Assessment of black coffee temperature profiles consumed from paper-based cups and effect on affective and descriptive product sensory attributes

Sensory acceptance testing was used to determine whether the serving temperature of black filter coffee had an effect on the hedonic sensory quality of the imbibed product using naïve assessors (n = 25) analysed in duplicate. Additionally, descriptive sensory evaluation was used to assess coffee aroma, flavour and aftertaste attributes at different temperatures using a total of fourteen attributes. Prior to consumption, exothermic spectral analysis was assessed using a thermal imaging camera on each cup of coffee to ensure that the correct drinking temperature was recorded prior to being consumed by assessors. anova Partial Least-Squares Regression (APLSR) was used to analyse experimental data accumulated. This study established that various sensory attributes of coffee are affected by the temperature coffee is imbibed at. Coffee served at 31.0 °C was negatively correlated (P < 0.05) to hedonic attributes. In contrast, coffees served at the higher temperatures of 70.8 °C and 74.4 °C were positively (P < 0.05) correlated to hedonic attributes.