Sensory Analysis

Coffee around the world: Guatemala Chimaltenango

We are in deep love with Italian Espresso, but from time to time it is nice to take a look at the way people choose and drink coffee in the world. We are glad to publish this short contribution by Andrea Gersi, an Italian-American coffee roaster that blends its Italian roots with the new American trends.

Guatemala Chimaltenango

A Guatemala Chimaltenango (San Jose Ocana Red Bourbon) roasted by Cuvée Coffee, Austin (Texas). Awesome notes of lavander during the cupping and black fruits. Very silky coffee with a pleasant bitterness. 19 g shot for 27 second at 92.5°C temperature.

Coffee around the world: Congo Kivu

We are in deep love with Italian Espresso, but from time to time it is nice to take a look at the way people choose and drink coffee in the world. We are glad to publish this short contribution by Andrea Gersi, an Italian-American coffee roaster that blends its Italian roots with the new American trends.

Congo Kivu

Beautiful notes of citrus, dark fruits and hibiscus awesome. 18 g shot for 25 seconds at 93°C temperature . Nice body for a single origin, very silky. The crema holds very well and the aftertaste is so pleasant: a very delicate cup . By the way, a very surprisingly cup.

The New Taster Cup

By Manuela Violoni, R&D manager at the Taster Study Center

Cream, gustative balance, aromas: three aspects of espresso which, according to tests, are influenced by the cup. The New Taster Cup is the result of three years of sensory experimentation, it is a improvement of the official tasting instrument of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters which values good coffees and punishes bad ones

If the glass influences the perceived characteristics of a wine, this is three times truer for the cup in that it influences not only the way in which the senses approach the beverage but also the physical status of the beverage itself: the temperature and the way in which the components of the cream surface. All these aspects have been kept into account during the experimentation to which the Tasters Study Centre has participated for the part on sensory analysis while Forever has dealt with technical issues.  The New Taster Cup has been designed to optimise its performance in all stages of its use, not only from the point of view of tasting but also to support the barista in preparing a perfect espresso.

Less stackable, more equilibrium of tastes

The external shape of the New Tasters Cup is designed in a way which makes it difficult to stack it in more than two rows. This is how all the cups reach the optimum temperature which is necessary to keep the gustative equilibrium of the beverage. Even the barista who does not know it will naturally follow this simple rule, thus automatically eliminating a frequent mistake made during preparation.

Elliptical bottom for a more persistent cream

The internal shape of the cup materially influences the formation of the cream. Actually it is mainly made up of fibres and fats which are in the coffee: when the espresso drips from the spout to end up in the cup, the convective movements inside of it make these components, along with the aromas of the coffee, surface. A flat or cone-shaped bottom hinder these movements, which are on the contrary favour by the elliptical interior. The New Taster Cup is designed to optimise this stage which gives a finer and more persistent to the sight cream with greater formation of the prestigious stripe-effect and with a more powerful aroma.

Clear level, no more extraction levels

In the New Taster Cup an internal mark indicates the optimum extraction level for the espresso: 25 millilitres. Not only no more short or too watered espresso but it also makes it easier for the barista to regulate the grinding: fixing extraction at 25 millilitres in 25 seconds is an easy criterion to avoid mistakes of over-extraction or under-extraction, burning the coffee or not extracting enough its aromatic or tactile potential. The internal mark makes this easier allowing the barista to keep the correctness of the grinding and of the pressing monitored at each extraction.

Brighter white, nicer cream

In order to correctly assess the colour of the cream of the espresso, the cup must be white inside. The super-white porcelain with which the New Taster Cup is made is something new on the Italian stage, to the extent that if you put it next to the traditional cups the latter look grey and opaque. The perfect and brilliant white of the porcelain make the most of the reflections of the cream of a good espresso and of the brightness of its surface. This is not nothing, given that consumers makes assessments especially with their eyes.

Lighter, more elegant

Following a trend from tasting glasses designed for wines, the New Taster Cup weights 27% less than the previous model. This conveys a sensation of greater elegance and makes it easier to hold the cup thus allowing the taster to better focus on the sensations.

Varying thickness, more non-conductivity

The reduced weight does not mean that the New Taster Cup is thin to the point that it does not ensure that the right temperature is maintained. The secret is in the varying thickness, greater towards the bottom where the espresso is contained and lower towards the top with which the lips come into contact. This makes it possible to fully exploit the non-conductive nature of the porcelain, an excellent thermal insulating material, without making the lips feel a sensation of thickness.

More room at the top, wider aromas

Just as with wine glasses, also the cup must not be filled up to the edge: it is necessary to leave enough room at the top, meaning room for the aromas to set free from the liquid and concentrate in the air so as to be directed towards the nose. More room at the top allows for the aromas to become wider: this is the reason why in the New Tasters Cup it has been increased by 10%. This, together with the internal shape of the upper part of the cup, makes it possible to better perceive certain aromatic notes.

Greater hygiene, more aromatic freshness

Even when the tasting phase is over, the way in which the cup is treated is important for the correctness of the following assessment. A critical aspect of the hygiene of the cup is the bottom: if it is not adequately designed, there is the risk that the washing-up powder from the dishwasher might pile up. The detergent then drips on the border when the cup is removed from the dishwasher and placed on the cup warmer. The New Taster Cup features some grooves designed to make any residual washing powder flow away completely.

The New Taster Cup vs the previous model

The data clearly show that the same espresso, tasted in the New Taster Cup, appears to be nicer than when tasted in the previous model, with an Edonic Index of 7.70 vs 6.78. The reasons for this lay in a number of factors: first of all, the appearance of the cream, the colour of which shows out better in the super-white porcelain. At a tactile level, the espresso has more body, due to the cream being formed in an optimal way and to volume control, which optimises extraction. The bitterness is less sharp and the aromas are valued, especially the prestigious spicy notes ranging from rhubarb to liquorice and which convey a precious note to the sensations persisting in the mouth.
The New Taster Cup highlights huge differences compared to the previous one also at the level of the visual and tactile impact of the object itself. The colour strikes more than the previous one and makes it stand out compared to the more wide-spread cups. Overall, it’s more elegant and stylish even if its shape can still be defined as classic, It’s deemed to be more modern and ‘cheerful’. At the touch, it gives more pleasant sensations due to its being lighter. It’s easier to hold, the shape and the surface have been improved. Finally, its border conveys a sensation of enhanced fineness to the lips. Despite the fineness, use at the coffee shop too is recommended.

Coffee in future

by Luigi Odello

Secretary General of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, he is also a lecturer at the University of Udine, Verona and at the Cattolica in Piacenza. In addition he is the Chairman of the Taster Study Center and Secretary General of the Italian Espresso National Institute

The coffee production cycle is long and, especially, all too often there is no contact between the various stages: whoever harvests the beans in the tropical countries rarely has an idea of how they will be processed and of the expectations of the final consumer.
We want to focus on this last element in that coffee, a successful one, in the future must be able to satisfy the desires of the consumers. It must be said that satisfying expectations is something that goes from the ritual modality to the place where you drink coffee. Having said this, the most important aspect is sensory trends.
Resorting to the ten points identified by the Taster Study Centre, we can try and define the profile of the winning coffee.

Increase in the number of taste-aware people
In future we will have more and more time availability and a part of this will lead to an increase in the number of taste-aware people. The sort of people who attend courses to regain their ability to make autonomous choices through an effective use of sense organs. We can see this trend already: just come to think about the 5.000 people who attended the courses of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. The increase of such people will, as a consequence, bring about a more demanding research for the satisfaction of the pleasure that can come from coffee. Ultimately, this will mean that people will point out to each other the good and bad products available on the market. The quality-minded companies will have a certain alley, all the others will be penalised.

Evolution of the analytical approach to taste
The increasing conviction of the inability to have a role in handling the major social issues will lead individuals to create for themselves some micro cosmos where they can find self-confidence, self-satisfaction and, in general, rewards. The small pleasures in life will become increasingly important and coffee is, undoubtedly, one of these. Greater attention will be devoted to the quality of what we drink and people will want to match taste and knowledge so that they can boast their specific competence.

Decline of gender differences
Males and females will be more and more similar in terms of tastes and, ultimately, of consumption. Coffee will become a way of getting together and the places where to drink it will become a sort of a stage of social life. This will be the background against which new rituals and sensory experiences will be sought for.

Looking for the lost sensory experience
We do not know to what extent this is true but many people say that coffee no longer has the aroma it used to, that intense and varied smell that you could find everywhere inside the bar. The diffusion of consumption systems that pay less attention to the olfactory quality – take automatic machines – and of a certain type of blends for home use – where, when you are lucky, only the aroma of roasted beans dominates – have deprived the consumer of an effective offer to a demand which, probably, has its origins in our genes. Well, the future will be characterised by a wealth of individuals looking for these sensory experiences.

Back to genuine aromas
Power, perfection, deepness: these are the three distinguishing qualities of an excellent cup of coffee. The Italian espresso owes a bit of its international success to these expectations of the consumer, even if they are unconscious. It is a strong sum of aromas and, when these are good, they are at the heart of a sublime moment of sensory satisfaction.
The preparation method is important because it can extract the very best from a blend but there is always the other face of the coin: if the blend is of poor quality, the negative sides of it will be even more noticeable compared with extracting via softer methods (e.g. filter and moka pot).
The return to genuine aromas will also reduce the trend to some experiences, such as aromatisation of coffee, whilst producing an increase of traditional matches, i.e. with milk or, in some cultures, with distillates.

The floral goes universal
Floral is the smell of life itself and is climbing the stairs of appreciation. In the coffee it finds its best expression in the varieties ripened at high altitudes – where the difference in temperature between day and night is sharper – subject to wet processing and then left for fermentation in pure and fresh waters. The not-too-strongly-roasted blends which have high quantities of the floral aroma will benefit from this and the same goes for consumption of pure varieties, single-origins which are becoming increasingly popular in Italy.

Decline of the fruity
The fruity aroma is one of the big favourites in that it is a promise of easily absorbable energy sources. Over time, in the industrial economies, it has been widely used to make products such as drugs more pleasant, hence being associated to negative things. In the coffee it almost always goes hand in hand with the floral and it is less strong than other sensations, consequently it will have no influence on consumption.

Cultural contaminations
Globalisation will produce a parallel and transversal flattening off of different consumption methods. If, till yesterday, Italy drank espresso and the US the filter coffee, already now, but especially tomorrow, the Americans will want espresso and Italians will be looking for other preparation methods. The segmentation between the various types will happen depending on the time of day: a long coffee for the morning, might be a single-origin, an espresso at the mid-morning break, a moka after lunch, for example.
The popularity of machines that are fed with coffee in beans, making it possible to have different preparations, will support this trend. And coffee will become more and more a ritual and always less of a habit.

Looking for softness
The world needs caresses. Therefore, from a tactile point of view, the coffee will be required to be more and more silky and absolutely astringent. The Italian espresso prepared with good-quality blends will be better positioned because it will have body, it will be syrup-like and creamy. Beverages such as cappuccino, which due to their nature have a remarkable tactile tenderness, will be rewarded. And with cream being criticised because of health issues, it will be up to traditional genuine beverages to satisfy the need for softness.

Looking for sensory consistency
Even if the consumer is not an expert taster, her/his subconscious verifies the level of consistency between the perceptions given by the various sense organs or between the perceptions of a different nature given by the same sense. In the coffee, the floral/fruity must keep a certain relationship with the roasted/spicy, the acidity with the bitterness, the bitterness and the roasted note with the colour of the creamy froth. From a coffee prepared with filter or moka, nobody expects neither the creamy froth nor the syrup-like touch, while for an espresso this is of paramount importance. And you name it.

Final observations
To wrap up, the coffee for the future will be the type of coffee capable of satisfying both taste and knowledge, the ritual moments and the needs of the life torn between increasingly hectic working styles and the desire to enjoy leisure time and, especially, through the little pleasures and the time we devote to ourselves. For coffee, if satisfactory from a sensory point of view, we can imagine what follows:

  • a new interest in single-origin varieties;
  • increase in consumption of coffee in beans both at home and at the workplace thanks to the new machines which make it possible to immediately grind coffee and prepare different types of it;
  • greater use of single-dose coffee both at home and at the workplace;
  • survival of traditional methods, e.g. the moka pot in Italy, which leave margins for a remarkable rituality and enable an adequate use of single-origin varieties;
  • growth of Italian espresso in the world.

Good or bad, you pay it all the same

by Luigi Odello

Secretary General of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, he is also a lecturer at the University of Udine, Verona and at the Cattolica in Piacenza. In addition he is the Chairman of the Taster Study Center and Secretary General of the Italian Espresso National Institute

The espresso taken at the coffe shop is one of the few products of the ‘Bel Paese’, Italy, associated with the idea of pleasure that you pay for all the same, be it good or bad. Actually, its price depends more on the geography – in the South of Italy it is cheaper – than on the degree of pleasure it can give.
Hear this out: two coffee shops in the Loreto area in Milan; both nice and rather big in size. The first one is Bar Gatto, with tables outdoors. I step inside an there is a sparkling counter behind which is a shiny Faema positioned in a way that makes it possible for the barista never to turn his back on the clients. I ask for a coffee and promptly the barista prepares it with the machine. I am not able to fully see the operations he is performing but it seems to me that he is doing things professionally. Here comes the first surprise: after having finished his job he comes round to me and says: “Listen, I prepared two cups because I will drink one myself, just choose the one you like most”. Believe me, for a second I thought I was not really in Milan. I give a look at the two espressos, in one of them there is a white spot – the same old story: the two exits of the filter-holder never give you two identical coffees – and so I go for the other one. Nice hazel-shade creamy froth with a fine texture, the smell is flowery. To the palate it is silky, with a fine balance between bitter and acid and then it develops a complex aroma in which you can distinguish the toasted bread, the cocoa, dried fruit and nuts. I ask for the name of the blend because I cannot possibly spot it: Prestige by Covim. I say that the coffee is nice, sit there and chat for a while and then I pay: € 0,80.
I carry on my tour in the various coffee shops looking for the sort of quality in the espresso that has been defined by the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and shortly after I walk in another elegant coffee shops with an attractive name: Bar del Corso. Once again, the staff is polite. I start speaking about the price of a cup of coffee in Milan, a very popular topic at the time. They guarantee they will not increase it till the moment the supplier will increase the price of the blend. I ask for a coffee and immediately the bar tender removes the filter holder from a nice Cimbali, he fills it with a strong stroke, he presses it with energy, he wipes any coffee grounds off the rim of the filter, he fastens it and observes the coffee while it pours in the cup and stops the machine at the right moment. No doubts that he knows what he is doing and he is professional.
He hands the coffee over to me and I observe it. The colour of the creamy froth is right but the texture is rather coarse. The notes of straw, dry grass and wet earth are clear to the nose. To the palate, it is thick and has a good body but as you swallow it the tongue becomes rough and the interior of the cheeks wrinkles. With regard to sensations perceived at the back of the throat, the notes are just the same notes perceived by the nose but even stronger and more annoying. I pay for it: € 0,90. I keep in my mind the name of the blend: Hardy. I then head to the following bar but I am accompanied by an astringent sensation that does not want to leave my mouth. I hope I will be able to find something better but I no longer want to have any more coffee and I am afraid I will not be able to be a fair judge for the sample I will taste.