sipblnd

Episode 6: Sampling, Part Two (continued)

Batch one taught us what we didn’t want. So we pivoted.

Watermelon mint was gone. In its place, we wanted something different, a flavour you could actually use in a warm drink. Something you could stir into a coffee or a tea, not just cold water. We landed on coconut crema, to sit alongside the sea salt citrus. Sweet and salty. Two opposites, again.

Then batch two landed.

Better. Not good, but better.

Sea salt citrus was maybe 80% there, close enough to taste the potential, far enough to know it wasn’t done. And coconut crema? Let’s just say it reminded us a little too much of an instant vanilla latte from a Nescafé sachet. Not exactly the premium ritual we had in mind.

So, back to the drawing board. Again.

This is the part nobody shows you. The unglamorous middle. Batch after batch, tweak after tweak, chasing a flavour that’s almost right until it finally is. We weren’t there yet. But we were getting closer.