---
title: "Prototype research for a new hot drink | antedote"
description: "Sensory research on prototypes of a new hot drink with hot drink drinkers in friendship triads, following each cup from first aroma to aftertaste."
url: "https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/a-hot-drink-designed-sip-by-sip/"
author: "antedote"
---

# Setting the taste direction for a new hot drink

A drink is judged one sip at a time. A beverage company had prototypes of a new hot drink in development, so we followed each cup from aroma to aftertaste with drinkers tasting among friends.

**Client**
Beverage company

**Industry**
Drinks

**Market**
North America

**Kind of work**
Concept and product testing

**Our role**
Sensory research with hot drink drinkers on prototypes of a new drink

## The question

The company’s developers had made a set of prototypes of a new hot drink, varying in strength, sweetness, flavor and mouthfeel.

Before the next round of development, the team wanted evidence to steer it: which of those differences people could actually taste, which of them mattered, and what made the drink feel indulgent.

## Our approach

People tasted in small groups of friends, which makes it easier to talk openly about something as personal as taste.

Some already drank this kind of drink and some drank other hot drinks, so the brief could speak to both.

The tasting followed the drink the way people experience it, from look and smell through the first sip, the middle and the last to the aftertaste. Every prototype was tasted, beside a drink already on the market as the point of reference.

Sweet, milky drinks tire the palate quickly, so short tastings isolated single elements of each prototype. Cards people filled in themselves recorded every sensation as more, less or just right, so each palate was on record alongside the conversation.

## What the team came away with

The product team had a sensory design brief, written as a drinking journey from first aroma to aftertaste in drinkers’ own words.

It set each element of the drink as a design challenge for the developers to solve, with a read of how each prototype came across in the cup, written to guide the next round.

Who we heard from

People who already drink this kind of hot drink and people who drink others, in friendship triads

## Related work

[View concept and product testing case studies](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/?work=Concept%20and%20product%20testing#library)

- Spirits

    ### [Bringing new editions to a core spirit without unsettling its drinkers](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/new-editions-of-a-core-spirit/)

    The brand went ahead with the series, and two of the editions we researched later reached market.

- Drinks

    ### [Choosing where a home drinks business should innovate next](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/beverage-system-innovation-strategy/)

    Two of the opportunities named in the strategy later launched.

**What we do**
[Concept testing and portfolio prioritization](https://antedote.com/what-we-do/concept-testing/)

## Developing new products or concepts?

We’d be happy to help you assess and improve them.

[Talk to us](https://antedote.com/talk-to-us/) · [hello@antedote.com](mailto:hello@antedote.com)

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