Last year, the beverage industry set high expectations for citrus flavors. In particular, lemon was predicted to be one of the Top 3 best-selling flavors in 2014, according to respondents of Beverage Industry’s2013 New Product Development Survey. Although it didn’t end up in the Top 3, it did make the Top 5, according to Beverage Industry’s 2015 New Product Development Outlook Survey.
Lemon was ranked as the No. 5 top-selling flavor in 2014, with 11 percent of survey respondents reporting it as a top-selling ingredient. It also tied for the No. 2 spot on the most-used flavors list, outranked by its sibling fruit, orange. According to the survey, 49 percent of respondents used orange flavor in a beverage formulation in 2014, up 8 percentage points from last year’s survey. Lagging only slightly, 47 percent of respondents used lemon flavor in a beverage, up 1 percentage point, and 42 percent used lime flavor in a beverage, up 7 percentage points.