Cold Foam Base Development for the Asian Market

It all starts at HOST Milano, one of the most important international trade shows for the HoReCa sector. An Asian operator, already active in restaurants and coffee shops, is looking for a partner to develop a Cold Foam base for use with a professional granita machine.

The brief is precise: a water-soluble cold foam powder for granita machines, to be prepared with water only, guaranteeing simple, replicable and scalable preparation across multiple points of sale. The product must maintain a stable, dense foam in the cup for at least 20 minutes after dispensing — an essential requirement for delivery service. Not just a product, but an industrial solution designed to perform in high-volume environments with operators of varying experience levels.

The technical challenge is complex on multiple fronts simultaneously. The first obstacle concerns formulation: developing a base stable enough to generate a high level of air in the granita machine, without compromising the aromatic profile of the final product — a delicate balance where pushing too far in one direction means losing quality in the other.

Cold Foam is not just for iced coffee: tea, flavoured beverages: melon, beetroot, rose and many others — all require the same level of stability and yield, each with very different sensory profiles.

The second constraint is the exclusive use of water as the preparation liquid: no milk added, for simpler management across points of sale in the target non-EU market. The third requirement is cup stability: the product must physically withstand transport, maintaining consistency and appearance for over 20 minutes after dispensing. Three conditions that must coexist in the same recipe, without compromise.

OrobicaMix didn’t limit itself to laboratory work. The team launched a field research process, with direct visits to Asian venues and stores to understand the real usage context, consumption habits and expectations of the end consumer. This approach led to a direct meeting with the client in Asia, essential for aligning technical specifications with the actual operational conditions of the points of sale.

The result is a recipe fine-tuned and validated internally, with cup stability tests carried out under real usage conditions.

Once the formulation was consolidated, the project evolved with an expanded flavor range — Latte, Matcha and Mango, to meet the personalisation demand of the Asian market and give the client a concrete tool to differentiate their offer.

The project results confirm the validity of the approach. Recipe optimisation led to a significant reduction in preparation times, making the process more fluid and accessible even for operators with limited technical experience. The cold foam water only recipe has become a concrete operational reality, with verified and replicable performance regardless of equipment or point of sale.

Consistent quality across different outlets is one of the most relevant results for a client managing a multi-site network: every cup dispensed meets the same visual and sensory standards, eliminating operator-dependent variability. A case that demonstrates how a technical product, developed methodically and with a deep understanding of the target market, can become a concrete growth lever for the client.