Identification of physiological analysis parameters associated with coffee beverage quality

ABSTRACT The demand for high-quality coffee among consumers has generated a great deal of interest among producers in serving this market. Parameters for physiological analyses that can be associated with aspects of sensory analyses of coffee can ensure more reliable results for coffee quality assessments. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of physiological analyses in determining coffee quality through multivariate analysis. Several samples from coffee bean/seed lots were placed in cold storage at 10 °C, after which the sensory quality, physiological quality, and chemical characteristics of the beans were evaluated before storage and after three and six months of storage. The variables of physiological quality in the coffee beans were correlated with sensory analysis parameters. The viability of coffee embryos revealed by the tetrazolium test results were positively correlated with the final sensory analysis score. There was a correlation of root dry matter, hypocotyl dry matter, potassium leaching, and electrical conductivity with the sensory attributes that comprise the final sensory analysis score for the coffee beans. Variation in the final sensory analysis score was explained up to 97.14% by the variables radical emergence (r2 = 2.27%), strong normal seedlings, (r2 = 0.56%), seedlings with expanded cotyledonary leaves (r2 = 0.53%), tetrazolium test results (r2 = 91.54%), and potassium leaching (r2 = 2.24%). More studies are required to enable the use of physiological analyses to complement sensory analysis. RESUMO A demanda por cafés com alta qualidade pelos consumidores tem gerado um grande interesse dos produtores em atender esse mercado. Análises fisiológicas que podem ser associadas com a análise sensorial do café podem garantir resultados mais confiáveis para a avaliação da qualidade do café. Objetivou-se com o estudo investigar o potencial de utilização das análises fisiológicas na determinação da qualidade do café, por meio da aplicação de análises multivariadas. Lotes de grãos de café foram colocados sob armazenamento em câmara a 10 ºC, e então foram realizadas avaliações da qualidade sensorial e fisiológica e das características químicas dos grãos antes do armazenamento e após três e seis meses de armazenamento. As variáveis de qualidade fisiológica dos grãos de café foram correlacionadas com a análise sensorial da bebida. A viabilidade dos embriões de café analisada pelo teste de tetrazólio foi positivamente correlaciona