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C Holy Pin
Photo / Kevin Miyazaki
Feet on the Ground, Head in the Clouds Similarly, while exploring the simple combination
of strawberry, lime, and matcha, we discovered that
When I worked as an application scientist at the waterless strawberry syrup made in a vacuum bag cre-
global flavor house Kerry Ingredients, my mentor Travis ated a far more beautiful product than strawberry juice
Ralph, now head of RD&A for Alcoholic Beverages, simmered with sugar. Since, we have utilized our im-
taught me an incredibly useful framework. The compa- mersion circulator to create countless products, from
ny conducted extensive annual market research designed sous vide coffee to infused milks, dulce de leche, and a
to sort common and novel flavors into categories from veritable cornucopia of waterless syrups.
the mainstream to emerging, representing tried and true The greater your tool belt grows, the more you will
next to tomorrow’s trends. When creating for the mass be able to express yourself through your creations, and
market, where we were looking to appeal to diverse your audience will follow along, waiting with baited
audiences spanning millions of people in an unimag- breath. This has a tremendous effect on the job satisfaction
inable swath of demographics, the best strategy was to of your team, the engagement of your guests, and the top
stick to two flavors: one mainstream and one emerging. line revenue of your company.
I remember this method as Feet on the Ground, Head in
the Clouds: a constant reminder to never forget where Leveling Up
we are on the way to where we’re going.
Take for example Strawberry & Rhubarb, Basil & So where do you find inspiration for these new cre-
Yuzu, or Cherry & Black Cardamom. Combinations like ations? And if they are popular, how do you work them
these serve to meet your guests where they are, balancing into your cafe without destroying the ticket time your
comfort and growth, and more critically, building trust. guests have grown to expect?
As your audience comes to associate you more directly For many, looking to the World Coffee Events com-
with flavor innovation, they will seek to dive deeper into petition stage is both a source of inspiration and trepida-
the unknown, trusting you as their guide. From this mo- tion: an equal volley of “Wow, we need to do that” and
ment on, the floor is yours. The weirder the better: the “It’s just not practical”. After seven years of refining the
more wild, the more wonder. Oftentimes, our greatest process of achieving narrative-based innovation at scale,
innovations have stemmed from an extensive exploration we devised a system that fundamentally changed the way
of these relatively simple frameworks. we run our cafes called “Magic Moments”.
Channel Orange, which has found a home on our
permanent menu, was our first exploration into house
made powders, a technique that has come to define many
of the lattes we have created since. What began as an
examination of how we could apply orange oleo saccharum
to the latte format, resulting in a (miserable) waste-re-
duction attempt to eat the dehydrated candied peels before
the marvelous realization that the brilliant flavor of can-
died orange could be transferred much more pleasantly
via powder than rigid rind.

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