Sensory Properties of Under-Roasted Coffee Beverages

Conditions milder than standard roasting (under-roasting: 140 to 170 degrees C for 20 to 12 min) have been proposed to reduce the formation of potentially harmful compounds developing during standard coffee roasting. In the present study, sensory properties of brews prepared with under-roasted coffees (140 to 165 degrees C for 20 min) were described by descriptive analysis. Two meta-attributes were defined: coffee consisting of attributes positively related to the increasing of process temperature and no-coffee consisting of those negatively related to temperature. The progressive lowering of no-coffee and the corresponding increasing of coffee mean values were induced by temperature increasing in under-roasting conditions. The processing temperature of 150 degrees C seems to represent the changing point between the 2 meta-attributes with no-coffee prevailing at lower and coffee at higher temperatures. Consumer responses indicate the positive effect of both product processing temperature and coffee attribute intensity on liking. Brews from coffee treated at temperature lower than 150 degrees C showed a sensory profile characterized by no-coffee attributes and resulted the less preferred by regular coffee consumers.