Nantes entrepreneur creates live algae breakfast drink
An entrepreneur from Nantes has launched a green breakfast drink made with a rather unusual ingredient: live freshwater algae.
Green Bloom - from entrepreneur Pierre Lainé from Saint-Luce, near Nantes - invites you to incorporate fresh, living microalgae, namely chlorella, into your breakfast, as a concentrated way to improve your health, reports French news source 20 Minutes.
Similar to that other green algae superfood spirulina, chlorella is well-known for its health-giving properties, despite its perhaps-off-putting dark green colour and sometimes-fishy smell.
It is said to help strengthen your heart and arteries, boost your immune system, regulate digestion, and detoxify the body from heavy metals, as well as being a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals.
Green Bloom’s algae comes from the LDC Algae farm in Brittany in the Côtes-d’Armor, which grows 7 000 tons per year, as it is also used in other products such as cosmetics and animal feed.
Lainé claims that Green Bloom is the first drink to use freshwater microalgae, which contains 200 million cells in just 1ml. Algae tablets and powder already exist, with users often incorporating them into smoothies to get the benefits without the sharp taste.
Aimed at “anyone who is conscious of the importance of health food”, the drink is only available to buy online, on a subscription basis, for €29,90 per month, and there are three varieties available: peppered lemon (“Wild”), lightly fruity and acidic (“Eden”), or “Pure”, all of which can be diluted with fruit juice or water if desired.
According to users on social media who have tried it, the taste is said to be entirely palatable.
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Along with monthly deliveries, anyone signed up to the plan will also receive a special three-litre glass dispenser in the post, which will help keep the algae exposed to the light, so it can keep photosynthesising, thus staying alive and active.
“The ideal amount is to drink a glass of 10cl every morning,” Lainé explained to 20 Minutes. “Chlorella includes protein and amino acids, as well as minerals, vitamin B12, and helps digestion. It not medicine or a miracle cure, but it is very good for the body.”
Lainé is aiming for 1 000 sign-ups by the end of the year, expecting to grow to 10 000 by the end of 2018.
