For the mystery “natural flavours,” mass spectrometry was used. He got the essential oils and their quantities down: lemon oil, lime oil, tea tree oil, cinnamon oil, nutmeg oil, orange oil, coriander oil, and a natural pine–like flavour called fenchol.
Was still missing coca. Then he realised they were basically tea leaves and the mystery flavour was actually tannins, which are non-volatile, so using mass spectrometry tannins won’t show up. He found wine tannins are commercially sold in a water–soluble powder form, and this was the key pretty much.
This mix then had to be heated to blend/mature the essential oils, and then left to sit for 24 hours before being used in the final recipe to exact match the flavour profile.
what turned out to be the secret ingredient in the end?
For the mystery “natural flavours,” mass spectrometry was used. He got the essential oils and their quantities down: lemon oil, lime oil, tea tree oil, cinnamon oil, nutmeg oil, orange oil, coriander oil, and a natural pine–like flavour called fenchol.
Was still missing coca. Then he realised they were basically tea leaves and the mystery flavour was actually tannins, which are non-volatile, so using mass spectrometry tannins won’t show up. He found wine tannins are commercially sold in a water–soluble powder form, and this was the key pretty much.
This mix then had to be heated to blend/mature the essential oils, and then left to sit for 24 hours before being used in the final recipe to exact match the flavour profile.
thats amazing!