One of the most common questions we’ve gotten over the years is “How do you make your flavors”? As someone who has personally made cold brew flavors and experimented with flavor development, I can confidently say that it’s fun! But flavor development is serious business and not always fun and games. It can be a time consuming and tedious process making sure that what you’re cooking up is good enough for every palate and objectively delicious.
The first time I took a stab at making a new cold brew flavor, I had little to no idea what I was doing - just a blank canvas of dark roasted cold brew concentrate, the option of adding chicory or not, and a few boxes filled with little bottles of natural flavors. Using existing recipes as a reference, I began fiddling with different flavor combinations in the pursuit of achieving a never-before-seen Rook product. After some time experimenting and a few development sessions, I began to get the hang of it.
Trial and Error
The funny thing is that some flavors are way easier to achieve than others. Vanilla was easy - find the right vanilla, make sure the ratio is right, and we were smooth sailing. But others like Peanut Butter Mocha were a labor of love. Many, many rounds failed attempts, revisions, and complete restarts. All in the name of greatness, I suppose.
We always start small - Eight to sixteen ounces of cold brew concentrate and .125 grams of flavor at a time. Incrementally adding a bit more of this and a little less of that. Too much flavor starts to taste a little “off” and not enough doesn’t quite convey what you’re trying to achieve. It’s a yin and yang, balancing the familiar coffee taste, the flavors you’re using, and making sure it’s tasty both with and without sweetener.
Eureka Moments
Once we find a good recipe, we tweak it with the most subtle adjustments to make sure it’s just right. Now it’s time to scale. Not full-size brew tanks, but about 5 gallons worth. Sometimes when we make a bigger batch, some flavors become less prominent and others too much. We make adjustments if needed, have our internal team try it out, and if all goes well, we set a launch date for our lovely customers to enjoy.
We can’t pretend and say we nail it every single time. Sure, there have been a few here and there that may have fallen short, but trust us when we say we try pretty dang hard behind the scenes to make sure you’re getting something delicious and all-natural. (you’d be surprised how many companies rely on artificial flavors and sweeteners to get what they’re looking for!)
We’ve got a couple of things brewing behind the scenes, so for now, be patient. We want to make sure it’s just right.
