PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2012

BOTTLE MAKING 19 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 11/12 www.petpla.net Typical Chinese drinks PETplanet: What drinks are typi- cally Chinese? Are there particular beverage ingredients that are primar- ily and exclusively applied in the Chi- nese market? Yan Wu: China has several classic- styled drinks. Typically, these may include “traditional herb tea”, “apricot kernel juice” and “sweet-n-sour plum juice”. There are a few special ingredi- ents primarily used in Chinese drinks. For example, the Rhodiola Rosea extract is regularly used in energy drinks; jasmine flavouring is used in ready-to-drink-teas, and walnut flavouring is added to milk drinks. More generally Longan and Goji (also known as Chinese Wolfberries) fla- vours are regularly utilised in a variety of drink categories - both Longan and Goji flavours contain phytochemicals and are used to provide nutritional value. The Longan tree is found in tropical areas of South and Southeast Asia. For reasons mentioned, people often eat its naturally edible fruit. PETplanet: Ready to drink teas have the biggest growth in the Chinese beverage market. Traditionally, China is a country of tea drinkers – is this still valid? Have any new recipes or fla- vours been added in recent years? Yan Wu: It is true that teas have had a prominent role throughout Chi- nese history. Black and green teas continue to be the most popular varie- ties among modern-day consumers. In addition, new flavours and flavour Wild in China Wild Flavors (Beijing) is an affiliate company of Wild Flavors GmbH in Zug, Swit- zerland. Established in 1997, WILD Flavors (Beijing) com- menced production operations in 2003 following the opening of a state of the art manufac- turing plant located in Beijing’s Business Development Area (BDA). Operations are ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and PAS 220 certified. The company focuses on supplying flavours made from natural ingredients to food and beverages companies. It pro- vides a wide range of products including compound, syrups, natural flavours, flavour packs, natural colours, fruit powders, concentrated juices, sweeten- ers, and functional ingredients. Using its advanced research and development capabilities, Wild provides customers with food and beverages products and services. In addition to domestic markets, Wild Fla- vors (Beijing) provides value- added products and services to brands in Mongolia, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. www.wildflavors.com combinations, such as kumquat and lemon, or smoked plum, are gaining momentum in the tea market. Other trends in the tea market include the development of func- tional teas that are considered to have a favourable impact on weight and external beauty. There are also many new teas with juice content. In general though, high-end products with clear associations with “premium” and “coun- try of origin” are in great demand by con- sumers. However, traditional teas such as Longjing and Tieguanyin Oolong tea are also growing in popularity. PETplanet: Are there applications or recipes which are especially well- suited for PET bottles? Yan Wu: Currently, the 500ml PET bottle is the most popular bottle for soft drinks in China. This is basically due to its convenient design in that it is easy to transport, reclose, and is also resil- ient. All the big players in the ready- to-drink market, such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Master Kong, Uni-President and Wahaha, use the PET bottle. Another important reason for choosing PET bottles is that they are easy to dis- tribute nation-wide without any mishap, such as breakage during transport. However, there are a few sectors where PET bottles are not well-suited. For beer, PET bottles are disliked because consumers prefer to drink beer from glass bottles or cans. Also, for dairy products, the use of PET bot- tles is uncommon because consumers prefer smaller bottles of 200 or 250ml. Smaller packaging is usually a carton.