How Natural Elixir began
Natural Elixir began as a recipe that Brett Austin made for himself.
He had come through a period of very serious ill health, and he had come through it largely by changing what he ate, how often he ate, and what he had been doing to himself for years beforehand. Along the way he read a great deal about plants, and he started making things in his kitchen: boiling, steeping, tasting, adjusting, and throwing a good deal of it away.
One of those recipes was worth keeping. It has his account of that period, in his own words, and it is the better place to read it. What matters here is the part that came next, which he did not plan.
Brett at a market stall. The recipe was never meant to leave the kitchen.
From a kitchen to a bottling run
People asked for it. That is the whole of the origin story as a business, and it is more common than the founder myths suggest.
First friends, then their friends, then people he had never met. A batch made for one man became a batch made for a dozen, then a standing weekly job, then something that needed labels, a bottle, a name and a decision about whether this was going to be a business or stay a favour.
A concoction made for one man turned out to be something strangers wanted. Nothing about that was planned.
It is now made in South Africa in three versions, sold in 750 ml glass, and carried by well over a hundred stockists around the country alongside the online shop. The brand is older than the online shop by a good margin, which is why some customers have been drinking it for years longer than the website has existed.
What has deliberately not changed
Scaling a recipe is where most small food brands quietly become something else. Sugar goes in to widen the appeal. A preservative goes in to lengthen the shelf life. Water goes in to stretch the margin. Each step is individually reasonable and the product at the end is not the product at the start.
None of that has happened here, and it is the thing worth judging the brand on:
- Still ten plants and nothing elseNo sugar, no honey, no juice, no filler, no added water.
- Still no preservativeIt does not need one: at pH 3.06 the tonic is acidic enough to keep itself, and a real-time study put the shelf life at twelve months.
- Still unpleasant to drinkNothing has been added to soften it.
- Now independently measuredSugar, fat, gluten, sodium, energy, pH and shelf life are all tested by FACT Labs in Durban, a SANAS-accredited laboratory. That part is new, and it is an improvement on taking anybody’s word for it, including ours.
Production still looks like this: a bakkie full of lemons, and a short list of things to do with them.
A kitchen batch is allowed to vary. A production batch is not.
Where to buy Natural Elixir
Two ways, and plenty of people use both.
A good number of customers still buy it in person, from health shops, pharmacies and markets around the country. The store locator lists the stockists, and it is worth a look before ordering if there is one near you.
Otherwise the shop delivers, and the multipacks are what most regulars end up on, because a 750 ml bottle is thirty daily measures and a month goes faster than you would think.
The three versionsClassic is the original and has the cayenne in it. Lite is the same ten plants without it. CBD adds a CBD isolate to the Classic base.
Common questions about Natural Elixir
Who owns Natural Elixir?
Brett Austin, who founded it and still makes the decisions about the formula. It is not part of a group and it has no outside owner. He also still answers the phone, which is not something most brands this size can say.
Where is Natural Elixir made?
In South Africa, in small batches, with produce bought locally where the season allows. The laboratory that tests it, FACT Labs, is in Durban.
Is it the same recipe he originally made?
The same ten plants and the same principle of adding nothing else. What has changed is consistency: a kitchen batch varies and a production batch should not, so the process is tighter than it was and the result is now measured rather than assumed.
Is Natural Elixir the same as Nature’s Elixir?
No. Natural Elixir is this brand, made in South Africa by Brett Austin. Several unrelated products use similar names, and we have no connection to any of them.
The short version is that nobody set out to build this. Somebody made something that worked for him, other people asked for it, and the only real discipline since has been refusing to make it easier to drink. That is not much of a business plan, and it is most of why the bottle still contains what it contained at the start.
This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Natural Elixir is a natural health tonic and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always speak to a healthcare professional before changing your diet, supplements, or medication, and never stop prescribed treatment without medical guidance.