Drivers of coffee liking: Effect of physicochemical characteristics and aromatic profile on consumers’ acceptability of mono-origin and mono-variety coffees.

Few studies have investigated at the same time how physicochemical, volatile,andsensorycharacteristicsaffectcoffeeliking.Theaimofthisstudyistoevaluatethe influence of geographical origin and variety on physicochemical parametersand volatile compounds composition of mono-origin and mono-variety coffees.Check-all-that-apply (CATA) method was used with the aim of identifying thedrivers of coffee liking. Moisture content, bulk density, solubility index, colorparameters, and phenols and caffeine content were useful parameters for dis-criminatingRobustafromArabicavariety,butnotsamplesfromdifferentorigins.The hierarchical cluster and principal component analyses performed on theheadspace compositions showed a quite sharp ability to group the samples basedon their variety. Based on CATA results, roasted attribute, related to the pres-ence of pyrazines, was considered a positive driver of coffee liking unlike grassyand acidic attributes (associated to the presence of acids and aldehydes, respec-tively). Findings from this study can be a useful tool for coffee manufacturers fora winning market strategy, helping them in the choice of the most suitable rawmaterials and process conditions in order to produce a well-balanced beverageby enhancing all the possible positive drivers of acceptability and reducing the negative ones.