Sarah Xu, with eighteen years’ solid experience in flavor and fragrance industry, of which 11 years as a creative marketer and 7 years as category leader.
Sarah has rich experience across various categories including food and beverage, oral care, home and fabric care.
Sarah joined Symrise in 2023 with a strong recognition of Symrise’s 3D innovation approach – Decode, Design and Deliver. Rooted in consumer-centricity, empowered by innovation technology, we wish to build win-win partnership with our customers.
With our in-depth decoding of the market and creation craftsmanship, Symrise team will reinvent the classic beverage and reinterpret it with modernity. Stay tuned!
Symrise develops, produces and sells fragrance, flavoring and food ingredients, cosmetic active ingredients and raw materials as well as functional ingredients and solutions that enhance the sensory properties and nutrition of various products.
Our products are typically key functional ingredients in the end products of our customers, which include perfume, cosmetics and food manufacturers, the pharmaceutical industry and producers of supplements, pet food and baby food.
Our company’s origins go back to the year 1874. Since our initial public offering in 2006, we have grown faster than the market – and largely organically. To achieve this, we have made targeted investments in capacity expansions, in research and development centers, in our distribution network and logistics and in efficient energy supply.
The Symrise group’s operating business is divided into the two segments Taste, Nutrition & Health and Scent & Care. The divisions within these segments are organized into business units and regions. The group’s Corporate Center is located in Holzminden, Germany.
Symrise has regional headquarters in France (Rennes), the United States (Teterboro,New Jersey), Brazil (São Paulo) and Singapore.
Symrise began its business activities in China as early as 1982 with the registration of “JV 003,“ one of the first joint ventures in Shanghai. This milestone made Symrise the first international supplier of flavors and fragrances in mainland China. Symrise China currently has wholly-owned factories in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui and Jiangxi; and offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
According to the Zhouli Tianguan, ancient China had designated "Beverage Masters" responsible for crafting beverages like the six winter brews and six summer infusions. In the Ming dynasty, classic texts like Agricultural Administration defined "thirst-quenching water" as "beverages", while during the Sui and Tang dynasties, these drinks were called "yinzi". Over 100 traditional medicinal tea recipes for summer heat relief are recorded in ancient Chinese texts—for example, Yinshan Zhengyao describes a "Litchi Syrup Water" that could relieve thirst, and Widely Manual of Aromatic Plants mentions a method for creating thirst-quenching water by pressing lemon juice and boiling it with sugar. The Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica mentions that Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty instructed the Hanlin Academy to hold a beverage competition, which crowned "Perilla Infusion" as the top drink. Additionally, Tales of WuLin records that people in the Song Dynasty liked to drink "snow-soaked bean water" to cool down the summer.
The FBIF2025 Classics Revival Competition will invite leading ingredient companies to delve into ancient texts and draw inspiration from traditional "ancient drink" recipes. The challenge is to creatively craft a modern "ancient drink" with an innovative twist, offering brands a comprehensive ingredient solution for "plant-based drink" product development. Audience members will be able to taste these creations on-site and evaluate them across sensory dimensions, including flavor, color, and aroma, ultimately voting for their favorite "ancient drink". Join FBIF2025 Drink Talks to witness the revival of ancient flavors with a modern twist!