Top 10 beverage trends for 2012
Kathi Everden uncovers the top 10 trends that will be emerging in the Middle East beverage industry this year
With internationally branded clubs and bars proliferating in the Gulf mixology culture is growing in leaps and bounds. As are flavour enhancements in teas, coffees, water and mocktails following customer demand for a more complex offering and intense experience from their drink.
Imaginative service upgrades aimed at instilling theatre in delivery are becoming more prominent in bars, and there’s an increasing demand for healthy options, as well as exotic teas, distinct regional coffees and luxury waters – that’s what industry experts have predicted for 2012, as revealed below.
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Trend 1: Tea innovations
Despite already being a region of tea drinkers, the Middle East is very open to new ideas and concepts and exporters are seeing gaps for new brands and concepts, as Arend Redelinghuys believes.
He’s the marketing director of Rooibos Ltd, a brand of the South African favourite, rooibos (or red bush) tea. He says: “We want to take Rooibos, known for being naturally caffeine free and for its high levels of antioxidants and low tannin levels into the Middle East.
I think our tea will be popular here as I know tea drinkers in the region like to take their tea with milk and sugar, and rooibos is the only herbal tea that can be drunk with milk and sugar, as well as black.”
Also making an appearance in the UAE is bubble tea – the first outlet of Bubbles & Boba opened in Dubai Mall in February. It is defined as fruit and milk teas served cold or hot, with chewy tapioca balls, and originates in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, quality tea will continue to rise in popularity, in hotels in particular, according to leaves expert Edward Eisler from Jing Tea: “Whole leaf tea will become a basic standard throughout all outlets,” he says, stressing that high quality green teas, jasmine teas and rare teas from single gardens will help hotels differentiate from the ordinary.
Other predictions include glass teaware, which provides theatre, plus trained tea sommeliers who will help guests select teas that suit their palate, time of day and mood.
Already the Shaza Al Medina in Saudi Arabia has adapted tea times with services based around the five prayer times – black tea for Fajr and jasmine and chamomile infusions for Isha.
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Trend 2: Welcome refreshers
Signature welcome drinks are moving beyond the tepid juice served with a warm towel and now have an emphasis on authenticity, suggests Radisson Royal Dubai F&B director, Nicola Zamboni: “One presentation can be to offer a beverage on a tray with the key ingredients laid out, while in restaurants, I would look for the beverage equivalent of an amuse bouche.”
At Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, the refresher welcome has a green apple juice base, while in restaurants, the Etihad Sparkler is a mix of apple juice, passion fruit juice and soda water, mixed with slices of orange, strawberry, raspberry and peach – served in glass pitchers.
Dubai’s Asiana Hotel is serving Korean, Japanese and Chinese teas including a palate cleansing pine and cinnamon tea.
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Trend 3: Luxury water
Bottled water continues to rule in the GCC, as does the trend towards pure and natural ingredients.
Danone’s Middle East brand manager, Habib Bahri, says: “In the specific case of bottled water, our consumers are valuing more and more the natural mineral content, as opposed to treated water or purified water. Evian comes from the heart of the French Alps, naturally filtered through glacial sand layers over 15 years.”
Business development manager Adil Parkar from Al Morooj Hotel Supplies, distributor of Highland Spring water, agrees: “The trend for 2012 and the future is ‘back to basics’, to incorporate as much as possible organic products in your lifestyle – people are willing to pay a premium for this,” says.
Taking this further, at O by OKKU, co-founder Markus Thesleff says he is looking to carry different artisanal waters, combining them with dishes based on PH levels and mineral contents, as well as the amount of gas in the water.
New on the luxury water market is Gize, a gold-filtered mineral water from Canada now available through the GCC courtesy of The Number 1 General Trading, which sees the combination of luxury and pure products as a winner.
Chairman Jasem Al Shehhi says such waters should become a counterpart to beverages such as champagne and fine wines in the region, with versions including pear-vinegar that can be used as an aperitif or accompaniment to a one-of-a-kind dinner, as well as still, sparkling, lemon-elderflower, raspberry-ginseng and pineapple-coconut compositions: “Guests who prefer non-alcoholic drinks are delighted to be offered an exclusive drink, instead of run-of-the-mill soft drinks and juices,” he says.
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Trend 4: Technology
Price has been a deterrent to the use of new technology, but as these are coming down, mixologists are looking for flavour highs through the use of products such as a rotary evaporator (Rotovap). This removes water, concentrating taste and extracting flavours from herb, fruit and alcohol blends without heating the mixture.
Beverage manager at the Gorgeous Group, Blake Walker, notes this could be a breakthrough in service, enabling bar tenders to create within a limited time frame.
“There is a shift away from molecular mixology and creators of menus are looking at machines such as the Rotovap to do the work and redistill products with new flavours – this way, all the work is done in the preparation,” says Walker.
“A home kitchen can be designed at the back of the bar to make it easier for staff with fewer skills to create cocktails.”
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Trend 5: Equipment
Another big trend moving from Asia to the Middle East is the Polynesian-style bars and lounges, says Monin beverage innovation director, Andrea Fidora.
This means a growth in fruit punches served in large bowls or jugs to be shared among groups of friends. Mahiki at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel Dubai offers cocktails served in small treasure chests, overflowing with dry ice.
Staff at Jumeirah at Etihad Towers are meanwhile working on Gulliver Cocktails for groups that book the private booths: “Central to this will be an interactive element, where the mixologist will prepare the drink in a large bowl in front of guests, involving them in the presentation. The cocktails are then chilled with large format ice cubes and served in large custom-made jugs,” says food and beverage director Nandana Wirasinha.
New on the menu at Amador restaurant in Park Rotana Hotel Abu Dhabi are the gin/tonic nitros, which are served with or without alcohol. The sorbets are created in the kitchen and then dispensed into a bowl of liquid nitrogen at the table from ISI dispensers. It creates small frozen balls that the diner pops into their mouth whole.
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Trend 6: Herbal flavours
Beverage innovation director at Monin, Andrea Fidora, points to the success of flavoured syrups that replicate the flavours of mojitos, rum, gin, tequila and more, as well as fruit purées, but puts his money on the new-launch Hibiscus Syrup for 2012.
“This has found favour with almost everyone, giving a fresh and fruity taste tempered by a bitter essential oil,” he says.
Herbal drinks using chai, basil, rosemary and tarragon syrups mixed with teas, lemonades and juices are also tipped for success – a trend endorsed by Markus Thesleff.
“I see more use of fresh fruits and emphasis on interesting infusions with herbs and spices – herbal and organic power boosts with nutraceutical properties,” he says.
And, another natural super-product – aloe – is set for a surge in popularity, with the launch here of aloe-based drinks in flavours by New Age Beverages (NAB).
Spokesperson Nicole Lau says they can provide a healthy alternative to fizzy drinks: “The Alo range is low in sugar and filled with fresh aloe vera bits that are good for the immune system, digestion and the skin – while being free of preservatives, artificial colourings or flavours.”
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Trend 7: Coffee variations
While major brands are thriving in the malls, top end hotels are refining their caffeine offerings with a return to bespoke coffees and the essential espresso, with variations only stretching as far as cold or iced coffee for the summer.
Standing out here is Jumeirah at Etihad Towers with its unique Camelccino, a camel milk cappuccino that appeals to locals and visitors alike. In addition, F&B director Nandana Wirasinha has worked with Michelin chef, Alfons Schuhbeck, to devise a customised spice blend: a small spice mill is provided with every coffee and cappuccino for customers to flavour drinks to their own taste.
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Trend 8: High-end mocktails
According to Blake Walker, drinks manager at bar and beverage concept specialist, the Gorgeous Group, one priority in the Middle East should be an emphasis on innovation in non-alcoholic drinks.
“A mocktail is not a cocktail with the alcohol removed,” he says. “Creators need to start from scratch, use coconut water or sugar cane as a base, make martinis with strong flavours such as rose, orange water, floral teas, sarsaparilla, think of floral soda waters, use bitters and tinctures, create texture with foams and creams, or go to the original source of some alcohol, like a juniper soda infusion instead of gin.”
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Trend 9: Exotic fruits
Coconut and pineapple are being supplanted by the use of increasingly exotic fruits, and even vegetables, in the preparation of all types of beverages.
London’s Ping Pong has compensated for the lack of alcohol in its Dubai outlet by using unusual ingredients including basil seeds, goji berries, kumquat, lychee, rose and rambutan, says general manager Angelo Domenico Rosato.
“The challenge was to find new ways of balancing and layering flavour and our mixologists are pushing the creative boundaries with a fig and passion fruit mocktail – the latest addition to the menu at Ping Pong Dubai.”
Marcus King at Uptown Bar plumps for freshly grated tonka bean and nutmeg, while Zamboni at the Radisson Royal also favours Asian fruits such as passion fruit and rambutan.
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Trend 10: Creating theatre
Moving away from the bar, Blake Walker sees more emphasis on delivery of drinks at the table, with the introduction of theatrical elements: “Most people are not into vertical drinking, with only 5% of customers staying at a bar,” he says.
“Bar managers need to think about trolley service, flaming ingredients, constructing drinks at tables, and putting theatre into the delivery of drinks with spritzers, atomisers and oils.”
Staff at Madinat Jumeirah Dubai are experimenting with smoking beverages, infusing drinks with smoke produced from flavoured combustibles such as vanilla pods and rosemary.
Ice too has gone beyond the cube, with a Japanese passion for ice carving coming to a bar near you – hand carved and chip ice – thin sheets in quirky shapes – are tipped to become part of the bar tender’s art. Plus alternatives include spherical ice balls that melt slower than conventional cubes, which appear at the Voda bar in Jumeirah Zabeel Saray resort Dubai, will become popular too.