As the decision method took shape, one dependency became clear early on.
A pre-development decision system cannot evaluate feasibility in abstraction.
It needs a stable reference layer for what ingredients are, before deciding what combinations should be built.
That reference layer became the ingredient background library.
Decisions need a shared material context
When operators talk about new drinks, ingredients are rarely neutral.
Some are staples.
Some are seasonal.
Some are operationally forgiving.
Others are fragile, volatile, or supply-sensitive.
Without a shared ingredient context, feasibility assessments become inconsistent.
The same idea may appear viable or unviable depending on who is evaluating it.
The ingredient background library exists to anchor decisions to a common material baseline.
Start from what already exists
The library is not designed to be exhaustive from the start.
Its initial focus is deliberately narrow:
commonly used, high-frequency ingredients that already appear across cafés and beverage menus.
These ingredients form the stable core of the system.
They define what most operations already know how to handle.
By starting here, the system avoids speculative modelling and stays grounded in real usage.
Operator inputs come before system suggestions
The library is not only a backend structure.
In use, operators begin by selecting the ingredients they already have access to.
This constrains the decision space immediately.
Rather than asking “what could be created?”, the system asks:
“what is feasible given what is already available?”
This keeps decisions practical and reduces unnecessary expansion of inventory and workflow.
New ingredients enter as candidates, not defaults
Emerging or trending ingredients are treated differently.
They can be introduced into the library as candidate inputs, but they do not replace the core set.
Their role is additive, not foundational.
This allows the system to acknowledge novelty without letting it redefine feasibility standards by default.
A structural layer, not a creative catalogue
The ingredient background library is not a recipe database or inspiration board.
Its purpose is structural.
It defines the material boundaries within which decisions are evaluated.
By separating ingredient context from recipe creation, the system ensures that feasibility is assessed before creative effort is invested.