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Permalink Reply by Brady on August 15, 2013 at 3:19pm

I've not used this syrup before. (Note: pretty sure you didn't actually mean to say "no added sugar". Maybe no HFCS?)

My main questions are: Are the drinks superior to your other alternatives? Are you achieving your COGS for the drink? If so, you're good.

If I recall correctly, back when I used to make syrup drinks 3 pumps for a 12oz was about right for Monin, Torani, DaVinci. Sweet enough to make people happy with enough of the promised flavor.

Have you found that the flavors of these syrups are truer? Do they have more concentrated flavor AND sweetness, so the balance is the same, or is the balance different? (For example, if a flavor is more potent, you'll end up with more of it for a given level of sweetness.) Just trying to understand exactly what you mean.

The best way we found to evaluate syrups was to figure out how much of each syrup it took to make the drink taste right then do a blind side-by-side tasting with a couple of people. Amazing how revealing that approach can be.

Remember that the nutrition labeling on the back can help you understand what's going on as far as sugar concentration. When you're evaluating, you'll probably want to make the grams of sugar in the finished drink match up, otherwise they'll be "too sweet" or "not sweet enough". A good syrup will have just enough of the target flavor at the desired sweetness level to make a good, balanced drink.

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Permalink Reply by Danny Heiss on August 23, 2013 at 7:20am

I used amorretti for about two years. I've also used sweet bird, and I'm currently using 1883. Basically, it really doesn't matter what you use, as long as you go through every drink you make and figure out the proper balance of flavor to coffee to milk, so that every variable can be tasted within the combined beverage. The viscosity of the amorretti drinks is much better than any I've used...but certain flavors just aren't that good. It may look pretty to use just one syrup supplier, but the best decision....if you can mange, is to get the best syrups that each company does really well. Also, to make syrups... And then price according to your cogs as said before. The best vanilla syrup I've had was the davince Madagascar vanilla natural. But that was before I started making my own vanilla.

Also, certain flavors that are made by a amorretti have different intensities to one another. For instance, their pumpkin spice is super intense, so I used to have to cut it with vanilla to make it pleasingly drinkeable to the average customer. Same with their gingerbread, and cinnamon. It inspired me to invent a few signatures because I couldn't seve them in the raw single syrup form. Gingerbread and vanilla is our "Christmas morning" signature latte. Cinnamon and caramel is our "cinnamon patty" signature. I still serve them even though I switched to a different syrup. But although their pumpkin is good, it's not as good in my opinion as the pumpkin pie sauce that davince does.

The reason I stopped carrying amoretti was not because I was upset with their product, but because they stopped offering mixed parcels. If I wanted to order, say, vanilla, hazelnut, and white chocolate, I had to order a case of each.

Those syrups also have a much shorter shelf life than other syrups.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Astley on April 25, 2014 at 7:54am

I have been making my own madagascar vanilla bean syrup since opening a month ago. Its not too time consuming and people seem to love it! I am venturing into chocolate soon which seems much more cumbersome but could be worth it for the quality of taste. Anyone have any experience with this?

What is an alternative storage and dosage method to the standard pump bottles? I am not a proponent of having ten pump style bottles lined up on my countertop although they are very quick and efficient.

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