New Tastes in Green Tea: A Novel Flavor for Familiar Drinks, Dishes, and Desserts

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Harsch Koshti, Marketing Director for Taste, Kerry APMEA, said of the findings: “Every year over 60,000 food and beverage products are launched in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The food and beverage space in the region is going through a dynamic phase where we are seeing consumers looking for products which are not only ‘good for me’ but also ‘good for the planet’. Our Taste Charts are a culmination of deep insights from new market product launches, menu scans and our proprietary consumer-driven AI insights, all corroborated by Kerry experts to forecast the flavours and ingredients that were relevant yesterday, are relevant today and the likely trending flavours of tomorrow.”

Döehler’s Falkenberg suggests citrus flavors like calamansi tangerine, yuzu, orange, pomelo, and blood orange for products like carbonated soft drinks, beer, spirits, and confectionery. Flavourists say there’s a public health aspect to what they do, too: using technology, they can help remove sugar from consumers’ diets. This is important, not least because heart disease tops most Western countries’ lists for leading causes of death. Tastes that offer novelty, over-the-top indulgence and targeted health benefits are set to drive consumer preference in 2022, according to Kerry, the world’s leading taste and nutrition company. Other medications may cause a change in taste by contributing to dry mouth, which makes it hard for the taste buds to recognize taste chemicals. Some of the common medications that cause dry mouth include: Hot honey is another spicy/sweet trend, according to Flavorchem’s 2023 Flavor & Trend Forecast report. “Complex taste profiles featuring honey will experience an upswing in menu and retail innovation as heat meets sweet,” the company predicts. It notes, “Hot honey has grown +53% in consumer interest in the past year and +216% on menus since 2018, indicating the star ingredient’s potential to accelerate future culinary trends.” Other fashionable honey combos include salted honey, maple honey, and honey sriracha.Our research consistently shows that chocolate remains the most popular flavour in sweet bakery. Although consumers are open to experimenting with new flavours 1, there is an expectation for sweet bakery manufacturers to offer core favourites such as chocolate, caramel and vanilla in the range. In today’s economic climate, Dawn Foods urges its customers to champion these core flavours and make sure that they are the best quality they can be. A treasure trove of data showing how the UK’s relationship with food has changed over three generations opened today, announced Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss. There is no change to the amount of sugar in every bottle however, it is understood the sweetener has been switched from aspartame for sucralose. Perhaps the two senses most closely linked are taste and smell, which work similiarly. Taste and smell receptors bind with molecules in our food. These molecules will interact with our receptors in different ways depending on their shape and the components they are made from. Mainstays also remain strong. “The most popular and strongest flavors in the food and beverage industry are still the classic ones such as orange, apple, or lemon, especially for beverages,” says Döehler’s Falkenberg, “whereas for dairy products, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla remain the favorite taste directions.”

Zoe Trimble, Head of Lucozade Energy, Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I said: "Core brand innovation is at the heart of our approach to brand building. We believe across our business that brands must evolve to keep up with changing consumer needs. Researchers have uncovered the mechanism by which our taste buds detect ammonium chloride, exemplified by the distinct taste of salty licorice, popular in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. They say the discovery provides evidence for the existence of a sixth basic taste. In fact, he says, “The floral flavor trend has been on the rise over the last few years, making its mark in the confectionery and beverage categories. In the past two years, floral flavor profiles have grown +91% in consumer interest. We expect to see florals expand in 2023 as consumers open up to experimenting with florals in new dishes and categories, all while bringing growing interest in functional health to the table.”While Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max will not have a recipe change, drinkers have taken to social media to express their dissapointment with the new taste. Mexican and Asian flavors are especially popular. “Mexican and Asian ingredients and flavors continue to trend,” says Marks-McGee. “I expect to see more Mexican-inspired flavors, such as elote (Mexican street corn), tamarind, and mezcal, and Asian-inspired flavors, such as mochi, shaved ice, pandan, and shochu, to trend in 2023.” Coffee will get some notable tweaks in 2023, according to Flavorchem’s 2023 Flavor & Trend Forecast. “Launch activity will center around indulgent flavors like cookie butter, bourbon caramel, chocolate cayenne, ruby cocoa, and brown sugar for everyday enjoyment,” it says. An advance in technology – in 1974 only 15% of households in the survey owned a freezer and where a Leicester household’s shopping list in 1974 included canned milk pudding, canned peas and potatoes, a comparable household in 2000 (when 94% of households owned a freezer) bought frozen cakes, peas and chips. This rise in technology correlates with a drop in households sourcing their own food, with a wartime government asking about owning poultry and access to free eggs before the question was dropped in 1991. Global flavors continue to intrigue. “Even with individuals traveling again, consumers still crave exciting tastes and textures from around the world,” says Amy Marks-McGee, founder of Trendincite LLC.

As outlined in our article on Global flavours for your local bakery, consumers are becoming more interested in global ethnic cuisines, exploring new combinations and taking themselves on a journey through the food they eat. Flavours popular in Asia provide an interesting inclusion to sweet goods such as yuzu, matcha, wasabi, ginger, cacao, mochi and halva.Plenty of traditional dessert-inspired flavour combinations are being used to top and fill pastries and cakes. Think rhubarb & custard, elderflower & lemon, banana & caramel (banoffee) as well as strawberries & cream. For an off-the-wall mash-up idea that works, Dawn has developed a recipe for a Tonka Bean, Horseradish & White Chocolate Cruffin. Flavours from the East Foods that taste sour are high in acids, meaning they’re low in pH and high in hydrogen ions. When sour TRCs are exposed to acids, they produce an electrical signal due to the movement of hydrogen ions across the cell’s membrane. The researchers previously discovered that sour TRCs express the otopterin1 (Otop1) gene that encodes a protein, OTOP1, to form a proton channel which gives cells the ability to detect low pH and sour taste.

Another flavor company, Flavorman (Louisville, KY), predicts that “soothing lavender” will be popular in 2023.Ray Hartman, director of flavor development and innovation at Prinova (Carol Stream, IL), mentions another Mexican dessert flavor his company sees trending. “Inspired by paletas, a popular and flavorful Mexican dessert, we predict mangonada will pop in the coming year. Mangonada is refreshing and bold, featuring mango, chamoy, and chili lime spice garnished with candied tamarind. This is the right combo of ‘basic tastes’ of sweet, sour, and salty along with some trigeminal spicy heat,” he says. Ammonium is somewhat toxic,” Liman said. “So, it makes sense we evolved taste mechanisms to detect it.” Spicy and sweet flavors are always popular. Put the two together, and you get surprising combos that are sure to delight. Ammonium and its gas, ammonia, the breakdown products of amino acids, are generally toxic to humans and other animals, many of whom have the ability to detect and respond to environmental ammonium/ammonia. Based on their findings, the researchers speculated that the ability to taste ammonium chloride may have evolved to help organisms avoid harmful substances. Flavorchem’s (Downers Grove, IL) 2023 Flavor & Trend Forecast reports that “Authentic flavors and ingredients from Latin America will shift to the spotlight as consumers show greater interest in culinary exploration and regional diversity.” This includes flavors inspired by beverages (horchata, tepache, and aguas frescas); dessert flavors like tres leches, dulce de leche, and churro; and birria, a traditional Mexican stew.