Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491365
62 STiR tea & coffee industry international A new report published by social intelligence company, newBrandAnalyt- ics (nBA), features top beverage trends in restaurants and hotels. For non- alcoholic sippers, flavors include berry lemonades, horchata and the Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade). Flavor enhancers in mini-bottles offer a myriad of taste hybrids to the Arnold Palmer. Beverage sales account for one of the largest sources of profits for restaurant op- erators. Persistent health concerns as well as consumer demand for more variety is validated in the report titled "2014 Beverage Trends," published by Networld Media Group. Results show that overall, consumers want more coffee, tea and alcohol op- tions from restaurants. Consumers reported they want more tea options represented on menus, including sweet, flavored and iced. Wolfgang Boehmer, business development manager at flavor company FDI in South Plainfield, N.J., is a chemist who has monitored flavor trends for decades. "Tea and rooibos blends with tangerine and citrus as well as "brown" flavors such as caramel and chocolate are popular right now along with fruit-spice combinations. Think "sage-apple" said Boehmer. While flavored iced teas are more widely consumed the greatest variety of flavoring is produced for hot tea, he said. Hot tea blenders are also beginning to experiment with savory teas, he said. Numi Organic Tea was one of the first companies to introduce a line that includes flavors carrot curry with ginger, tomato mint, spinach chive with citrus, beet cabbage with apple, broccoli cilantro and fennel spice with orange. This spring Teavana unveiled a Tomato Lime Cocktail (an herbal infusion tea) and a Cucumber Melon green tea along with Blackberry Mojito Tea Lemonade. Starbucks also introduced Fizzio Handcrafted Sodas in Spiced Root Beer, Golden Ginger Ale and Lemon Ale. Lightly sweet natural sodas, made with fermenting bacte- ria, are gaining traction. Drinkwell Softers in Dixon, Calif., produces lavender, lemon verbena and rose geranium sodas while Alchemy Pickle Company in Toronto offers Cedar Lemon soda, Peach Jalapeno and Hibiscus Lime Leaf. Other flavors on the market include lime turmeric and cranberry ginseng. Flavor Trends in Hospitality Michael Maloney, Sally Curtis, and Derek Rankin develop flavors at Flavor Dynamics' laboratory. Photos by Dolf DeRovira Hundreds of scents for reference. By Suzanne Brown