Consumer perception of decocted coffee leaf tea originated from different altitude

Abstract

It is commonly known that plantation location influences the composition of the coffee component as well as the leaves. Therefore, it was expected that the difference location will also affect the quality of decocted one. In this current study, effect of plantation location is investigated on Arabica and Robusta coffee leaf tea. Two different coffee plantations were chosen as the region of observation (560 ASL and 1700 ASL). All the coffee leaf tea was brewed by decoction method, in which sensorially optimized by Just about Right (JAR) method. The sensory attributes of concern were included sweet, sour, bitter taste and astringent mouth-feel. Considering consumer preference on the brewed coffee leaf tea, the decoction brewing condition were set on 95°C for 5 minutes. Additionally, coffee leaf tea grown at higher altitudes exhibits significantly greater total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (p < 0.05). Not only does this tea have higher TPC and antioxidant activity at higher altitudes, but it also shows superior consumer sensory acceptability. This may be supported by the fact that higher altitude coffee leaf tea has more diverse sensory driver components than that of lower altitude coffee leaf tea as suggested by LC-MS.