Let us present… our organic ingredients
That business with the organic symbol on our label – we take it absolutely seriously. What it means is: all of the plant-based ingredients, such as fruit and herbs, that we use to obtain juice, extracts and flavourings for BIONADE, come 100% from controlled organic cultivation. Not 90%, not 95%, not even 99%.
But we can only stand by statements like this because we helped to establish great initiatives such as Bio-Landbau Rhön, the organic farming association for the Rhön area. This regional cultivation project connects certified organic farmers and guarantees them, for example, 100% harvest purchases at fair prices. And at the end of the day this benefits all of us.
Elderberry
The ones that keep the show on the road
An absolute classic and the most popular of all our flavours. You’ll love the slightly sharp fruity flavour of top-quality organic elderberry from the Rhön mountains. At the end of the day, everyone just calls it ‘red BIONADE’ – and that’s totally fine too.
Elderberry
Lemon
The one we might have almost forgotten
Of course, the mother of all soft drinks mustn’t be lacking from any range. It’s just daft that we only realised this very, very late in the day. Never mind, it’s here now. Wonderfully refreshing, really fruity and deliberately not too sweet.
Lemon
Orange
The other one we might almost have forgotten.
What’s unique about our orange drink? The fact that we released it way too late. And of course the best organic oranges, the fruity flavour and its natural cloudiness. Incredibly orange, incredibly tasty!
Orange
Lemon-Bergamot
The one that’s great fun
Another strange BIONADE mix… but actually it’s only lemon with extra lemon added. So it’s sharp and refreshing. And although nobody asked, it tastes great!
Lemon-Bergamot
Ginger-Orange
The one that’s not so sharp after all
We say: ‘Ginger’. Everyone else says: ‘Oh, that’ll be really sharp.’ But it’s not! Our BIONADE Ginger-Orange is just aromatic and spicy, full of fruity taste and not overly sweet. Delicious! Don’t believe us? Just try it!
Ginger-Orange
Mate Pur
The one that’s a classic reviver
Here it comes – our Mate in its pure form. No gimmicks, no fuss, just a real mate infusion from South America. Pure taste – and naturally 100% organic. Sounds sensational? That’s how it tastes.
Mate Pur
Maximum responsibility
These are the facts: the highest-quality ingredients and water are the most important parts of every BIONADE. It goes without saying that we strive to treat nature and its natural resources responsibly. And that means we work with organic partners without exception and promote organic farming in the region.
Our history
We could tell you at this point about how Dieter Leipold, inventor of BIONADE, had a brainwave back in 1960 for creating the first purely organic soft drink. Or we could tell you that he laboured hard for decades until at last the first ever BIONADE (lychee!) went on sale in 1994. And then we could go on about how BIONADE was then an uphill struggle, then downhill, and then steeply uphill again. And about how BIONADE became the cult brand that it is today.
But you could watch the slide show below instead. It’s much more entertaining, ha ha.
1980 – The solution arrived 20 years later and took the form of… bees. Because bees convert sugar into gluconic acid, and not into alcohol. So can you do the same thing in brewing?! And if so, how?
1989 – Dieter Leipold kept at his research – until finally he figured out how to convert sugar into gluconic acid by fermentation. BIONADE was born! Well, almost; the name wasn’t there yet.
1990 – Yep, there it was: the name BIONADE. After all, fermentation is a biotechnical process. Biotechnical, and hence, BIONADE. (The fact that this sense of ‘bio’ later came to perfectly match what we understand by ‘organic’ was a stroke of pure luck. Humph.)
1994 – The production method was patented, and ta-da: the first BIONADE flavour went into production. Lemon? Orange? No, lychee (only in Germany)! Slightly mad, for sure, and our first customers were thrilled to bits.
1996 – The second flavour: Elderberry (then called Red Berry). But the lucky break wouldn’t come and the Leipolds were struggling to stay afloat. Until Dieter’s wife Siegrid won the lottery – seriously – and saved the business. Brilliant!
1997 – Dieter Leipold didn’t just invent BIONADE; he now designs brand-new bottle labels, including the red, white and blue dot that remains our trademark today. A man of many talents!
1998 – A drinks wholesaler in Hamburg discovers BIONADE, and all at once the lychee and elderberry flavours are everywhere in bars, cafes and clubs. BIONADE becomes a cult overnight. Thank you, Mr Wholesaler!
1999 – Lychee and Elderberry get a new friend: the new BIONADE Herbal (only in Germany). It doesn’t just taste good, it succeeds in bringing BIONADE to Hamburg’s sandy beaches.
2000 – BIONADE receives the certified organic label. In fact BIONADE had been produced by entirely organic methods since 1994, but now it is official. Yippee!
2002 – The breakthrough finally happens. BIONADE gains a foothold throughout all of Germany. Time for a couple of real business moves: for export business, BIONADE International GmbH is created, while Rhön-Sprudel acquires 51% of BIONADE GmbH.
2005 – In cooperation with Ostheim organic farmer Martin Ritter, we launch the Bio-Landbau Rhön. From then on we obtain organic malting barley and elderberry direct from the locality. Amazing!
2006 – This year we almost succeeded in launching an entirely normal flavour. But then we kind of just had to add ginger too. Ginger-Orange – an astonishingly good choice!
2008 – Working together with drinking water organisation Trinkwasser e.V. we enable the planting 11 forests, over a total area of 65 hectares. This enables us to compensate for the drinking water we require to produce BIONADE for a year.
2009 – We launch another flavour: Quince (only in Germany)! Meanwhile, to manage production of what is now 5 flavours, we need a strong partner. This came in the form of the Radeberger Group KG, which set up a joint venture and acquired 70% of the shares.
2013 – How great would it be if BIONADE could produce a cola?! Well actually it wasn’t so great, as it didn’t turn out very well. So we stopped producing it. In better news, meanwhile, we work with NABU to help preserve orchards.
2014 – We introduce the Raspberry and Plum flavour (only in Germany). A combination that was a surprise to us, and an immensely positive one. And that’s the verdict of the people out there as well.
2015 – Everyone knows lemon, but nobody’s heard of bergamot. But that changed this year with our launch of Lemon-Bergamot, a particularly refreshing variety.
2016 – An incredible 6 years after the start of Instagram, we are ready to take the plunge: we create our own account! #pionier #followus
2017 – A new year, a new flavour – and again a remarkable combination: Blackcurrant-Rosemary (only in Germany). No doubt a lot of people thought this was a joke, but it wasn’t. Oh well.
2018 – That family feeling again: BIONADE becomes part of the Hassia Group. From now on, sales and marketing are managed from Bad Vilbel.
2019 – Just for a change, we introduce some normal flavours – Lemon and Orange. And we take this opportunity to give our labels a sleek new design. A good year.
2020 – We really made it this year. Now there is BIONADE Mate (based on Paraguayan mate tea), in pure and peach flavour (peach flavour only in Germany). 100% organic and with a real infusion of mate – what else?
2020 – The great crawl: together with the Biodiversity Foundation we launch the Vielfalt (Diversity) 2030 initiative, seeking to create 17 million square metres of insect-friendly land.
2021 – Three’s a party. So now there’s a third mate variety: Lime (only in Germany)! Definitely a great reason to celebrate.
2051 – After our two mainstream orange and lemon flavours, we are working on the next sensation: Sparkling Apple! The time is flying by but we’re still optimistic that we can stay on schedule.
2137 – Flying buses? Extra-terrestrial intelligence? If we had one wish for the future, it would be for the Rhön area to remain the amazing biosphere reserve that it is today.