The Development Phase
Firstly, what’s in a name? When we started talking about Period Coffee, it started with the concept of a 30 serve, all around hormonal support blend. After we sat down with Shannon, the Certified Nutritionist who helped us formulate the blend, we quickly realised that everyone who experiences menstruation had a completely different and unique experience. Formulating a blend to tackle the huge number of varied frustrations women report to experience during the Follicular, Ovulatory, Luteal and Menstrual phases of their cycle was impossible.
The initial proposition of active ingredients we would need to include was so extensive that it wouldn’t have been effective at helping anything at all! So we narrowed it down and decided to tackle some of the most common symptoms experienced during menstruation alone. We toyed with the idea of naming it hormonal blend, women's blend etc. but we all agreed that the most important thing we can do here is cut through the shameful, fluffy way that women's health is spoken about in public. Let’s call it what it is. It’s period coffee and it’s designed to be drunk during your period.
The Final Blend
A global first for period health, we enriched the 7 serve blend with a potent mix of iron, antioxidants and anti-inflammatories to help relieve some of the symptoms commonly experienced during menstruation. Energy for when you just can’t. Strength for when you have none. Support for when it’s all too hard. Coffee that’s got your back, Period.
Make sure you also check out this blog Judy Cho, Clinical Nutritionist, wrote for us on other ways to naturally relieve menstrual symptoms.
Authenticity & Period Health
So why is authenticity in the space of hormonal health so important? As with anything, if you don’t talk about it, you don’t know what’s normal and what’s not! Concerns regarding pain and abnormal health symptoms can often go ignored, or dismissed as normal by healthcare professionals even when it’s not. This can happen in health care issues across the board, but it is especially prevalent when it comes to what is normal and what is not in the space of period pain and abnormalities in cycle length, timing and blood loss.
And what was the best part of the whole process? It was taking the whole team, men and women, on the journey of having really blunt and open conversations about periods. We’ve seen everyone, our team, our suppliers, our retail partners and our customers become far more comfortable with the topic and it’s created some really interesting, and funny, talking points. This doesn’t end here, we kicked of 2021 and 2022 with our New Year, Be You campaign and this is just the next evolution of that. Having open and honest conversations about all things health and mental health is so powerful, and we encourage you to start the conversation, no matter how uncomfortable!
Share The Dignity
And last but not least, we’d love to acknowledge out launch partner Share The Dignity! We hope to use our platform to help highlight Period Poverty and the difficulties faced by those who are disadvantaged during menstruation in conjunction with this incredible organisation. Right now, they are working to introduce a Federal policy mandating that period products are available to those who need them in hospitals. Seems like a pretty basic request right? But the reality is that it’s not!
If you would like to help support this initiative, head to the Share The Dignity website ☕💛