FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a honey-containing, functional and natural flavoured beverage base, as defined in the preamble of claim 1.

The flavoured beverage base according to the invention, here- after also referred to as "the solution according to the invention", is a flavoured beverage base for natural bever ages. The solution according to the invention a functional foodstuff from which beverages with different flavors can be made. Preferably, the flavoured beverage base is made from natural honey, a natural aroma, such as fruit juice, and possibly also from citric acid. The solution according to the invention utilizes the valuable natural preservatives and sugars contained by honey as well as the natural healthy ingredients contained by honey.

There is a great variety of commercial flavoured beverage base s with different flavors available on the market. The flavoured beverage base s are sweetened with sugars or ar tificial sweeteners. The flavoured beverage base s are also seasoned with fruit juices or artificial essences or the like. Most of the flavoured beverage base s are seasoned, sweetened or preserved with a synthetic agent.

Some of the flavoured beverage base s contain natural ingre dients but also synthetic ingredients. A fully natural prod uct combining a good taste with a functional effect cannot be found on the market, or at least they are rare. The flavoured beverage base s which are not fully natural suffer from the problem that they are harmful to health. Thus, the problem of the non-natural flavoured beverage base s is that they cause health harms, due to that they are sweetened with artificial flavors and preserved with artificial preserva tives. The flavor of these flavoured beverage base s is usually delivered by a synthetic flavor, such as an E flavor.

The flavoured beverage base according to the invention can be made from honey and different aromas, such as spices, flowers, herbs, berries, fruits, decay fungi, such as chaga mushroom. A soft drink is made from the flavoured beverage base by mixing it, in a desired proportion, with water, soda or some other drinkable liquid. According to the invention, the honey used in the flavoured beverage base can be replaced with agave syrup.

Households are increasingly using soda makers allowing soda and soft drinks made from tap water. The soft drinks can made at home by seasoning the soda made by the soda maker with a desired flavoured beverage base. The solution accord ing to the invention provides, alongside the current bever ages and the like, a natural flavoured beverage base sweet ened and preserved with honey and containing neither arti- ficial sweeteners nor added sugar.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The problem with the current flavoured beverage base s is that they contain artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners and added sugar. The artificial sweeteners and artificial preservatives are generally regarded as unhealthy but they are widely used in flavoured beverage base s because of their low price or low energy content. Attempts have been made to solve this problem by reducing the use thereof and by replacing them with healthier sweeteners and preserva tives. However, there are problems involved in these solu tions, having a detrimental effect on the taste of the fin ished beverage. A beverage is made from the flavoured beverage base according to the invention by mixing the flavoured beverage base with a liquid, which can be water, carbonated water, alcohol or some other drinkable liquid. The solution according to the invention provides a natural and functional honey flavoured beverage base alongside the soft drinks sold in stores and restaurants as well as homemade carbonated soda.

As is known, the flavoured beverage base s are most often sweetened with an artificial sweetener or, for example, with fructose corn syrup, sugar or the like. Reportedly, they have weaker health-enhancing effects than honey. The current state-of-art products do not have the same effects on health as honey. Honey-sweetened beverages or flavoured beverage base s can be regarded as healthier than the sugar-sweetened ones because honey contains less calories for the same level of sweetness than the sugar-sweetened beverages.

The pH of honey is usually under 5, i.e. it is acidic. The low pH f honey is caused by gluconic acid which prevents most bacteria from reproducing. Therefore, it acts as a nat ural preservative for the flavoured beverage base according to the invention and reduces the need of artificial preserv atives. In addition, citric acid and/or carbonic acid can be added to the flavoured beverage base according to the inven tion for enhanced preservation.

OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION This invention aims at eliminating the above-mentioned draw backs and to provide an inexpensive, tasty, healthy and purely natural flavoured beverage base without added additives or preservatives. The flavoured beverage base according to the invention is characterized in what is set forth in the char- acterized part of the claim 1. Other embodiments of the in vention are characterized in what is set forth in the rest of the claims.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

The natural flavoured beverage base according to the inven tion contains, at least, ingredients available from nature, such as honey and water. One of the ingredients of the fla voured beverage base is natural honey. An advantage of the flavoured beverage base according to the invention is that the flavoured beverage base does not contain a single syn thetic ingredient and is a 100 % natural product. The fla voured beverage base can be used for seasoning water, car bonated water, alcohol, alcoholic beverages, drinks and any liquid beverages, in a healthier way than by using a fla voured beverage base made from synthetic substances. Another advantage of the invention is that the natural fla voured beverage base according to the invention is very in expensive and simple to make because only natural substances and water are used as the ingredients of the flavoured bev- erage base. The production thereof is not dependent on ex pensive industrial manufacturing equipment or ingredients from third parties.

The flavoured beverage base has a pleasant and fresh scent of natural honey which is also an advantage. The flavoured beverage base can also be effortlessly and inexpensively made by a private person, from berries and honey that she/he can has collected, for example. The flavoured beverage base according to the invention is highly suitable for household use and in the HoReCa industry.

The invention creates a new category of flavoured beverage base s for beverages, based on the sweetness, functional effects and preservation without artificial sweeteners, pro- vided by honey. The flavoured beverage base according to the invention allow a variety of additive-free, honey-based bev erages, containing no artificial sweeteners, to be made.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A flavoured beverage base, the flavoured beverage base being adapted to be diluted with a liquid, such as water. The flavoured beverage base contains a natural preservative, preferably honey. The preserving properties of honey are based on the gluconic acid contained therein. In addition, the flavoured beverage base is preferably seasoned with nat ural products, such as berries, mushrooms, herbs, fruits, flowers and/or other plants or the like. Tree needles, such as spruce, pine or juniper needles and/or other tree needles can also be used as the seasoning agents. The flavoured beverage base according to the invention is easy to make and produce on an industrial scale as well. Honey is heated up together with water, in a proportion 1:1, for example. The proportion may vary quite a lot because the amount of honey regulates the sweetness of the flavoured beverage base. However, at a minimum, the honey content of flavoured beverage base shall preferably be 30%.

Desired flavoring agents, such as fruit, berry juice, va nilla, spice, herb and/or decay fungi, such as chaga mush- room, are added to the mixture of honey and water. Thus, natural sweeteners are used for sweetening the flavoured beverage base. Usually, these natural sweeteners also con tain a variety of tannins, increasing the preservability of the flavoured beverage base further. As a preservative, cit- ric acid can be added, if prolonged preservability of the beverage in storage is required. Further, the flavoured bev erage base can be carbonated for freshness and increased preservability. The flavoured beverage base is dosed and mixed, in a desired proportion, into water, carbonated wa- ter, alcohol, drinks, juice or any liquid beverage. Most of the natural ingredients, such as honey, berries and so on, added to the flavoured beverage base act as health-enhancing components of the flavoured beverage base. Instead of, or, in addition to honey, agave syrup can be used, resulting in a lower glycemic index GI of the flavoured beverage base since agave syrup has a lower glycemic index than honey.

It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the dif- ferent embodiments are not restricted to the above examples but may vary within the scope of the following claims. What is essential is that the flavoured beverage base according to the invention contains a natural preservative and sweet ener, honey or agave syrup. The main idea is to utilize the taste, sweetness, preservability and health-enhancing prop erties of honey in the flavoured beverage base and, thereby, to deliver these properties to a beverage.