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

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These shoppers want products and flavors with punch, she adds. For instance, “This new wave of self-expression is bringing forth unique flavors coupled with saturated shades. Deep, vibrant pink—think ‘Barbiecore’—is a trending shade, which we’ll see paired with pink grapefruit, dragon fruit, and fruit punch flavors. This also ties in with Pantone’s Color of the Year, Viva Magenta, which is described by Pantone as encouraging ‘experimentation and self-expression without restraint.’” Tropical flavors are trending for this reason. “Fruity flavors with fresh notes transform any food into a multisensory experience,” says Michael Falkenberg, head of the global taste business unit at Döehler GmbH (Darmstadt, Germany). “Tropical fruit flavors will be popular in 2023 as their bright shades can inspire feelings of positivity and help to escape from stressful realities. Dragon fruit lychee, guava pomegranate, watermelon, or mango passion fruit will be one of the favorite taste directions, especially in juices and nectars, but are also suitable for applications such as ‘water-plus,’ energy drinks, or spirits.”

The new recipes deliver a more “zingy” taste, with a bolder taste for the unique Original flavour and more citrusy, orange note for Orange, giving consumers more of what they love. The changes are subtle but further elevate the drinks’ flavours, giving Lucozade Energy drinkers more of the unique notes they associate with the brand." The researchers plan to explore the OTOP1 receptor’s response to ammonium chloride further in the hopes of uncovering more about its evolutionary significance.

Hybrid Mashups

Floral and botanical ingredients are also associated with functional benefits. Holthaus says FlavorSum expects demand for these to continue to grow “because they offer elevated taste profiles and added functional benefits.” He adds: “According to social listening platform Tastewise, floral and botanical are up in social discussions by 52% and 17%, respectively. We believe these tastes will continue to penetrate the beverage space as they have in recent history, but earthy notes will expand into other categories in the new year.” If we knew what we know now about sugar we would probably have banned it,” says Walter. “You have governments adding sugar tax. The technology to replace sugar that we have now are extraordinary.” 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.

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. 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. Demand for new flavor experiences also stems from a desire to escape the day-to-day. “When people are fraught with financial woes and health anxieties, food offers an opportunity for ‘delicious escapism,’” says Soumya Nair, global consumer research and insights director at Kerry (Beloit, WI). “While comfort will underpin all food and beverage experience in the upcoming recessionary outlook, there will be desire for ‘mini-escapes,’ wanting to break free.”Our thorough process involves extensive research and agile prototyping with consumers and leans heavily on successful techniques developed by Suntory our global parent company. The goal is to better understand the lives of our consumers, what they’re looking for and what drives their decision making, so we can adapt our brands to meet their needs – delivering a win for our consumers and our customers. This sixth basic taste is currently under scientific investigation and could be associated with specific flavours found in salt liquorice. The sixth basic taste: an evolutionary adaptation? 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. Another flavor company, Flavorman (Louisville, KY), predicts that “soothing lavender” will be popular in 2023.

Watermelon chili lime is another spicy/sweet combo. It “combines the coolness of watermelon with the slight spiciness of chili, and bright lime gives a new experience that is sure to excite tastebuds,” says Hartman. Finally, he suggests combining the spicy, savory Korean chili paste gochujang and “buttery” sweet caramel. 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.” 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. 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.

It is all about being experimental with flavour and pairing together sweet with spice, sweet with salty such as peanut butter with fruit, and sweet with texture – as in the case of the Bubble Tea New York Cheesecake.