Identifying aroma-active compounds in coffee-flavored dairy beverages

Coffee aroma is a complex mixture of volatile compounds. This study characterized the important aroma-active compounds associated with consumer liking in formulated coffee-flavored dairy beverages. Nine coffee-flavored dairy beverages were formulated: low fat-low coffee; medium fat-low coffee; high fat-low coffee; low fat-medium coffee; medium fat-medium coffee; high fat-medium coffee; low fat-high coffee; medium fat-high coffee; and high fat-high coffee. Regular coffee consumers, (n = 231) used a nine-point hedonic scale to rate acceptance of aroma. Volatile compounds were extracted by head space-solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O) using a modified frequency (MF) approach. Fifty-two aroma-active compounds were detected. Thirty-one aroma-active compounds were considered important compounds with MF-value ≥ 50%. The total number of aroma-active compounds and their intensity were affected because of fat and coffee concentration. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was performed to determine the relationship between aroma-active compounds and liking. PLSR analysis identified three groups of compounds regarding liking. Twenty-five compounds were associated with positive liking, for example, 2-(methylsulfanylmethyl) furan (coffee like). Sixteen compounds were negatively associated with liking, for example, 2-methoxyphenol (bacon, medicine like). Eleven detected compounds had no association with liking, for example, butane-2,3-dione (butter, fruit like). Practical Application: The result of this study may be applied to formulate coffee-flavored dairy beverages to maximize consumer acceptance and aroma-liking. This study suggested too low coffee concentration is not desirable. Too much fat affects aroma release and/or alters the characteristic coffee flavor which negatively affects consumer acceptance.