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

Abstract

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). ANOVA-Partial Least Square Regression (APLSR) was used to analyse the experimental data. This study established that the naïve assessors preferred both coffee samples when served white unsweetened and white sweetened. In terms of the descriptive attributes, it is evident that when coffee is served black, the attributes are more pronounced.