Built on Experience. Made for Real Life.

My name is John, and Extractive grew out of my belief that natural ingredients should be carefully developed into products that are effective, easy to use, and suitable for everyday life.

But the idea behind Extractive did not appear overnight. It came from years of studying nutrition, formulating supplements and experimenting with botanical extraction in my own laboratory.

To explain why I created Extractive, I need to go back to the early part of my career, when I was working in a very different industry.

From Formula 1 to Health and Wellness

I spent the early part of my career working in motorsport and Formula 1 engineering.

It was a world where precision mattered. Even the smallest detail could affect the final result, so every part needed to be carefully considered and tested.

That experience still influences the way I develop products today. I want to understand why each ingredient is included, how it works and what it adds to the final formula.

However, in my early twenties, I lost a close family member. That experience changed how I thought about health and the direction I wanted my life to take.

I became deeply interested in clean eating, natural ingredients and the health and wellness industry. I wanted to understand how nutrition affects the body and how plants could be used to support everyday wellbeing.

Eventually, I decided to leave motorsport and completely change my career. I moved into supplement formulation and botanical extraction.

Building My Own Laboratory

In 2015, I invested in my own manufacturing laboratory and launched my first online store, selling CBD oil liquids. It is a product I continue to produce as my knowledge and experience grows.

Having my own laboratory gave me the freedom to experiment, test different ideas and learn directly from the results. Over the years, I continued studying the art of botanical oil extraction and in 2019 I went to Colorado,USA to obtain certification in CBD Isolation, Distillation and Crystallisation.

I became especially interested in the active compounds found inside plants. I wanted to understand how we could separate these compounds from the raw material and create more concentrated forms that were easier for the body to use.

For me, product development was never about choosing a popular ingredient and putting it into a bottle. I wanted to understand what made that ingredient useful and how the extraction process could improve the finished product.

This experience later became the foundation for Extractive.

Discovering Functional Mushrooms

Around 2022, I noticed that functional mushrooms such as Lion’s Mane, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga were becoming more popular.

Because of my experience with hemp and botanical extracts, functional mushrooms felt like a natural next step. I began researching the market and trying some of the products that were available at the time.

But I quickly noticed a problem.

Many mushroom supplements were made from whole mushrooms ground into powder. However, most of the functional compounds in mushrooms are held inside tough cell walls made from a fibrous material called chitin.

The human body does not easily digest chitin, and this made me question how much of the mushroom’s functional content people could actually access when taking a basic ground powder.

So, I began experimenting again.

I wanted to see whether I could apply my knowledge of botanical extraction to functional mushrooms. The aim was to extract and concentrate the compounds we wanted while removing the inactive mushroom fibre.

The results convinced me that there was a better way to make functional mushroom supplements.

How Extractive Began

In December 2024, we launched Extractive’s first range of functional mushroom liquids.

We developed alcohol-free mushroom resin extracts that dissolved easily in coffee, tea, water and other drinks. They offered a simple alternative to mushroom powders, which could be earthy, difficult to mix and harder for the body to break down.

The response was much stronger than we expected. People were looking for functional mushroom products that were easy to use, pleasant to take and suitable for their everyday routines.

That is how Extractive began—but it was only the beginning of what we wanted to create.

Created for Our Family. Shared with Yours.

The idea behind Active Blend was born in my kitchen, from a desire to find at least a little more energy while raising our four children.

It started during a conversation with my wife. She had lived with broken sleep for more than a decade, so getting through busy days was not always easy.

At the time, she was already adding the functional mushroom liquids I had developed to her morning coffee. She really enjoyed this routine and told me that it gave her not only extra energy but also the mental focus she needed to power through the day.

That made me think: how could I make her coffee ritual simpler?

Mixing coffee and mushroom extracts separately was one more step in an already busy morning.

That is when it clicked—I could combine coffee with mushroom extracts in a single ready-made blend. It would be quick to prepare and still taste like genuinely good coffee while also offering some additional functional benefits.

That is how the idea for Active Blend began.

From an Idea to Active Blend

I began experimenting with different combinations of coffee, functional mushroom extracts and other carefully selected ingredients.

Luckily, I already had access to my own laboratory. I could properly test each version, adjust the ingredients and keep improving the formula.

The process took 12 months, and the result was Active Blend.

Active Blend combines coffee with water-soluble functional mushroom extracts, magnesium, L-theanine and mineral-rich sea salt. It is designed to support energy, focus, brain health, hydration and a balanced response to daily stress.

But one thing was especially important to us: it still had to taste like great coffee.

We did not want to replace a daily ritual that we already enjoyed. We wanted to make that ritual more functional.

Active Blend brought everything together. My background in engineering, my interest in health, years of botanical extraction and our busy family life all played a part in its creation.

Products We Make for Ourselves

Extractive is a family-run brand, and our products are inspired by needs we understand personally.

Active Blend was not created because functional coffee was becoming popular. It was created because my wife and I wanted something that could support us through busy days without giving up the coffee we enjoyed.

That is still how I approach every new product.

Before releasing anything, I ask myself two simple questions: Would I use this product myself? And would I feel comfortable giving it to my family?

I also ask whether it solves a real problem and whether every ingredient has a clear purpose.

Our goal at Extractive is simple: to create carefully developed functional products that fit naturally into real life.

— John Murray, Founder of Extractive