STiR coffee and tea magazine

48 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 3, 2018 (June / July) One growing source of flavor differentiation with a health halo is alternatives to dairy milk other than safe, boring soy: coconut, almond, and flax. The second, largely Western, major new segment is what has been termed "the conscious consumer." They are in many ways uninterested in the category of a drink but very much con- cerned with the values built into it. They are health-conscious and want to know where a drink comes from, what it's made of, ethical issues in workers; rights and incomes, safety especially in pesticides, and natural ingredients. A compact summary by a provider is: "No one should have to settle when it comes to what they put in their body, play guessing games as to where the ingredients come from or, worse, assume that words they can- not pronounce on the label are safe." The quote in Food Business News by Niko Nilolaou, co- founder of Cham, cold brew tea points to the dominant flavor trend in the Western markets: botanicals. Ingredient discrimination Basically, the new flavors are based on the implicit principle that all molecules are created equal and all can be used to flavor a drink. Botanicals have replaced artificial flavors and chemical additives as the core of flavor design and differentiation. Tech- nology, especially biogenetics is identifying more and more dis- criminations of flavor to work with. One example is peppermint oil, with 350 volatiles. There are now over a thousand approved natural extracts and aroma compounds, A new beverage more defined by its ingredient than its label. These coffee flavors would have seemed fantasies just a few years ago: • Lacombe Latte: honeysuckle plus caramel • Café Agave: spiked cold brew coffee: wine-based coffee, with dairy cream and agave nectar • Lemon-ginger Herbal: a hot tea with probiotics • Jalisco Campfire: tequila, Lapsang Souchong tea, agave and Thai chili • VansBuskirk: rosemary and bergamot coffee As for tea espresso, cascara (made from coffee cherry husk waste), a health tea line with guarana for energy, lavender latte, green tea for health and valerian for sleep… These are highly discriminating in their ingredients and aimed at discriminating customers. RTDs now amount to over 80% of the U.S. cold beverage market. Historically, they were a commodity product that was highly standardized and with somewhat dubious ingre- dient lists. Now, there's a flourishing of premium products ex- ploiting natural, plant-based ingredients, and establishing macro wellness and health formats. The RTD market is seeing a wide-ranging reformulation of products with new ingredients that redefine the product, market and flavor profiles. The same applies to kombucha and cold brew teas, both "new" and with no obvious place on the grocery store shelf. Technology is helping drive the market for mole- cules with biosynthesis a growing opportunity. Just about all the production of vanillin is in the vat, not the field. Even coloring is becoming organic, natural, and botanical. There are strict reg- ulatory standards in place to ensure that colors derived from ag- ricultural products not use synthetic solvents and carriers or any artificial preservatives. Gatorade is an early adopter of organic coloring. Organics are spreading across the entire supply chain. Consumer discrimination in demand drives producers' dif- ferentiated discriminations in supply. Google's comprehensive 2017 Beverage Report provides a clear picture of global con- sumer flavor preferences. It combines analysis of search pat- terns and interviews in the UK, U.S., Spain, and Mexico. Ginger is growing in demand as a flavor across all four markets, aver- aging 30% increase per annum. This includes tea, juices, beer, and infusions. Turmeric is a newcomer in high demand on the preference list. Supply chain integrity Flavor design is a multidimensional balance between ingredi- ents, packaging, quality assurance and logistics. The new real- ity is safety first. The Federal Food Safety Management Act (FSMA) imposes strict regulations and standards on food and beverages from certifying ingredient suppliers to testing for pesticides and contaminants to packaging. For teas where the main ingredients are leaves, issues of seasonality, consistency, and origin constrain flavor options, while the use of essences and liquids affect transport and storage. Manufacturing is a key consideration in new flavors. Many products require new equipment and processes. Large com- panies face capacity and space constraints. Co-packers are re- sponding by building new facilities to meet the demand. Some flavor innovations depend on new science and tech- nology. Bigelow's probiotics tea is an instance. This uses lemon ginger as the flavoring ingredient. The main development issues were technological and logistical: dosing levels, microorganism strains, and particle size. This last issue was to ensure that pro- duction runs efficiently on processing and packaging equipment. Lemon and ginger were chosen as two "pleasing" botanicals. Nitro coffee in cans sounds like a simple packaging routine. It demanded what the firm's contracted expert calls "beyond rocket science" to prevent the gas escaping the liquid. Out-of-home experiences Most drinks are now consumed outside the home, many of them are selected on the basis of the experience customers seek. The flavors on offer are very much part of this. It underlies the growth in "exotic" tea-infused cocktails as part of the bar experience, matcha beers and cold brew in the pub and snack bar experience and the fusion between food and beverages in fine dining; eaters want a drink that goes well with the food. As they try new dishes, they want to be able to pick new beverages. Overall, the drivers of change mark a shift in flavors have moved from being primarily variations within themes to the search for new themes. The difference is illustrated by breakfast black teas. They have been very much differentiated by "a little of this and a little of that" approach. The basic tea theme has been variations of English, Irish, and Scottish Breakfast, Farm- house, Morning, and similar branding. A base Assam or Kenya leaf with a little Keemum, Ceylon, Malawi and, maybe, Darjeel- ing. This standardized market is losing its pull, but the same principles apply: skilled flavoring through blending, improved freshness, quality control, clonal varietals, and premiumization. Old and new customer segments look for flavors that stand out in taste, meet their values, and add to their sense of experience.

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