Beverage Flavor 201®
Super interactive and in-depth knowledge to make (or market) better beverage products. You’ll even make your own prototypes, side-by-side with our beverage experts.
Class Topics
Beverage Landscape: Past, Present, Future
Explore the transformation of the beverage marketplace from 1970 to today. Learn about market drivers, product development challenges, and product trends for the coming years.
U.S. Beverage Category Overview and Trend Analysis
Review of various beverage market categories (alcohol, juice, performance nutrition) touching on category growth, sales and new product introductions. Finish with a discussion about consumer drivers, trending flavors and new products of note.
Flavor Regulations and Beverages
FDA, TTB, USDA…the laws and rules regulating beverages are complex. This section will look at the different governing organizations and their requirements including specific instances such as allergens, flavors in alcoholic beverages, ingredient limitations, flavor naming guidelines, organic, genetic modification, kosher, halal and the ABCs of international regulatory.
Commonly Used Ingredients
Examine nine common beverage ingredients, learning about examples of each, how they’re used and even how they taste. You’ll cover water, sweeteners, acids, carbonation, buffering agents, colors, preservatives, texture ingredients and flavors.
Flavor Types: Liquid and Dry
In this hands-on section, you’ll cover flavor forms used in liquid and dry beverages, considerations when developing a flavor and discuss a practical case study.
Taste Modifying Technology: Enhancing Flavors and Diminishing Off-Notes
Begin with an overview of taste perception then explore the taste modulation techniques of masking (strong tastants, congruent flavors, phantom aromas, chemesthetic) and blocking (removal of bad tasting components, physical barriers, scavengers, complexing agents).
Juice and Juice Drinks
Take a detailed look at concentrates, including segments on flavor development, manufacturing, processing and packaging. Discuss the differences between essences and flavors in juice beverages, as well as the differences between a juice and a juice drink, and how to calculate which of these claims a beverage should carry. Finish up with pairing flavors and packaging a finished juice beverage.
Tea and Coffee
Hear about tea processing and flavoring considerations and look at RTD teas and tea extracts. Then jump into coffee, discussing processing, descriptors and flavoring. Learn about the importance of understanding the challenges and factors that affect flavor, aroma and taste when developing tea and coffee beverages.
Alcoholic Beverages
Begin with on overview of alcoholic beverages, explore classifications, and explore areas such as distilled spirits, liqueurs, wine, beer, and flavored malt beverages. Learn about fermentation and pasteurization. Touch base on TTB approval considerations.
Dry Mix Beverages
You’ll learn about the advantages of dry mix beverages, as well as the development, processing and packaging operations. Finish with a discussion of the application challenges of dry mixes, including texture, mouthfeel, flowability and environmental conditions.
Nutritional Beverages
Begin with an overview of nutritional beverages, their benefits and the challenges of popular protein sources. Then dig deeper into proteins, investigating the flavor challenges and solutions, including formula optimization, well-matched flavor systems and taste modulation.
Dairy and Dairy-Alternative Beverages
Look at dairy and non-dairy sources, components and nutritionals. Then discuss beverage formulation focusing on knowing your base, flavor profiles and processing, while participating in hands-on demonstrations.
Interactive, Hands-on Concept & Prototype Development
Working in small teams you will apply the course knowledge you have gained over the past two days of training and develop a product from concept phase to market ready launch status. The competition is a fun and interactive way to showcase the powerful output of cross collaboration and to celebrate our collective learnings.
Mini Flavor Descriptor Training
Descriptor training aids in development of a common lexicon of terms and definitions to result in quicker development and speed to market. Within this mini interactive training, taste, smell and discuss multiple references and put into action through evaluating and describing market product examples.
Communicating Your Flavor Needs
This session will review the importance and value of key components of a well-written brief, such as project scope, market/brand information, product technical information, flavor technical information and delivery information.
Upcoming Classes
FONA Center, Geneva, IL - FONA Center, Geneva, IL – TBD
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