Hong Kong-based beverage and disposable food item manufacturer Mint Urban Technologies (www.mintcan.com) has come up with a new aromatic coffee-to-go lid that improves the taste of coffee when drinking through the lid, it says. Unlike traditional coffee lids, Mint’s new “Aroma Lid” in fact contains two separate lids – a traditional PS one topped with a second element consisting of a scented PP masterbatch that enhances the beverage’s original smell. While the traditional food-grade PS lid comes into contact with the hot beverage, the outer PP aromatics layer does not.

The idea behind the invention is to ensure coffee lovers’ access to the beverage’s smell, which – as Mint’s Marc Miller explains – accounts for 95% of taste. In traditional plastic lids, “heat from the coffee heats the plastic in a standard lid, and a plastic fragrance is emitted. This odor, however subtle, gives coffee a ‘plastic aftertaste’”, adds Mike Newcomb, vice president international business. To avoid this, Mint has added a second lid element consisting of an aromatic material that enhances the original smell.

In response to a Plasteurope.com query, Miller clarified that the second lid consists of a scented PP masterbatch, which typically is refined from its original target product, including, for example, chocolate oil to create a chocolate profile. Coffee has about 800 different recognised flavours, he explained, adding that following test runs, Mint chose a slightly sweet vanilla note for its “Aroma Lid”.

Mint Urban Technologies has capacity to produce more than 600m lids at its facilities in southern China and Shanghai. Mint products are sold across the EU, Mexico, the USA, the UK, South Africa and New Zealand, among others. The company is currently experimenting with other types of aromatics materials and is also looking into new flavour and aroma profiles.

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Presentation of Mint Urban Technologies’ “Aroma Lid” as a PDF document