Most people notice it within the first few seconds.
The flavor is... different. Not bad different. Just different.
A little earthier. A little more alive. And then — here's the part nobody warns you about — it changes as you chew.
If you've just tried Underbrush for the first time and you're trying to figure out what exactly you just put in your mouth, this article is for you.
The short answer, natural gum tastes different because it's made of different things. Things that grew in the ground. Things with their own flavor, their own character, their own personality.
The longer answer is one of the more interesting stories in food.
First, Let's Talk About What You've Been Chewing Your Whole Life
Before we explain what we do, it helps to understand what most gum does.
Open a pack of conventional gum. That immediate burst of mint — strong, concentrated, and designed for immediate flavor impact — didn't come from a spearmint plant. It came from a lab.
Conventional gum flavor is built from synthetic flavor compounds engineered to release quickly, hit hard, and linger through a polymer matrix.
The gum base itself — the chewy part — is typically made from FDA-permitted food-grade synthetic polymers and resins commonly used in chewing gum manufacturing.[⁴]
The base is hydrophobic — it repels water, which is why it doesn't dissolve in your mouth.
That same property binds synthetic flavor compounds and releases them gradually through diffusion as you chew.
The result is the sustained, consistent, eventually-disappears-completely flavor experience most people grew up with.
That's one way to make gum.
Here's another way.
How Underbrush Gets Its Flavor — Starting With the Base Itself
In Underbrush, flavor doesn't start with a flavoring department. It starts with the gum base.
We use three natural tree saps: chicle, mastic, and spruce.
Each one arrives with its own inherent flavor profile — not because we added anything, but because that's what trees actually taste like.
Think about it this way. If you squeeze a lemon, it tastes like lemon.
Not because someone added lemon flavor to it. Because it's a lemon.
Natural resins work the same way. They have a character. A history.
A taste that belongs entirely to them.
Here's what each one brings.
Chicle: The Original. Mild, Neutral, The Canvas Everything Else Works Against.
Chicle comes from the sapodilla tree (Manilkara zapota), the same tree that gave the world chewing gum before synthetic rubber existed.
The Aztecs and Mayans harvested it for centuries. New England settlers were introduced to the practice of chewing tree sap by Native Americans.[⁵]
Chicle's own flavor is mild — almost neutral.
It's the foundation. The canvas.
It lets the other ingredients speak without competing.
Mastic: Piney. Herbal. Unmistakably Mediterranean.
Mastic comes from the Pistacia lentiscus tree on the island of Chios, Greece — and only Chios.
The same species grows across the Mediterranean.
Only the Chios trees produce usable resin, due to the island's volcanic subsoil and microclimate.
Scientists have studied this for decades.
They still don't fully understand it.[²]
Mastic has been harvested for over 2,500 years. During the Ottoman Empire it was worth its weight in gold.
The island of Chios is still called Sakız Adası in Turkish — literally "gum island."[²]
What does it taste like? Piney. Slightly herbal.
A warm resinous finish that's unlike anything in the conventional gum aisle.
That distinctive note is the natural volatile compound profile of the resin — alpha-pinene and other terpenes — the same types of compounds responsible for the aromas of conifer forests and Mediterranean herbs.[²]
You're not imagining it. That's what 2,500 years of gum tastes like.
Spruce Sap: The First American Chewing Gum. Still Tastes Like the Forest.
The first commercially packaged chewing gum ever sold in the United States — in 1848 — was John B. Curtis's State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.[¹]
Before chicle.
Before Wrigley's. Before the foil-wrapped rectangle.
Spruce sap carries fresh pine and earth notes from the volatile compounds found naturally in conifer resins.
It's subtle. Grounding.
The part of the flavor experience that makes Underbrush feel like it came from somewhere real.
Because it did.
Where the Actual Flavors Come From
So before we add a single drop of anything, the gum already has a character.
That's fundamentally different from a synthetic base, which contributes nothing of its own.
Then we add plant-derived flavor ingredients.
Mastic Mint: Organic Spearmint Essential Oil
Our Mastic Mint uses organic spearmint essential oil — not synthetic menthol.
This is worth understanding because the difference is significant.
Spearmint essential oil is produced by steam distilling fresh spearmint leaves (Mentha spicata).
The dominant flavor compound is carvone — a naturally occurring monoterpene that makes up roughly 50–70% of spearmint's volatile oil composition.[⁶]
Carvone is what gives spearmint its characteristic sweetness.
It doesn't numb your mouth. It doesn't blast you. It simply tastes like mint — clean, soft, herbaceous.
Peppermint, by contrast, is dominated by menthol — around 30–40% of its volatile oil — which produces that strong cooling, almost numbing sensation most conventional mint gum goes for.[⁶]
Peppermint is formulated for maximum cooling impact.
Spearmint is formulated for a gentler, more nuanced sensory profile.
We chose spearmint because its flavor pairs naturally with the herbal and piney notes of mastic and spruce, rather than overwhelming them.
The mint doesn't stomp on the resin character. It joins it.
Cinna-Mastic: Real Ceylon Cinnamon
Not all cinnamon is the same. This is something most people don't know until someone tells them.
There are two primary types: Ceylon (Cinnamomum verum), often called "true cinnamon," and cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum), which is what most mass-market cinnamon products contain — including most cinnamon-flavored gum.
Cassia hits hard. It's sharp. Intense. You know it immediately.
Ceylon cinnamon is warmer. Softer. More complex.
It opens with gentle spice and settles into itself — a slow, comfortable warmth rather than a one-dimensional punch.
In Cinna-Mastic, the Ceylon cinnamon opens with that warmth, then the earthy mastic and spruce finish takes over as you keep chewing.
It's a flavor profile with actual depth. The kind that makes you think about it afterward.
Berry: Real Fruit Powders
Our Berry flavor gets its color and taste from real fruit powders — blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, and dragon fruit.
Most fruit-flavored gums use synthetic aroma compounds for consistency and scale.
A "cherry" flavor might use benzaldehyde.
An "apple" flavor might use ethyl acetate.
These are engineered to hit hard and taste exactly the same every single time.[⁸]
Real fruit doesn't do that. Real fruit varies slightly by season and source.
Real fruit tastes more subtle and less uniform.
Real fruit tastes like actual berries and less like berry-flavored candy.
That's the trade we made. Consistency versus naturally variable flavor profiles.
We chose the latter.
Why the Flavor Evolves (And Why That's Not a Bug)
Here's the part most people don't expect until they experience it.
The flavor in natural chewing gum doesn't stay constant. It evolves.
This isn't a flaw. It's physics.
In conventional synthetic gum, flavor compounds are encapsulated within the polymer matrix and released through a controlled process of diffusion.
The synthetic base is specifically designed to extend that release — a slow, consistent fade rather than a drop-off.[⁸]
In natural gum, the flavor compounds in essential oils and resins are part of the actual material — not added to it.
They release more quickly in the initial phase of chewing as the resins warm and soften.
Then the flavor profile shifts toward the natural character of the base resins: earthy, slightly piney, herbaceous.
What remains isn't the absence of flavor. It's a different, subtler flavor.
The inherent flavor of mastic and spruce doing what they've done for 2,500 years.
Some customers say this is the moment they actually understand what they're chewing.
Nicolas, one of our customers, described it in a way that made us genuinely happy:
"I love the texture of the gum. The flavor, while not long lasting, matters relatively little in comparison. If the gum lasts long enough chewiness wise that my jaw grows sore, I say you've found yourself a brand new long term customer!!!" — Nicolas
That's someone who understood exactly what makes natural gum different — and decided the trade was worth it.
Individual experiences vary. This is an unsponsored customer review shared voluntarily. Results described are not typical and are not intended to represent what you should expect to experience. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
What People Are Actually Saying
Customer reviews reflect individual opinions and experiences.
Here's what customers have said.
"Best gum we've had so far. Will definitely be placing another order here soon." — Daniel
"Not bad at all for all natural. The taste is pretty good too. I will keep my subscription as long as I can afford it lol. Definitely worth it to me." — Peter
Individual experiences vary. These are unsponsored customer reviews shared voluntarily. Results described are not typical and are not intended to represent what you should expect to experience. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
The Takeaway
The flavor in Underbrush isn't something we engineered. It's something we sourced.
Organic spearmint essential oil from real spearmint plants.
Ceylon cinnamon from the actual Ceylon cinnamon tree.
Real fruit powders from real fruit.
And a gum base made from three tree saps that each bring their own flavor to the chew before we add anything else.
If it tastes a little different from what you're used to — a little earthier, a little more alive — that's because it is.
Try Mastic Mint for the classic.
Cinna-Mastic for something warm and layered.
Berry for real fruit flavor.
Or start with the Variety Pack and taste the difference across all three.
Ready to try it? Order Underbrush gum.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Natural Chewing Gum Flavor - Frequently Asked Questions
Why does natural chewing gum lose its flavor faster than regular gum?
It comes down to how flavor compounds are held and released.
In conventional gum, synthetic flavor compounds are bound within a petroleum-derived polymer matrix specifically engineered to control flavor release over an extended period. In natural gum, flavor comes from plant-derived sources — essential oils, resins, and fruit powders — that release their volatile compounds more readily as the gum warms and softens during chewing.
The result is a more immediate initial flavor that transitions to the natural character of the tree sap base.
Many people come to prefer the earthy, herbal finish that emerges — it's the resins themselves, and it's the most characteristic part of the chew.
What gives mastic resin its piney, herbal taste?
Mastic's distinctive flavor comes from its natural volatile compound profile, including alpha-pinene and other terpene compounds produced by the Pistacia lentiscus tree.[²]
These are the same types of compounds responsible for the characteristic aromas of conifer forests and Mediterranean herbs.
The flavor in our gum isn't added — it's intrinsic to the resin itself.
Is spearmint the same as peppermint? Why does Underbrush use spearmint?
Related but distinct. Peppermint is high in menthol — around 30–40% of its volatile oil — producing the strong cooling sensation most people associate with mint gum.
Spearmint contains roughly 0.5% menthol and is instead dominated by carvone, making up 50–70% of its volatile oil.[⁶]
Carvone is what gives spearmint its sweet, soft, herbaceous character.
We use spearmint because its flavor pairs naturally with the herbal and piney notes of our mastic and spruce base — rather than overwhelming them.
What's the difference between natural and artificial fruit flavor in gum?
Artificial fruit flavors are typically isolated synthetic aroma compounds engineered for consistency and intensity.
Natural fruit flavor comes from the actual fruit — through concentration, pressing, or drying.
Real fruit flavors are more complex and less uniform than their synthetic counterparts, reflecting the natural variability of the source ingredient.
Our Berry flavor uses real powders from blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, and dragon fruit — which is why it tastes more like actual berries and less like berry-flavored candy.
Why does the gum base itself contribute to the flavor in Underbrush?
Because our base is made from plant resins rather than synthetic polymers, each component carries its own flavor.
Chicle is mild and neutral — the foundation. Mastic contributes piney, herbal notes from its natural terpene compounds.
Spruce adds fresh-earth undertones from the volatile compounds found in conifer resins.
In a synthetic gum base, the base typically contributes no flavor of its own — it is an inert polymer matrix that holds the synthetic flavor payload.
In natural gum, the base and the flavor are intertwined.
You're tasting the whole ingredient, not just what was added to it.
What is natural chewing gum?
Natural chewing gum is gum made with plant-derived gum bases — such as chicle, mastic, or other tree resins — rather than synthetic polymer gum bases.
These natural resins have been used historically in chewing products for centuries and contribute both texture and subtle flavor characteristics.
You can read the full story of what natural gum is and where it comes from in our guide to natural gum.
How does Underbrush compare to conventional gum overall?
The ingredients, flavor sources, and chewing experience differ meaningfully.
We break down the full comparison — ingredients, sourcing, price, and what you're actually chewing — in our natural gum overview.
For a deeper look at how our formulation compares to other products in the remineralizing gum space, our 2026 comparison guide covers it in detail.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
About the Author
The Nathan & Sons Team
Nathan & Sons was founded by Nathan — an entrepreneur who became frustrated by the lack of transparency around what conventional chewing gum actually contains. After tracking down gum base manufacturers and learning that most commercial gum bases are composed of synthetic polymers and petroleum-derived compounds, he set out to build a clean-label alternative using only plant-based, naturally sourced ingredients. What started as a personal mission became Underbrush Gum — a natural chewing gum formulated with ingredients commonly used in oral care products. The Nathan & Sons team emphasizes ingredient transparency, careful sourcing, and the development of clean-label products informed by publicly available scientific research. Every piece of content we publish is held to the same standard as the gum itself: transparent ingredient sourcing and evidence-informed information.
References
- USDA Forest Service. “Gums — Ethnobotany of the United States.” fs.usda.gov. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/gums.shtml
- Wikipedia. “Mastic (plant resin).” en.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastic_(plant_resin)
- Wikipedia. “Spruce gum.” en.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_gum
- Wikipedia. “Gum base.” en.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_base
- Wikipedia. “Chewing gum.” en.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum
- Zheng X, et al. “Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Properties of Essential Oils from Peppermint, Native Spearmint and Scotch Spearmint.” PMC / MDPI Molecules, 2019. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6696458/
- ScienceDirect Topics. “Spearmint oil — composition and properties.” sciencedirect.com. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/spearmint-oil
- How Products Are Made. “Chewing Gum.” madehow.com. https://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Chewing-Gum.html
- FDA. “Label Claims for Conventional Foods and Dietary Supplements.” fda.gov. https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-food-labeling-and-critical-foods/label-claims-conventional-foods-and-dietary-supplements
- Nathan & Sons. “FAQs — How Underbrush Gets Its Flavor.” nathanandsons.com. https://nathanandsons.com/pages/faqs
