Formats / Drink cubes
Private label drink cubes for your brand
PharmaEurope is a contract manufacturer of private label drink cubes, also sold as hydration cubes or water enhancer cubes, made at our certified plant in the European Union. A drink cube is a compressed effervescent cube: dropped into a bottle of water, it fizzes, dissolves and leaves a flavoured drink. Every cube is sealed in its own blister, with your brand on the foil.
In short: one cube, one bottle, nothing to measure or stir. Ready-made berry and fruit flavours are available, or we develop your own drink. The amount of water one cube is made for and the minimum order are set per product: tell us how many cubes and flavours you need and we quote that quantity.
1 cubefor one bottle of water
Every cubesealed in its own blister
Your printon every foil and box
ISO 22000certified EU plant
A drink cube is bought as a drink, not as a supplement. People carry a couple in a pocket, drop one into whatever bottle they already have and drink on the move. That is why the format sells through different channels from a tube of effervescent tablets: gyms, sports retail, grocery and online rather than the pharmacy shelf.
Private label drink cube specification
The pack is the point of this format. An effervescent cube reacts with moisture, and a blister lets each one meet the air only once: when it is opened over the bottle.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | Compressed effervescent cube, dissolved in a bottle or a glass of water |
| Serving | One cube; the amount of water it is made for is set with the formula |
| Packing | Each cube sealed in its own blister; outer box to your design |
| Printing | Your brand on the blister foil and on the box |
| Flavours | Ready-made berry and fruit flavours, or a flavour developed for your brand |
| Formula | Ready-made, developed with you, or made to your own formula |
| Manufacturing | European Union |
| Certification | GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000:2018; registered with the US FDA |
| Minimum order quantity (MOQ) | Set per product and counted in cubes and boxes: tell us the number of cubes and flavours and we quote that quantity |
| Counted in | Cubes and boxes |
| Response time | Within 24 hours, Monday to Friday |
Drink cube, effervescent tablet or powder sachet?
All three turn water into a drink. They differ in how the customer uses them, and that decides the shelf they sell from and the pack they need.
| Feature | Drink cube | Effervescent tablet | Powder sachet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sold as | A drink | A supplement | A powder drink or a supplement |
| Used in | The customer’s own bottle, anywhere | A glass of water, usually at home | A bottle, glass or shaker |
| Mixing | Dissolves on its own | Dissolves on its own | Shaken or stirred |
| Pack | Each cube in its own blister | A tube with a desiccant cap | Each serving in its own sachet |
| Meets the air | Once, when its own blister is opened | Every time the tube cap is opened | Once, when the sachet is torn open |
| Carried | Loose in a pocket or a bag | The tube travels or stays home | Loose in a pocket or a bag |
| Brand surface | Every blister foil and the box | The tube label | Every sachet and the box |
| Usual channel | Gyms, sports retail, grocery, online | Pharmacies, retail chains | Sports nutrition, online, pharmacies |
If the product belongs in a pharmacy, the tube is the right format and our effervescent tablets page covers it. If your customer already carries a shaker, a powder sachet does the job. If it has to work in any bottle with nothing to stir, it is a cube. Brands building for the gym bag start from our page for gyms and fitness brands.
How are private label drink cubes packaged?
Each private label drink cube is sealed in its own blister with a foil back printed with your brand. The blisters go into a box to your design: a single-flavour box, a mixed-flavour multipack sold as one unit, or boxes grouped in an outer carton. Every cube stays dry until the customer opens its blister over the bottle.
It matters for the product as much as for the habit. An effervescent blend starts to react as soon as it takes up moisture from the air. A tube with a desiccant cap protects its tablets only while the cap is closed, and the cap comes off every day. A blistered cube meets the air once, when its own foil is peeled back.
The foil is also a printed surface on every serving: a box of blistered cubes carries your design once per cube, not once per pack. Tell us where the product will sell and how many servings a pack should hold, and we come back with the options. All pack types are on the packing page.
Ready-made flavours or your own drink
Start from our ready-made flavours, any berry or fruit, and put your brand on them, or develop the drink with us or to your own formula: the flavour and how strong it is, what else the drink contains, how fast the cube breaks up and the colour it gives the water. The steps from brief to first run are set out on the start your own brand page.
What ready-made flavours give you
Berry and fruit flavours are ready to go, so a first run starts from a flavour that already exists rather than from a development project. The acid and bicarbonate systems and the compression settings come from our effervescent tablet production at the same plant.
What a custom drink costs you
A ready-made flavour is not exclusive: another brand can order the same one. A drink developed for your brand is yours, and it costs the development time and a trial batch before the first box exists. Changing a flavour after a batch exists means a new trial, so the flavour is tasted and fixed before production.
What decides how fast a drink cube dissolves?
A cube that sits at the bottom of the bottle, or one that crumbles in its blister, is a process problem, not a recipe problem. Five things set the result.
- Compression. Pressed too hard, the cube dissolves slowly and sits at the bottom of the bottle; too soft, it crumbles before it is opened. The force is fixed on the trial batch and written into the specification.
- The acid and bicarbonate system. It sets how fast and how strongly the cube fizzes, and it is part of the taste.
- Moisture. The blend, the pressing and the blistering have to stay dry. A cube that picks up water before it is sealed starts to react early and loses its fizz.
- Flavour. Carbonation and acidity change what the drinker tastes, so a flavour proven in a powder is re-tested in the cube it will ship in.
- Colour. The cube colours the water it dissolves in, so the colour of the finished drink is part of the specification, not only the colour of the cube.
What the certificates cover
Production runs under an ISO 22000:2018 certificate issued by BM Certification and valid to 7 January 2029. The scope printed on the certificate is manufacturing and packaging of food supplements (tablets, capsules, powders).
The plant also works to HACCP under Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and to the Food Supplements Europe Guide to Good Manufacturing Practice, and it is registered with the US FDA as a food facility. Copies of the certificates with their numbers are sent to clients on request.
The certificate covers the plant as a whole; drink cubes are made on the same certified site rather than named individually in the printed scope.
Your drink cube manufacturer in the EU
PharmaEurope is a drink cube manufacturer with a certified plant in the European Union. We press, blister and box your cubes there, and the certification, the batch records and the documents for every batch sit with the same plant.
Delivery is worldwide on EXW, FCA or DAP terms. The markets page covers what changes when the cubes are sold in the UK, the US, India or China.
What documents come with every batch?
- Certificate of Analysis
- Product specification
- Raw material documentation
- Allergen statement
- Shelf-life statement
What drives the price of private label drink cubes?
The formula first: a cube that only flavours the water and one that also carries vitamins or minerals are different products. Then the flavour system, the number of flavours in the range, the print on the foil and the box, and how many cubes go into one pack. Order size moves the rest, which is why a first order and a repeat order are quoted separately. Tell us the cube count and we return a number.
About drink cube manufacturing
What is a drink cube?
A compressed effervescent cube that turns a bottle of water into a flavoured drink. It is dropped in whole, fizzes, breaks up on its own and leaves nothing to measure or stir. The same product is sold as a hydration cube or a water enhancer cube.
Are drink cubes, hydration cubes and water enhancer cubes the same product?
Yes, these are different names for the same format: a compressed effervescent cube dropped into water. “Water enhancer” is also used for liquid drops and “hydration tablet” for an effervescent tablet in a tube; the cube is the version sealed one by one in its own blister. What the drink contains is set with the formula.
Is every cube packed separately?
Yes. Each cube is sealed in its own blister, so the pack is opened one serving at a time and the rest stays sealed. That keeps an effervescent product away from moisture until it is used, and it lets the customer carry a couple in a pocket.
How is a drink cube different from an effervescent tablet?
Technically they are close: both are compressed and both fizz. Commercially they are not. The cube is sold as a drink and used in the customer’s own bottle; the tablet is sold as a supplement, comes in a tube and is usually taken in a glass at home. They sit on different shelves and are bought by different people.
What is the minimum order quantity (MOQ) for private label drink cubes?
PharmaEurope sets the minimum order quantity for drink cubes per product, because it depends on the formula, the flavours and the pack. Drink cubes are counted in cubes and boxes, so the minimums quoted for bottles, tubes or kilograms in other formats do not carry over. Send the cubes and flavours for your first run and we quote that quantity. Minimums for the other formats are compared on the minimum order quantities page.
Can my brand be printed on every blister?
Yes: on the foil of each blister and on the box the cubes are sold in. A box of blistered cubes carries your design once per cube, which gives a brand far more printed surface than a single label on a tube.
Can you develop the drink, or do I bring a formula?
Any of the three. PharmaEurope has ready-made berry and fruit flavours, develops the drink with you, or makes it to your own formula: the flavour and its strength, what else goes in, how fast the cube dissolves and the colour it gives the water. A custom drink is proved on a trial batch before production.
Which flavours are available for drink cubes?
Ready-made flavours cover berries and fruit: any berry or fruit flavour, for example raspberry, strawberry, cherry, lemon or orange. A flavour can also be developed for your brand. Each flavour is tasted and fixed before production, and several flavours can be packed together as a mixed multipack.
Is a drink cube a food supplement?
It depends on what goes into it. A cube that carries vitamins or minerals in supplement amounts is usually labelled as a food supplement; a cube that only flavours the water is sold as an ordinary food. We confirm the category with the specification, before the label is designed.
How much do private label drink cubes cost?
The price of private label drink cubes depends on the formula, the flavour system, the number of flavours, the print on the foil and the box, and how many cubes go into one pack. A first order and a repeat order are quoted separately. Send PharmaEurope the number of cubes and flavours and we quote that quantity.
How do I start a private label drink cube brand?
Send PharmaEurope a brief: the flavours, the cubes you need for the first run and the market you sell in. We propose a ready-made berry or fruit flavour or develop your own, confirm the specification and the pack, prove a custom drink on a trial batch and print your artwork. We reply within 24 hours, Monday to Friday.
Where are the drink cubes made?
PharmaEurope’s drink cubes are pressed, blistered and boxed at our certified plant in the European Union. The plant is certified to ISO 22000:2018, works to HACCP and the Food Supplements Europe GMP guide, and is registered with the US FDA. The certification and the batch records for every order sit with the same plant.
What certification does the manufacturing hold?
Our plant is certified to ISO 22000:2018 by BM Certification, valid to 7 January 2029. It works to HACCP under Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and the Food Supplements Europe GMP guide, and is registered with the US FDA. Copies of the certificates with their numbers are sent to clients on request.
Private label effervescent tablets — from idea to manufacturing · Flavour systems in powders and effervescent tablets · Packaging systems in supplement manufacturing · Why the minimum order differs by format
Effervescent tablets · Sachets · Powders · Tablets · Capsules · Softgels · Sports nutrition · Packing
Start your drink cube project
Tell us what the drink should taste like, how many flavours you want and how many cubes you need for the first run, and we will come back with the specification, the pack and a price for that quantity.