The Essential - Signature Ube Powder - Seven Taste

Description of L'Essentiel - Poudre de Ube Signature

Seven Taste is a French brand based in Nice, built around a single ingredient: ube, the purple yam from the Philippines. Its guiding idea is simple, make wellbeing indulgent rather than a chore.

L'Essentiel is its signature ube powder, sold in an 80 g tin, or around thirty drinks. It is a pure powder, with no blend and no carrier, produced by spray-drying, an atomisation process that turns ube purée into droplets dried in hot air.

You can see the result as soon as you use it: a grain as fine as icing sugar, which dissolves completely in cold water and in hot water, with no lumps and no sediment at the bottom of the glass.

On flavour, you get vanilla notes, a hint of toasted hazelnut and a natural sweetness, with no added sugar at all. The powder is lab tested, caffeine free, gluten free, free from pesticides and GMOs, and its formulation is vegan.

This is the one to pick for broad everyday use: hot or iced latte, smoothie, mocktail, lemon water, or homemade sweet recipes. A measuring spoon and a bamboo whisk are sold separately by the brand.

What is inside L'Essentiel - Poudre de Ube Signature

The ingredient list fits on one line, which is rare in this market: 100 % ube, in other words the purple yam Dioscorea alata. No carrier, no anti-caking agent, no flavouring, no colouring.

The nutritional values published per 100 g of powder:

• Energy: 1480 kJ, or 350 kcal
• Fat: 1,2 g, including 0,2 g of saturates
• Carbohydrate: 80,5 g, including 2,2 g of sugars
• Fibre: 6,5 g
• Protein: 4,5 g
• Salt: 0,2 g

On a 2 to 4 g serving, the contribution stays very low, around ten calories per drink. The 2,2 g of sugars per 100 g are naturally present in the tuber, the brand adds none.

The purple colour comes from the anthocyanins in the root, not from an added colouring.

That purity also explains the yield of the process: spray-drying needs far more fresh material than simple milling, up to twenty kilos for one kilo of finished powder.

Where the raw material comes from

The origin declared on the label is outside the European Union. Ube is a tropical tuber, grown mainly in the Philippines, where it is part of the local culinary heritage.

Seven Taste says it spent several weeks on the ground, around Manila, tasting samples and meeting growers. More than fifty powders were compared before the final selection.

The brand settled on two suppliers, one in the Philippines, the other in China, chosen for their command of spray-drying. It states that it favours GMP certified partners, with checks at every stage and batch level traceability. Formulation and packing take place in France.

How to use L'Essentiel - Poudre de Ube Signature

The brand recommends starting by dissolving the powder in a small amount of liquid, before topping up with the drink of your choice.

The signature latte recipe comes in three steps:

• Mix 2 to 4 g of powder, about one teaspoon, with 15 cl of hot or cold water
• Whisk until the texture is perfectly smooth
• Top up with the plant or dairy milk of your choice

The powder handles cold as well as hot, which widens the uses: smoothie, mocktail, lemon water, porridge, baking. For a stronger taste and a deeper colour, simply double the dose.

With no caffeine, this powder can be drunk at any time of day, from breakfast to late afternoon.

Price and where to buy L'Essentiel - Poudre de Ube Signature

L'Essentiel sells for 19,90 € per 80 g tin, or around 0,66 € per drink. The brand offers volume bundles: 39,80 € for two tins, and 79,60 € for five instead of 99,50 €, with one tin free.

With the code LMC, the unit price drops to 17,91 €, or 0,60 € per cup. Delivery is free from 30 € of spend. The code applies across the whole store, bundles included.

Purchase is online only, on the official website. The product is not sold in pharmacies.

My verdict on L'Essentiel - Poudre de Ube Signature

I recommend L'Essentiel to anyone looking for a comforting drink without caffeine. The single-ingredient formula is its strongest argument: there is nothing to fault in a list that fits in one word.

The cold solubility genuinely delivers, and the vanilla taste works very well in a plant based latte. At 0,66 € a cup, the value for money stacks up against ceremonial matcha.

It is the right entry point into the range, before trying the brand's more specialised versions, either more intense or built for cooking.