"Born in Cleveland, non-acidic and pH-balanced," Jarred Smith said. "Try it out and tell us what you think.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Brandon and Jarred Smith both loved playing professional ice hockey, but neither one could quite stomach the side effects from all the sports drinks they guzzled during their games and practices. So after they stepped off the ice last fall, they created NOOMA: a low-sugar, no-acid, electrolyte-replenishing alternative to more popular sports drinks.
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View full sizeBrothers Brandon, 27, left, and Jarred, 26, Smith have developed a non-acidic sports drink called NOOMA (as in "no more acid") that is easier on your stomach than Gatorade. The brothers are now devoting themselves full-time to getting people to try NOOMA, which they call "the sports drink that won't waste your workout," offering free samples at supermarkets, gyms, spinning and yoga studios, and athletic events.
"This is NOOMA," Brandon Smith, 27, said after the Downtown Cleveland Alliance's North Coast Namaste yoga session on Tuesday, handing out ice-cold cartons to the people crowded around their table. "Only 10 calories and 2 grams of organic cane sugar. No GMOs, zero fat, and it's gluten-free."
"Born in Cleveland, non-acidic and pH-balanced," Jarred, 26, added. "Try it out and tell us what you think. What flavor would you like? Take more than one." NOOMA comes in cherry-lime, blueberry-peach, mangosteen, and their favorite: chocolate mint.
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View full sizeBrandon Smith gives out free samples of NOOMA sports drink to participants at the North Coast Namaste yoga event on Tuesday.They found an enthusiastic and supportive audience among the crowd of about 50 at Voinovich Bicentennial Park in North Coast Harbor. Most opted for the 11-ounce cartons over the tasting cups.
"It tastes like a Popsicle," said Elena Giel of Cleveland. "So much better than a Gatorade. I've tried a few of them, but the chocolate mint is fantastic."
"I like it," agreed Kate Paullin of Lakewood. "It's sweet in a light way, not in a cough-syrupy way," she said of the cherry-lime.
Tiffany Floyd of Cleveland took a sip and said, "It's really light and refreshing. It's different. I was expecting something more fruity. But I'd probably buy it."
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View full sizeJarred and Brandon Smith offer free samples of their NOOMA sports drink to participants at North Coast Namaste's yoga event on Tuesday. Pete Honsberger of Lakewood said, "I'm a big fan of water, but this is good stuff. It's really light and easy to drink."
"When you're really tired and you drink Gatorade, you can really taste the sugar. This is not as heavy or in-your-face. It's a really subtle taste, and I kind of like the subtlety of it."
NOOMA ("NOO-ma") is short for "no more acid," what the Smith brothers most love about their drinks. The formula was developed with the help of Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietician and nutrition expert in Cleveland.
Packaged in Joplin, Missouri, and warehoused in Bedford, NOOMA is sold locally at all Heinen's Fine Foods, both Mustard Seed Market & Cafes, both Constantino's Markets in Cleveland, Miles Farmers Market in Solon, Zagara's Marketplace in Cleveland Heights, nine area Marc's, and Dave's Market in Ohio City. They will soon be available at one Giant Eagle Market District and two Whole Foods.
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View full sizeNOOMA, as in "no more acid," comes in four flavors, left to right: chocolate-mint, blueberry-peach, mangosteen and cherry-lime. "Heinen's was the first local retailer to give us a break, so that was huge," Brandon said.
"It's such a competitive aisle, and there's lots of other drinks out there, but they decided to take a chance on us, and put us in all 17 of their stores," Jarred added. Heinen's has also taken NOOMA out to its Chicago area stores.
Tom Heinen said he's both their retailer and a big fan of NOOMA. "This product's really good, it seems like a really good alternative to the energy drinks, and it's way healthier," he said. "They do a great job going out and demo-ing it in our stores.
"It's kind of an amazing story, to think that these two guys created this product and were selling it out of the back of their car, and created a business," he added.
Brandon, a 2010 graduate of Miami University of Ohio, spent three years playing hockey with the Missouri Mavericks and other teams, where he drank an awful lot of Gatorade and other sports drinks.
Jarred, who played for the Alaska Aces in Anchorage after graduating from Brown University in 2012, said his acid reflux was considerably worse than his brother's.
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View full sizeJarred Smith sets up a table of free samples for participants at North Coast Namaste's yoga event on Tuesday."Whenever I would drink something acidic, I'd get a tightening in my chest, a burning in my throat, and an upset stomach that made me feel like I wanted to throw up a little bit," he recalled. "Those types of things were common among our hockey buddies."
Brandon never liked the "gross syrupiness" of sugary sports drinks, but drank them because they were free in his hockey club. He also figured he needed more than water to replace what he was losing through sweat.
Chris Cummins, a civil engineer in Southern California, is the brothers' angel investor, business advisor and mentor.
The Smiths consulted Kirkpatrick, a fellow Gilmour Academy graduate, about how to create a beverage that quenches thirst and replaces nutrients lost during exercise, but without the citric acid of other drinks.
"They wanted to come up with something a little more simple, but kind of a step above water," Kirkpatrick said.
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View full sizeJarred Smith offers free samples to participants at North Coast Namaste's yoga event on Tuesday. Kirkpatrick told them that what your body needs after a workout depends on the intensity and duration of what you're doing, and the temperature you're doing it in. In general, people lose sodium, potassium and carbohydrates when they sweat.
But what they don't need is excess sugar, calories, caffeine or artificial sweeteners, she said. "I think pure coconut water is a great option as well," although some brands are starting to add other flavors to make it more palatable to people who don't like the taste, she said.
She said NOOMA has been welcomed by participants at yoga studios and fitness centers, because people don't want to cap off a workout with lots of carbs or artificial sweeteners.
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View full sizeBrothers Brandon, 27, left, and Jarred, 26, Smith have developed a non-acidic sports drink called NOOMA, which is easier on your stomach than Gatorade. NOOMA has 10 calories (versus 83 calories for some coconut waters) and 2 grams or less of organic cane sugar (versus 21 grams for other beverages). "It's such a small amount that it won't significantly affect your blood sugar as much," she said.
It also contains 80 milligrams of sodium, 175 milligrams of potassium, 13 milligrams of calcium, 12 milligrams of magnesium, and 70 milligrams of phosphorus, to replace lost electrolytes.
As a dietician, Kirkpatrick doesn't recommend that anyone, especially children, drink NOOMA or any other sports drink as a regular beverage all day every day. But for those who want to rehydrate after especially intense exercise, and avoid genetically modified ingredients, artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, NOOMA can be a better choice than other sports replenishment beverages, she said.
Citric acid drops the pH, enhances flavor and gives drinks longer shelf life, so "by taking it out, we were kind of limited in the flavors we could use," Jarred said. "Banana-berry got swapped out for blueberry-peach, because people told us: 'It kind of reminds me of the Laffy Taffy I used to eat when I was younger.'"
Brandon said they are already working on larger sized cartons of NOOMA, a higher-carb endurance formula specifically for athletes, a powdered version for bicyclists and hikers, and smaller children's portions.
"So we might bring banana-berry back," Jarred added.