Patent ID: 7378122

Claim:
A method of producing a beverage comprising the steps of: (a) dispersing xanthan gum, gellan gum and pectin gum in hot water to produce a gum solution by adding xanthan gum, gellan gum and pectin gum separately or in any combination to the hot water while the hot water is agitated under high shear conditions, wherein a temperature of the hot water is at least 110° F.; (b) cooling the gum solution to a temperature at which loss of flavor volatiles contained in a flavor to be added in step (c) is minimized; (c) combining other beverage ingredients including flavor with the gum solution to produce a beverage; and (d) activating the gellan gum by heating the beverage to a temperature of at least 180° F.; wherein xanthan gum is present in an amount ranging from about 0.0002% to about 0.5% by weight of the beverage, gellan gum is present in an amount ranging from about 0.002% to about 0.5% by weight of the beverage and pectin gum is present in an amount ranging from about 0.05% to about 2.0% by weight of the beverage.