Differentiate with Colour in Flavoured and Functional Waters
Consumers prefer colourful beverages with bold, vibrant hues corresponding to the drink’s flavour. Sensient’s consumer research found that consumers like colourful beverages better than their colourless counterparts and are more likely to purchase them. Additionally, in taste testing analysis, consumer flavour perception increased an average +15% across categories when the colour of the product itself aligns with the flavour.
Optimized colour in beverages increases
consumer purchase intent +6%
Sensient Consumer Research 2017
Colour is also used by consumers to visually identify flavours as they browse the shelves. Think of kids demanding that parents buy “the red one” versus “the blue one”. However, just 15% of flavoured waters launched from 2020-2022 in APAC contained colour (Mintel 2023). Brands that choose to use colour in their products stand out on the shelf and in consumers’ minds.
What Impacts Colour Success in Flavoured Waters?
Acidity
Many flavoured waters, like most ready-to-drink beverages, have a low pH. Natural colour sources like anthocyanins perform exceptionally well in acidic environments, perfect for this application.
Processing
Depending on the processing conditions of a flavoured water, there may be effects to consider for colour solutions. For example, high shear processing can have a negative impact on emulsions.
Packaging
For flavoured waters with transparent packaging, light stability is an important feature. Colour experts work closely with developers to select and stability test colour solutions to stand up to harsh, constant store lighting.
Ingredients
Natural colour ingredients may interact with other ingredients in a flavoured water, such as flavours, juices, or acids. It is important to consider the full formula when selecting solutions to ensure compatibility.
Natural Colours for Flavoured
and Functional Waters
For flavours like watermelon, grapefruit, or pomegranate, a variety of red and pink hues come from anthocyanins like fruit and vegetable juices. Sensient’s range of reds offers unique coral shades that remain stable across a wide pH range.
Carotenoids like beta carotenes and paprika bring flavours like tangerine, ginger, and blood orange to life. In order to stabilize these naturally oil-soluble solutions in flavoured waters, Sensient’s Advanced Emulsion Technology (AET™) reduces particle size to avoid emulsion interactions or broken emulsions. Although turmeric imparts bold yellows, beta carotene is a much more light-stable solution. Trending flavours like lemonade, pear, and pineapple each benefit from a different shade of yellow.
Although turmeric imparts bold yellows, beta carotene is a much more light-stable solution. Trending flavours like lemonade, pear, and pineapple each benefit from a different shade of yellow.
Blues are among the most difficult hues to achieve in beverages due to the lack of blues in nature. Fortunately for flavours like blackberry, blueberry, and lavender, Sensient’s FDA-approved butterfly pea flower extract offers stable blue hues at pH 4.0 and above and stunning purple hues in more acidic environments.
Brown hues are perfect for flavours like honey, coffee, and cinnamon. While caramel is one of the most widely used colourants for its broad stability, many brands are looking for caramel-free browns for beverages. Sensient’s Sienna™ range offers stable clean label browns from tan to chocolate shades.
White flavoured waters bring to mind flavours like coconut, white peach, or pina colada. The same solutions that create white visuals can also be used to impart cloud, which implies juice content to consumers. Sensient’s Avalanche™ Nebula offers a suspended, clouded appearance at a low usage rate in flavoured and functional waters without titanium dioxide.
How Does Functionality
Affect Colour Formulation?
Formulation in the functional water space means additional considerations for developers. For example, added vitamins or minerals can affect pH levels which require the appropriate colour ingredients to achieve stability. Ingredients like vitamin C or whey protein isolate are also notorious for making a product taste more sour and bitter. Sensient’s range of natural colour and taste modification solutions will be of help in this area.
Functional ingredients often require collaboration with experts to identify and mitigate stability concerns within the formula. Sensient experts are well-equipped with years of experience to identify and tackle solutions alongside your team.
We love to bring beverages to
life with nature’s rainbow.
For more information on any of the above solutions or for more advice
on incorporating colour into flavoured waters or functional drinks,
reach out to my team and I!
