Briefing
Description of customer requirements
The client already has two CBD-containing drinks in trendy varieties in its range. Besides vitamins, they also contain cannabidiol (CBD for short), a cannabinoid from the female hemp. These products are currently sold in beverage cans.
Now the customer has another product idea: an instant drink powder that reflects the taste, carbonation and value-giving ingredients 1:1. The customer specifies that 8 grams of the complete mixture must be enough to flavour 200 ml of water. We at STOCKMEIER Food are to develop this instant drink powder completely. We receive the raw material hemp as a by-product directly from the raw material manufacturer.
Requirements
- Sensory replication of a product
- Basis liquid product in the end consumer market: soft drink
- Development of a sensory identical product on powder basis
- Trend: Hemp
- The hemp is provided by the raw material supplier
CBD in food
The use of CBD in foodstuffs in Germany has not yet been finally clarified legally. The customer makes this raw material "available" for production at STOCKMEIER and declares in writing that the responsibility for this raw material lies with him. With this regulation, we can also realise projects in the field of CBD.
Product Development
The development process in detail
To start with, the STOCKMEIER Food specialists break down the project into three building blocks:
- flavouring
- enrichment of the blend with the desired nutrients
- building up the part of the blend that is responsible for carbonation when water is added
An aroma is always carried by many factors. The approach via building blocks helps our specialists later in the adjustment of the aroma in the final product.
For part 1, the sensory evaluation is done by the flavourists using the liquid product that is to be replicated. With the help of the assessment, they write a framework recipe.
The application technique begins in parallel with the construction of the functional mixture (part 2). This consists of carriers and other ingredients. Here they define the quality and quantity of the individual ingredients and adjust the dosage of minerals and vitamins, for example. This is followed by the work on carbonation. This is particularly challenging because the carbonic acid influences the taste with the addition of water and must therefore also be taken into account. Good empirical values are particularly helpful to the colleagues in the composition.
In the final part of the development process, functional blending and flavouring are brought together. They often have to be further elaborated and tested several times. Only then does the first customer sampling take place. Based on customer feedback, the developers usually make minor corrections to the flavouring. Further sampling with the customer is often necessary. These ensure that the product is increasingly fine-tuned to the customer's wishes. After successful development, the product is ready for market launch.
With the help of powder blending, the customer can save high logistics costs and bring the product much closer to the target markets. He is also much freer to choose the contract manufacturer, as many companies are proficient in mixing with water.