Sensory profile of Italian Espresso brewed Arabica Specialty Coffee under three roasting profiles with chemical and safety insight on roasted beans

• Published in: International journal of food science & technology 2021-12, Vol.56 (12), p.6765-6776
• Main Authors: Vezzulli, Fosca, Bertuzzi, Terenzio, Rastelli, Silvia, Mulazzi, Annalisa, Lambri, Milena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acidity; Acrylamide; Astringents; Beans; Caffeine; Coffee; Flavors; Food processing; Food safety; Fruits; Light levels; Macromolecules; Melanoidins; Polyphenols; Roasting; sensory analysis; Sensory evaluation; sensory profile; specialty coffee; Substrates
• ISSN: 0950-5423; 1365-2621
• DOI: 10.1111/ijfs.15380

Summary Specialty coffee (SC) has been showing an increasing interest from the consumers which appreciate its traceability and the peculiar flavours from each single origin. Additionally, the processes to which coffee fruits underwent to get green coffee characterise the beans in terms of macromolecules acting as substrates during the roasting. This work evaluates via sensory analysed eight SC, roasted at light, medium, and dark level, submitted to Italian espresso extraction, to assess how different roasting levels exalt the expected cup profile obtained by the suppliers via cupping in origin countries. Finally, roasted beans were characterised for physico‐chemical features (pH, titratable acidity, caffeine, melanoidins, polyphenols and acrylamide). Sensory analysis demonstrated that the intermediate roasting level and espresso extraction match better attributes from in‐origin cupping. Melanoidins (mmol g−1 coffee d.b.) was able to discriminate among roasting levels (light 0.12 ± 0.01; medium 0.13 ± 0.003; dark 0.14 ± 0.01; α = 0.05). Acrylamide analyses ensured compliance with the food safety standards (light 301.9 ± 37.2 ppb; medium 126.1±19ppb; dark 107.9 ± 22.5ppb). Physico‐chemical features were able to cluster samples from different origins within the same roasting level (α = 0.05). Results showed correlations (α = 0.01) between sensory analysis and physico‐chemical values: direct for caffeine and astringency, reverse for perceived acidity in relation to astringency, roasted, dried fruits and nutty notes. The present work deals with 8 lots of Arabica Specialty Coffee from different Origin of known sensory profile obtained during in‐Origin cuppings. Once physical characterized coffee underwent to three different roasting profile to get light, medium and dark roasted batches for each lot. All the roasted coffee samples were extracted with a professional espresso machine and sensory analysed by a panel of 6 trained tasters. Data analysis was aimed to identify the best fitting roasting profile to match sensory features provided from in‐Origin cupping when coffee is tasted after Italian espresso extraction. Finally, chemical characterisation of roasted coffee gave useful paramethers to discriminate among differnt roasting levels and to cluster coffee by Origin.