Innovation at quick service restaurants is surging to capture shopper attention and wallet share, particularly in the beverage space. From refreshers to coffee drinks, new flavors and eye-catching colors are appearing on menus.
Mintel 2023
Sensient Consumer Research 2019
Mintel research shows that over half of coffee consumers feel that buying coffee from a food service location is only worth it for drinks they can’t make at home, and unique flavored syrups can offer a visually exciting and delicious out-of-home experience in both hot and cold drinks. Flavored syrups can also be used in milkshakes for LTOs, seasonal launches, or line extensions beyond the basics like chocolate and vanilla.
Formulating beverage syrups for colorful beverage syrups have several key considerations for developers:
#1: Acidity. If the target beverage or beverage base has a higher pH, some solutions will perform better or differently than they might in a more acidic environment.
#2: Concentration. Because syrups end up being diluted in beverages, the color needs to be highly concentrated in the syrup formulation to achieve bold target appearances.
#3: Light stability. Many syrups are packaged in clear plastic or glass containers so any color solution used needs to be light stable.
#4: Ingredient interaction. Other ingredients in the formula, such as functional additions or flavors, may impact color performance, so holistic formulation from the beginning is important.Colorful flavored beverage syrups can be used in both high and low pH drinks. We discuss solutions for more acidic beverage syrups in this blog, but today we’re focusing on beverage syrups for mid- and high-pH applications like milkshakes and coffee drinks.
There is a natural rainbow available of colors for beverage syrups that will be used in mid and high pH (pH > 3.6) finished goods like hot or cold coffee drinks, milkshakes, and foams. Click on each of the images below to sample natural color solutions:
Warm reds from lycopene are perfect for seasonal or LTO launches.
The highly concentrated red and pink shades from SupraRed™ elevate this solution over standard beets.
Watermelon-Rose™ is a Sensient-exclusive lycopene solution with enhanced stability for unique coral shades.
Sensient offers multiple shades of beta carotene so developers have a range of options from peach to orange to yellow.
Sensient’s Pure-S™ technology gently purifies paprika so developers can use bold oranges without unwanted flavor off-notes.
If the syrup’s packaging is opaque, turmeric gives the brightest natural yellow option available.
Sensient’s Advanced Emulsion Technology (AET™) enables the use of naturally oil-soluble solutions in water-based applications like syrups.
Blending light-stable natural yellow from beta carotene with denim blue from butterfly pea flower extract offers unique green hues perfect for seasonal launches.
A blend of bright yellow turmeric and deep denim blue create shamrock green shades for LTOs and seasonal drinks above pH 3.6.
For deep blues at high pH levels and stable purples as the acidity increases, butterfly pea flower extract is a novel solution in Sensient’s portfolio.
Sensient’s cost-effective spirulina dispersions offer bright sky blues that our team has stabilized in syrup applications.
The combination of spirulina’s bright blue with rich reds from SupraRed™ creates unique, eye- catching purple hues.
Reach out if you have questions about unleashing nature’s rainbow or if you’re looking for trending flavor inspiration to pair with these bright shades!
