Sensory Profiling of Two Commercial Ground-Roasted Arabica Filter Coffees Presented with and without Sweetener and Milk

Coffee is one of the world’s most popular beverages, owing to its distinctive aroma and flavor. Coffee is grown worldwide in more than 50 countries. World coffee consumption is growing each year, however, there is little information available about assessor coffee choice and preference in terms of coffee consumption habits.

In fact, coffee drinkers have different coffee consuming and taste preference and like to imbibe coffee in different ways (i.e. black, with milk/creamer, sweetened etc.). The aim of this study was to evaluate the descriptive sensory attributes of coffee presented to trained assessors in four different ways (black unsweetened, black sweetened, white unsweetened and white sweetened), and also to obtain information on untrained assessor hedonic preferences for the same four different presentation styles.

Sensory profiles of two commercial ground-roasted Arabica coffees (currently available on the Irish and UK marketplace) were studied through Sensory Acceptance Testing (n = 24) and Ranking Descriptive Analysis (n = 20). Sensory acceptance testing was conducted using untrained assessors in the age range of 18 - 52. They consisted of 10 males and 14 females, were chosen on the basis that they regularly consumed coffee. Ranking Descriptive Analysis was undertaken using trained panellists in the age range of 21 - 52. They were also chosen on the basis that they regularly consumed filter coffee. ANOVA-Partial Least Square Regression (APLSR) was used to analyze the experimental data.

Results accumulated from the naïve assessors showed that the least preferred samples, for both commercial coffees, was when they were served black unsweetened and black sweetened. Coffees served in this manner were negatively significantly (P < 0.010) correlated to liking of aroma. In contrast, for both coffee samples evaluated, the assessors preferred the coffees when they were served white unsweetened and white sweetened.

From this study, it is clear that sweetening and whitening filter coffee has a large influence on how coffee attributes are perceived by assessors.  

Article by Chloe N. Stokes, et al, from University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.

Full access: http://t.cn/Eb6gUdV

Image by Yuliya Yuliya, from Flickr-cc.