Lecture Description
Correct and relevant sensory analysis methods are vital for developing competencies in specialty coffee companies for product development, quality control, and marketing activities. However, the current methods for sensory evaluation are far from being aligned with scientific principles, which are often considered too difficult and time-consuming.
In 2014 Ida Steen and Morten Münchow set out to develop training programs and sensory evaluation methods for the specialty coffee community derived from sensory science protocols and ISO standards. At WOC last year, they presented data behind their first scientific article on aroma recognition, published in February 2023. This year they introduce new data for an upcoming scientific paper focusing on rapid sensory profiling methods that provide new insights into sensory properties of coffee for different roast degrees and new insight into scientific methods of assessing individual sensory skills using rapid methods.
Data was collected on 109 coffee professionals before and after four weeks of sensory training, and they performed significantly (p<0.001) better after four weeks of online sensory training. Our results demonstrate that this method can be implemented as a daily practice in the coffee industry and that online sensory training is a helpful tool to improve coffee professionals' precision when describing coffee samples.
Date: Friday, June 23, 2023
Time: 10:30am - 11:30am EET
Location: Lecture Room 2
Presenter:
Ida Steen
Sensory Scientist, CoffeeMind
Meet Ida, a passionate coffee scientist with expertise in developing sensory training programs for coffee professionals. She conducts consultancy, teaching, and research to help individuals better understand their senses and how to use sensory methods for product development and quality control. With her strong background in sensory science, Ida joined CoffeeMind as a sensory scientist and has devoted her career to creating sensory training tools for coffee professionals.
Ida's work in the field has been recognized in the Journal of Sensory Studies. She published a scientific article showing how online training can improve odor recognition skills. Additionally, she supervises students carrying out coffee research projects at the University of Copenhagen, contributing to developing research practices within the specialty coffee industry.