The afternoon coffee crash is quietly reshaping the beverage aisle. As more consumers look to dial back caffeine without losing their edge, a new class of functional drinks is stepping in—and cacao has become one of its most talked-about entry points.
Enter Naked Earth, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based wellness brand that on Aug. 4, 2026 launched its ceremonial-grade cacao ritual packets: single-serve blends engineered for steady energy and focus without the jitters. The packs are available now at nakedearth.love for $65 per box of six 35-gram servings, plus shipping and tax, and can be prepared hot or iced.
What's Inside the Packet
Husband-and-wife founders Alyna and Elliot Rivera spent a year developing the recipe in their own kitchen. Each packet blends ethically sourced cacao with MCT coconut oil, cardamom, rose, vanilla, sea salt and a pinch of sunflower lecithin.
The formula checks nearly every box today's better-for-you shopper scans for:
- Organic, vegan, sugar-free and gluten-free
- A short list of clean ingredients
- Designed to be gentle on the stomach, even for those who find other cacao products harsh
- Single-serve format for hot or iced preparation
"We loved the way ceremonial cacao made us feel, and we wanted that feeling to be part of our everyday lives without sacrificing quality or ethics," said Elliot Rivera, co-founder of Naked Earth. "There was nothing on the market like what we were looking for, so we created it ourselves."
Riding the Functional Beverage Wave
The timing is deliberate. The launch arrives as more consumers look to cut back on coffee without giving up focus—and cacao has become a popular gateway into the fast-growing functional beverage category.
There's science underpinning the calm-energy pitch. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that participants who consumed a high dose of cocoa polyphenols daily for 30 days reported significantly greater calmness and contentedness than those given a placebo. For drinkers tired of afternoon crashes, that "steady, not spiked" promise is exactly the whitespace brands are racing to fill.
Sustainability and Sourcing Built In
Naked Earth is leaning into the values-driven positioning that increasingly moves purchase decisions in this category. The squeeze packs use industrially biodegradable packaging, and the company sources organic, beyond-fair-trade cacao through direct trade relationships with small farms in Central America and Africa.
The brand also donates $1 from every purchase to Ana Iris and the indigenous Boruca community in Costa Rica. The founders met the community at a panel discussion in June 2025—where members spoke about the challenges of sustaining their traditions and livelihoods—and have supported their work since.
Why It Matters
For beverage buyers, café operators and grocery merchandisers, Naked Earth is a small launch that signals a bigger shift. The "calm energy" and coffee-alternative narrative is pulling adaptogenic and functional cacao out of the wellness-store niche and toward mainstream daypart occasions—especially the afternoon slump that traditional coffee programs struggle to serve well.
A few practical takeaways:
- Menu whitespace: A hot-or-iced ceremonial cacao offers cafés and hotels a caffeine-light, high-margin option that differentiates from the coffee-and-matcha default.
- Premium price point: At roughly $10.83 per serving at retail, the product is positioned as a premium ritual, not a commodity—useful context for buyers benchmarking functional SKUs and their margins.
- Clean-label + ethical sourcing: Organic, vegan, sugar-free, biodegradable packaging and beyond-fair-trade sourcing align with the certifications and stories institutional and specialty buyers now expect.
- Wholesale-ready: Naked Earth notes wholesale accounts are available on request, giving operators a direct path to trial the trend.
Functional beverages continue to be one of the most dynamic corners of the F&B landscape. Operators tracking where the category is heading can explore how other emerging players are courting the non-alcoholic and better-for-you crowd, from the viral dirty soda movement to zero-proof brands landing on major retail shelves.
The Bottom Line
Whether ceremonial cacao becomes a lasting daypart staple or a wellness moment, Naked Earth is a useful case study in how clean-label formulation, sustainability storytelling and functional-benefit science are converging to challenge coffee's grip on "focus" occasions.
Is calm, jitter-free energy the next big menu opportunity in your operation—or a passing trend? Weigh in and tell us how functional beverages are performing in your business.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
