Headspace volatiles contributing to flavour and consumer liking of wellness beverages

The relationships between volatile composition, sensory profile and liking of four Finnish wellness beverages were determined. Wellness beverages are finely carbonated nutritionally fortified functional drinks and are a fast growing product category in many countries. The aroma compounds of wellness beverages were extracted by solid phase microextraction and analysed by a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. The purpose of this experiment was to identify the sensory and chemical quality characters required for a positive hedonic response. The effect of consumers' health concerns on liking was also studied. This paper demonstrates that ethyl hexanoate, a-pinene, 3-hexenol, and hexyl acetate contribute to citrus-like and fresh odours and increase the liking of wellness beverages. On the other hand, 2-heptanone, which correlated with the calcium content, creates an off-flavour that is not pleasant for the consumer. Consumers who were more concerned about their health rated the wellness beverages as more pleasant. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved