STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 11 Desirable descriptors included sweetness, acidity, floral, fruity, herby, honey, nutty, chocolatey, and spicy, in order of weight. Negatively associated with quality were bitterness, over-extracted coffee flavor, woody, astringency, and aftertaste intensity. "Body" turned out to be difficult to differentiate between various instant products. Samples are tested for each flavor attribute on a 0- to 5-point scale based on intensity of the attribute, ranging from "absence" to "very high." For reference in calibrating the flavor attributes and intensity, the testers sample diluted solutions of substances like sucrose (sweetness) and caffeine (bitterness). And they memorize aromas using the olfactory vials of the Le Nez du Café test kit made by Éditions Jean Lenoir, as listed on page 10 in the "Sensory Lexicon" table. What's next? The framework was developed using intensive tests by a special group of 15 expert cuppers, and then trialed by smaller groups of 6 or 7 tasters, as would be more practical in routine industry practice. The trials yielded results that confirmed the overall validity of the methodology's rationale and procedures. ABICS emphasizes that the system is designed to be objective regarding quality grades, since its primary tests confirmed a strong consensus among expert tasters on which flavor attributes are associated with quality. In trials, however, tests delivered inconsistent quality grades in a few samples. The grades differed by only one step, not two. But the issue might need further attention. ABICS suggests that results could be fine-tuned by doing more work to train and calibrate the tasters — and simply through practice in regular usage by companies. One challenge: What if a coffee brand considers its instant product to belong to the "Excellent" or "Differentiated" A dash of instant coffee perked up mixology at Brazil Coffee Week. No. Characteristics Grade Positive flavor notes 1 U.S.A. Specialty roaster Excellent Sweet, acid, nutty, brand. Single Origin 1 fruity, chocolaty. 2 U.S.A. Specialty roaster Excellent Sweet, acid, floral, brand. Blend 2 fruity, chocolaty. 3 U.S.A. Specialty roaster Differentiated Sweet, acid, floral, brand. Blend 1 fruity, chocolaty. 4 U.S.A. Specialty roaster Differentiated Sweet, acid, brand. Blend 3 chocolaty 5 U.S.A. Specialty roaster Differentiated Acid, herby, fruity brand. Single Origin 2 6 Latin American coffee Differentiated Sweet, acid, nutty shop chain brand 7 Blend of origins, with Conventional Nutty, spicy micro-ground coffee 8 U.S.A. Organic Conventional Spicy "supermarket" coffee 9 U.S.A. Freeze-dried Conventional Herby "supermarket" coffee 10 U.S.A. Generic Conventional None "supermarket" coffee APPLICATION OF THE INSTANT COFFEE QUALITY quality grade but it gets rated a step lower? That's an issue that may already exist in the coffee market. In Brazil, for example, roasted and ground coffee is covered by national Minimum Quality Brazilian Standards that group coffees into three grades: "Gourmet," "Superior," and "Traditional." These standards inspired the instant grading system. But the ABICS white paper did not address how a brand might dispute a rating. In any case, it seems likely that a standard- ized grading framework would put useful pressure on companies, resulting in a push to improve instant products to better ensure a good rating. In other words, it could support further development of soluble as a category, perhaps in a big way. ABICS, founded in 1972, groups eight of Brazil's biggest instant producers: Cacique, Cafe Camphino, Cocam, Iguacu, Nescafé, Ofi, and RealCafé. The organization will share its data and methodology with groups and companies around the world to promote adoption and elaboration. If the system becomes widely used in the industry, it could stimulate improvements in the development, production, trade, and marketing of soluble coffee. As for consumers, perhaps even fussy drinkers of specialty coffees would discover that some of today's instant products meet their needs when they want a convenient and palatable cup? That would be one advantage of having a simple, clear way to shop. Tasters trialed the new protocol by assessing flavor attributes and quality of 10 popular instant products. Flavor Attributes Intensity Scale Intensity Description Level 0 Absence 1 Very low 2 Low 3 Middle/Moderate 4 High 5 Very high Three-Tier System of Instant Coffee Grades An instant coffee is graded by giving it an intensity score for the presence of each of the 15 flavor attributes, each of which is pre-weighted according to desirability or undesirability. The sum determines the grade: Excellent Instant Coffees • Remarkable sweetness and acidity • Intense aromatic complexity • Little bitterness and astringency • Presence of chocolaty, fruity, and floral notes • Smooth aroma and flavor. Differentiated Instant Coffees • Balanced acidity • Presence of woody, nutty, and spicy notes. • Little over-extracted coffee flavor • Medium potency on the palate • Medium to slight bitterness and astringency. Conventional Instant Coffees • Low sweetness and acidity • Bitterness and astringency present • Strong potency on the palate • Full body, with an intense over-extracted coffee flavor • Long and lasting aftertaste. (Source: ABICS) Coffee Report

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