Tools for Coffee Evaluation: Establishing Correlation between Sensory and Analytical Data

Dan Goldman, R&D, Strauss Coffee, Lod, Israel

Roasted coffee is one of the most complex foods in nature, consisting of more than 1000 chemical compounds which contribute to its unique taste and aroma. Coffee became one of the most consumed hot beverages due to its wakening attributes and desired taste as well as its various consumption opportunities at home, work and on the go.

During the last decades, intense research on coffee focused on identifying the characteristic constituents which develop during roasting from the green coffee beans, and on the chemical reactions leading to their formation. More than several hundreds of aroma molecules have been identified, among them the key aroma compounds which gives coffee its unique taste, as well as several off-flavor components.

In traditional food processing industry, sensory panels have key role in evaluating the taste profile of food stuff along the production process, staring from raw material to the final commercial product. In this work we describe several analytical methods employed to evaluate coffee properties. The data obtained, which is correlated with sensory panels scores, is used to provide objective measures of coffee qualities during production, along shelf life and in new product developments.