Drinking ethical energy

A Montreal company pops the
smoothie market with fair guarana

FEEL-GOOD BUZZ: Étienne Paquette and Jérôme Pelletier

by MATT JONES

When Petro-Canada locked the door to its refinery in Montreal’s East End in November 2007 after withdrawing from negotiations with the union, few of the 260 employees put off the job saw it as a golden opportunity. While some spent the next 13 months walking the picket line (until most were forbidden to do so by a court injunction), others went out west to milk the Alberta energy cow. But at least one person saw it as opportunity in disguise.

Jérôme Pelletier, 26, had been working as a petro-chemist at the refinery. The lockout came two months after he, étienne Paquette and Ali Dehgahi founded Nitro-Gène, a science geek’s dream company that deals in energy much cleaner than petroleum.

“I had this idea of creating vending machines with only fair-trade products in them,” says Pelletier. “At the same time, I was thinking about how a lot of fair-trade products are low in sugar, so they don’t provide much energy.”

The vending machine idea didn’t pan out, but it gave the trio an idea: fair trade + energy.

They began importing guarana, a fruit that has the highest caffeine content of any vegetable substance and is the active ingredient in many energy drinks, to Canada. They secured an exclusive deal to sell “Goarana,” the brand name of their guarana, to Liquid Nutrition, who uses it in their Tropical Energy smoothies. What makes Goarana different, says Pelletier, is that it tries to maintain respectful relations both with the producers and the environment of the Brazilian Amazon, where the plant is grown.

“Energy drink sales really took off in 2001 and 2002, and that led to a massive investment by soft drink companies in guarana. Their plantations brought deforestation of a large territory in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon and their pesticides had a devastating effect on bee populations,” he says.

To avoid this, Nitro-Gène got in touch with SAPOPEMA, the Society of People for the Eco-development of the Brazilian Amazon, which Pelletier says allows local producers to avoid getting ripped off by foreign investors.

“Multinationals, especially in the perfume industry, have made deals to get products with extremely high commercial value in exchange for the same volume of staple items like sugar,” he says. “The SAPOPEMA allows the Indians of Satere Mawe to determine the real value of their resources.”

Goarana is also organic and free from the genetically modified plants used by major producers, a difference Pelletier says you can feel in the buzz it gives you.

“Natural guarana has a higher concentration of caffeine, antioxidants and vitamins. The balance between antioxidants and caffeine (which comes from roasting it in a clay oven instead of a metal one) means you get an energy dose that’s more gradual and cerebral,” he says.

Next, the company put Goarana into the first organic, fair-trade, made-in-Quebec eco-certified dark chocolate bar (not that that’s a hugely competitive market). One Goarana chocolate bar provides 700 mg of antioxidants and the same amount of caffeine as a cup of Joe. They also began to sell Goarana powder that can be stirred into fruit juice.

Last week, Pelletier returned to work after Petro-Canada agreed to the union’s demands. “It’s good to be back at work, at least until this project takes off,” he admits.

Nitro-Gène’s products can be found at various health food stores as well as university and CÉGEP cafeterias. Products can also be ordered at nitrogene.ca.