Botanical drink Lurvill’s Delight has been reintroduced to the market, over a century after its original launch.
Containing only natural ingredients including rhubarb, nettle, dock leaves and juniper berry, it is free from artificial flavours, colour, preservatives and added sugar. The gently sparkling drink is only 66 calorie per 330ml and is being positioned as a soft drink for adults.
The craft-style botanical soda was created in 1896 in the Rhondda Valley and profits were used to pay for 150 coal miners and their families to emigrate to the US. It ceased production in 1910 due to a shortage of dock leaves in the local area.
Lurvill’s new owner and managing director Dave Steward said: “Lurvill’s Delight is a brilliant adult soft drink and we’re looking forward to creating disruption with it. It’s great to have a drink that isn’t just ‘another’ new soda or cola with no history – there’s an amazing heritage and some fantastic stories behind this one. We’ll be making the most of all of them.
“I’ve always despaired at the amount of added sugar in soft drinks that are meant to be suitable for adults. They’re just too sickly sweet – especially as it’s a fact that adult palettes appreciate drier taste profiles and can ‘cope’ without lashings of refined sugar. No one’s offering what we are at the moment – an all-natural drink free from added sugar and low in both natural sugar and calories. Combine that with a delightfully dry ‘bite’ and gentle carbonation (a lot less than most) and we think we’ve got a winner here.”
