Compound sweetenersprecisely balance the natural sweetness of grains, masking any raw notes and transforming "blandness" into a "smooth, mellow" taste.
• Compound emulsifiers and thickeners, working in synergy with colloidal microcrystalline cellulose, build a stable suspension system that prevents starch sedimentation, ensuring a smooth and uniform texture in every sip.
• Compound color fixativesdelay the oxidation and darkening of grains' natural colors, maintaining visual appeal from production to consumption.
• Edible flavorsbuild richer flavor layers while preserving the grains' original taste, creating a truly memorable flavor profile for the product.
• Compound preservativesensure microbial stability throughout the product's shelf life, without compromising the "clean label" appeal.

Explore our product portfolio: https://www.tellcan-tec.com/products/

The synergy of these technical elements determines whether grain beverages can truly break free from the "porridge" mindset and become a daily choice for consumers, driving repeat purchases.

Hema's new product launch can be seen as an attempt by grain beverages to "look outward." However, the true maturation of a category requires not just front-end concept innovation, but also the continuous back-end support of technical partners like TELLCAN SCIENCE—transforming "porridge that can be bottled" into a "drink worth stocking."

Learn more about us: https://www.tellcan-tec.com/