Freshly Roasted Coffee Re-Evaluated: A Pilot Study on the Impact of Post-Roast Maturation on Sensory Experience

‘Freshly roasted’ has long been considered the ultimate indicator of coffee quality. This study challenges this concept by arguing that coffee, as a complex processed agricultural product, undergoes a critical developmental ‘maturation’ phase after roasting that is significant for its sensory experi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yves C. Zimmermann, Steffen Schwarz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-07-01
Series:Proceedings
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/109/1/8
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Summary:‘Freshly roasted’ has long been considered the ultimate indicator of coffee quality. This study challenges this concept by arguing that coffee, as a complex processed agricultural product, undergoes a critical developmental ‘maturation’ phase after roasting that is significant for its sensory experience. Thus, this study investigates whether there is (i) a discernible sensory effect and (ii) a perceptible consumer preference for ‘freshly roasted’ coffee beans by means of a triangle test (ISO 4120:2021) combined with a hedonic preference test (ISO 8587:2013) on 42 untrained participants. The triangle test results indicate that there is a significant difference between the samples, and a slight majority expressed a preference for not ‘freshly roasted’ coffee, encouraging a more nuanced approach to the issue.
ISSN:2504-3900