The Texas A&M-trained tastemaker

The tart snap of lemonade. The creamy nostalgia of birthday cake frosting. The buttery crumble of pie crust.

Flavor is what pulls us back to childhood kitchens, family dinners or the first bite of something unforgettable. But behind every sip and bite is someone shaping that experience, blending science with storytelling.

For Lauren Muhlberger ’12, that someone is her.

There are 500 certified flavorists in the world, and even fewer of them are senior certified flavorists. Muhlberger has built a career out of designing the flavors people crave. Her lab is stocked not with test tubes or beakers but with tiny bottles that hold the power to trigger memory, joy or even surprise.

“Flavor creation is a little bit of science and a lot of storytelling,” Muhlberger said. “It’s not just about making something taste good. It’s about recreating an experience, something familiar but magical.”

Finding her flavor

When Muhlberger arrived at Texas A&M University, she didn’t even know the word “flavorist” existed. A 2012 graduate of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Food Science and Technology, she expected to follow a more traditional career path in quality control or product development. That changed after graduation, when she took a job with a beverage manufacturer and met her first flavorist.

“I realized there were people whose entire job was recreating the taste of a mango or a cola,” she told Texas A&M food science and technology students during a presentation on campus. “It was like discovering this secret world.”

A decade to master taste

Becoming a certified flavorist is no small feat. The process takes nearly a decade of apprenticeship, study and testing. Muhlberger describes her early days as “being dropped into a foreign language you have to learn very quickly.”

Aspiring flavorists spend years memorizing the chemistry and sensory profiles of thousands of compounds. They learn how a single molecule can turn a strawberry note from juicy to jammy, or why one aromatic can taste like vanilla in one formula and plastic in another.

To earn certification by the Society of Flavor Chemists, candidates must pass a gauntlet of written and oral exams, including blind identification of essential oils and aromatic chemicals. Only a select, skilled few pass.

For Muhlberger, it wasn’t just about passing. It was about mastering a craft that sits at the intersection of creativity and precision.

Science, memory and a little magic

As a senior flavorist and research and development manager at Sovereign Flavors, Muhlberger describes her workspace as part science lab, part sensory playground. Shelves are lined with tiny bottles, each capturing a specific note, from citrus aldehydes and smoky pyrazines to creamy lactones.

With these building blocks, she crafts everything from the vibrant tang of passionfruit to the buttery crumble of pie crust.

But it doesn’t always go perfectly. Early in her career, a cherry formula leaned medicinal, and a passionfruit attempt, she laughs, “smelled like gym socks.”

“That’s the thing about flavor,” she said. “You can’t shortcut it. You have to try, fail, adjust. The process is humbling.”

The invisible hand behind taste

Most people never think about where flavor comes from, but Muhlberger sees it everywhere. It’s her job to make the artificial feel real, the flavor equivalent of capturing sunlight in a jar.

“It’s all about evoking an emotional response,” Muhlberger said. “A good flavor doesn’t just taste like a fruit, it tastes like your memory of that fruit.”

Her role demands scientific rigor, too. Every formula must meet complex Food and Drug Administration guidelines, follow industry safety standards and balance goals like clean labels, natural sourcing and affordability.

Muhlberger also collaborates closely with food scientists, marketers and regulatory teams to bring flavors from concept to reality.

A job worth discovering

For Muhlberger, being a flavorist is a dream job, one she never knew existed as a student. “Flavorist wasn’t on the list at career day,” she said. “But it should be. If you love science and creativity, it’s one of the coolest jobs out there.”

More than a decade into her career, Muhlberger still feels a sense of wonder when a formula finally clicks.

“There’s this moment when the flavor hits just right,” she said. “It’s magic.”

Looking back, she credits her time at Texas A&M for laying the foundation, not just in technical skills but in curiosity, problem-solving and resilience.

“The food science program taught me how to think like a scientist while still being creative,” she said. “It gave me the confidence to pursue a career path I didn’t even know existed when I started.”

Now she hopes her story sparks someone else’s interest.

“My hope is that sharing my story helps someone else realize that paths like this exist,” Muhlberger said. “And that they start right here.”