This Company Is Changing How We Choose What To Drink—And We’re Here For It

Candy-colored sports drinks, meal-replacement shakes, and shot-sized concoctions promising hours of energy are so old school by now. These days, we can walk into any major supermarket and walk out with a gut-healing kombucha, a plant-based protein drink, and an antioxidant-loaded golden-milk. We can order a CBD latte at corner cafés and buy fizzy dissolvable collagen tablets from beauty counters. Adaptogen-infused cold brew, anyone? You get the picture.

Functional beverages are just about everywhere you look. Typically, these are the clean-label drinks with minimal ingredients and a specific health benefit beyond their nutritional value. They’re getting so popular, in fact, that sales of refrigerated juices and functional beverages in 2017—a figure reaching nearly $2 billion—actually surpassed sales of refrigerated milk by $200 million that same year. So yes, there’s an undeniable thirst for drinks that ensure us that extra somethin’ somethin’.

Right away, REBBL sought out innovation in how their ingredients are sourced. At a grassroots level, the company was built as a sustainable business solution to the problem of human trafficking, the fastest growing illegal industry in the world. Compelled by the urgency to respond and fight this global issue, REBBL made positive social and environmental impact its mission. The idea? Craft delicious drinks from ingredients grown natively in regions by suppliers that exemplify their values, in turn, creating sustainable livelihoods for the surrounding communities and ultimately reducing the risk of exploitation.

Now, REBBL’s ingredients are impact sourced from 29 countries and help to support the wellbeing of local communities, and through a 2.5 percent donation of net sales to its non-profit partner, Not For Sale, REBBL is “working to co-create a future without human trafficking,” REBBL’s SVP of Marketing, Rusti Porter, tells mbg. “So as we grow, the fight towards social and environmental justice grows. At the end of the day, growth for us means we are positively impacting humans’ lives.”