I am working on forecasting what flavors my company, Hope Mixd, will produce this year for our non-alcoholic friendly drink mixers. I would love to hear your opinions in our one minute survey: http://bit.ly/hmflavorsurvey
…but I am also intellectually very curious to know what flavor you would most want to capture in a glass if anything were possible?
For me, I would love to capture the smell of standing at the edge of a northern California forest where it opens to the ocean.
There was a store in Toronto who made their own ginger beer. It wasn’t too sweet and it had a gorgeous fiery flavour that was difficult to pin down until I saw what it was and then I knew - they had added sichuan peppercorns to the ginger. The difference made by what must have been a small amount of those peppercorns was amazing. I’ll add this to your survey. So what aroma would I be capturing? The aroma of Chinatown…?
Oh and here in the UK I love anything flavoured with rhubarb. The rhubarb sodas are so tart, sweet and refreshing. An amazingly overlooked flavour elsewhere.
The survey requires participants to provide their email addresses. Hard pass.
Did the contents actually list sichuan peppercorns? I have used many types, and ages, of ginger. Some have much more spice and flavor than others.
I personally think you are going about this the wrong way. Crowd sourcing ideas for your products is worse than a last resort. Including doing your business process backwards.
Do you want to have your own unique business, based around what you think and create? Or use the lowest common denominator, the general public? The businesses of this type that do best follow a general process. Create products. Fine tune them. When you have something you are proud of, then test it out on friends, and people in the biz, and ask their opinion. Don’t necessarily change everything if you get bad critiques because people sometimes screw you over, or just have no taste. When you have products that 30+% of the people really like, then start you business.
Your website should be the last thing you do before going into full sales. And drop all the personal stuff. You are trying to start a business, I think. Or is it just a personal vanity project wrapped around your sobriety and personal issues, as a way to personal growth?
Yep!
This just isn’t true . . . . the most successful companies check in with their customers early and often all throughout the R&D process.
That said - I think the question is too specific to get meaningful insights. My knee jerk reaction is to ask about scent memories in general - What smells do you remember that immediately bring you back to a specific place in time. Then use your professional opinion and business/brand goals to evaluate those against what you’re hoping to accomplish (e.g. - these scents are going to be experience while consuming a beverage - so in some sense they will need to tie to a flavor).
That said - there is a smell around waterfalls, I can’t explain it or describe it, but I love it - and I think the sound of seltzer bubbling with that smell could bring those memories back.
I don’t want to be on your email list, but out of those pairs I’d choose nectarine, caramel, cucumber, tropical fruit, and ginger flavor (or aroma) to add to my beverage. I wouldn’t actually buy caramel, but I wouldn’t buy green chile either …
Personally, I’d go for something bright like passion fruit, grapefruit, or green apple, maybe with a note of refreshing herb like lemongrass or basil. Or I’d just get a La Croix 
Oooo @calam1ty I love both those flavor profiles/aromas. Rhubarb in particular is nostalgic for me as it grows everywhere in Minnesota, where I grew up. I loved hearing your thoughts on this, thank you!
Well, I started playing around with prototypes of what I make in 2013 and have been refining it and my business plan since then. But I am also deeply passionate about connecting with people through flavor and aroma memories. Every taste experience has a story and personal significance behind it for people, and I love hearing them. This business is always going to be personal in that way, as am I.
Oh that’s an interesting take on it - that I should broaden how I ask about this to significant smells. I do want to know that, and I find it fascinating what resonates with people, and beautiful memories can come up through that.
Ah waterfalls…definitely magical 
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Thank you so much for sharing Andrea! Yes, my hope was to hear your thoughts on wonderfully pleasant aromas regardless of whether you were comfortable sharing your email. I know not everyone is
Sounds like you have a penchant for tropical stuff
I too will pass on your survey, but will list the aromas I love:
The desert after a rain
The smell of sea grass in the coastal south east low country
The scent of plumeria and other tropical flowers that have aromas
Fresh Christmas trees and something baking with cinnamon and vanilla
The smell of fresh wood
Good luck!
Awesome! Funny enough fresh wood is one I’ve mulled over. Your list brought up another one for me - my first cup of coffee, which was in a locally known chain of mountains in Montana near a creek. If there was ever evidence of the power of smell in taste experience that was it for me. Crappy instant coffee, but with the smell of the fire, the trees, and the creek water in my hair and it’s warming power - I’ve never had a more pleasing cup of coffee.
That sounds like a great experience! When drinking coffee these days, do you ever flash back on that time? Of all our senses, it’s the sense of smell that ties us most closely to memories. It is a sure trigger for me.
Thanks! Not typically. The water used in that special cup of coffee was from the creek too, which made a difference. But if I’m drinking a coffee that isn’t too darkly roasted outside in a forested area on a crisp morning - yep, that memory of coffee in the Wolf Mountains comes right back like an old friend
nutmeg most likely.
With a whiff of campfire smoke and pine trees in the background.
Lemongrass
Honey
Five spice powder
