Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Espresso Protocol Repeatability

Area of Science:

• Sensory Science
• Food Quality Assessment
• Coffee Science

Background:

• Assessing coffee bean quality through espresso extraction is crucial for the industry.
• The Espresso Protocol (TEP) offers a sensory approach including overall and attribute evaluations (CATA).
• Understanding the cross-cultural applicability and expert repeatability of TEP is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the repeatability of the Espresso Protocol (TEP) among experienced coffee experts.
• To compare cross-cultural sensory assessments of espresso using TEP.
• To determine the global applicability of TEP across diverse coffee cultures.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Espresso Protocol (TEP) with overall quality and check-all-that-apply (CATA) evaluations.
• Involved 46 coffee experts from five countries (France, India, Italy, Republic of Korea, USA).
• Conducted three replications over consecutive days using eight single-origin coffee samples.
• Performed cluster analysis on CATA data to assess participant repeatability.

Main Results:

• Most participants demonstrated high repeatability in their sensory evaluations across three trials.
• A significant homogeneity index indicated similarity in sensory characteristics identified by experts.
• Cultural variations were observed primarily in the terminology used for coffee descriptions, not in core sensory perception.

Conclusions:

• The Espresso Protocol (TEP) is a repeatable and reliable method for sensory coffee quality assessment.
• TEP is applicable across different countries with diverse coffee cultures.
• Cultural differences in coffee lexicon highlight the need for standardized terminology and training.