Coffee Science Foundation and Toddy Begin New Cold Brew Research
The Coffee Science Foundation (CSF) has announced that it will begin a new research project, “Towards a Deeper Understanding of Cold Brew Coffee.” The project will define the parameters of the cold brewing method, including chemical and sensory analysis.
Less Strong, More Sweet
Read the full article on the SCA Portal.
Graduate student MACKENZIE BATALI, Professor CARLITO LEBRILLA, Professor JEAN-XAVIER GUINARD, and Professor WILLIAM D. RISTENPART share surprising results of “fractionation” experiments at UC Davis exploring the natural sweetness of black drip brew coffee in partnership with the SCA and Breville Corporation.
If you talk to aficionados of specialty coffee, however, you quickly learn that other sensory attributes are paramount. In fact, a word you are likely to hear from coffee experts, often uttered in reverential tones, is sweetness.
Typical consumers associate sweetness in coffee with the act of stirring in sugar or artificial sweetener, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Rather, coffee experts have long known that black coffee, without any additives, can have perceptible sweetness. Considered by many to be the holy grail of specialty coffee, natural sweetness is a sublime pleasure for those who get to enjoy it in the cup. At the same time, however, natural sweetness can be maddening to those who need to make it happen. Anybody who sources, roasts, or brews coffee professionally knows that delivering natural sweetness in black coffee isn’t easy: sweetness is fleeting, fluctuating from lot to lot of beans or in response to minor differences in roast or brew conditions. This difficulty raises an important question: How do you maximize the natural sweetness in black coffee?
SCA Publishes US Coffee Market Overview 2018
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has announced the publication of the US Coffee Market Overview 2018. This report offers a large-scale understanding of coffee retail sales in the US and explores where people buy and consume their coffee.
Simonelli Group Partners with Coffee Science Foundation (CSF) for New Espresso Research
The SCA Coffee Science Foundation (CSF), launched by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) in April 2019, has announced that Italian coffee machine manufacturer Simonelli Group will become the first major partner of the organization, beginning a new four-year research project.
Effect of Basket Geometry on the Sensory Quality and Consumer Acceptance of Drip Brewed Coffee
Read the full academic paper in Journal of Food Science
In this work, discrimination tests, descriptive analysis, consumer tests, and total dissolved solids (TDS) were used to evaluate the effects of brew basket geometry on the sensory quality and consumer acceptance of drip brewed coffee. Semi‐conical and flat‐bottom brewing shapes were evaluated in conjunction with coffee roast and particle size. This research found that attributes showing significant interactions with brewing geometry were also key drivers of consumer liking/disliking. Overall consumer liking was analyzed by cluster analysis, which revealed four distinct preference clusters. For each cluster, a particular basket geometry and/or roast level showed lesser acceptance, further confirming the hypothesis that basket geometry affects the sensory quality of drip-brewed coffee.
Flat vs. Cone: Basket Shape is as Important as Grind Size in Drip Brew Coffee
Read the full article on the SCA Portal.
One of the most reliable ways of starting a passionate argument, at least in a room filled with coffee aficionados, is to ask a simple question: What is the best shape for a drip brew filter basket?