Explainer
Why we ship a drink cold when nobody else does
Heat is the single biggest killer of live cultures. Here is what happens to a bottle at 25°C, and what it costs us to avoid it.
Live cultures are not an ingredient that sits politely in a liquid. They are a living population that keeps metabolising, and heat accelerates everything: fermentation continues past the point you want, carbonation climbs, and measurable viability drops.
We tested it. Bottles held at 25°C for seven days lost between 18% and 41% of their label CFU count depending on strain; the same bottles at 4°C lost under 4%. Bifidobacteria were the most heat-sensitive — exactly the strains people buy probiotic drinks for.
So we made an unglamorous business decision: insulated liners, ice packs, chilled couriers, and no shelf-stable version. It costs roughly $2.40 a box more than ambient shipping, which is why we push people toward 24-bottle packs — the shipping cost per bottle collapses.
The practical upshot for you: put it straight in the fridge when it lands, and drink within 21 days for the count on the label.