Multi-sensory evaluation of gayo arabica coffee with various roasting times during the development phase

Abstract

The coffee roasting technique consists of three phases, namely the Drying phase, Maillard phase, and Development phase. The Development phase plays an important role in achieving high quality coffee because at this stage the coffee beans begin to develop the desired taste. This research aims to evaluate multi-sensory Gayo Arabica coffee with various roasting times in the Development phase. The roasting process was carried out with the same time variation in the Drying phase and Maillard phase, namely 4:00 minutes each, while in the Development phase a different time variation was applied, namely 2:50 minutes (treatment A1); 3:50 minutes (treatment A2); 4:50 minutes (treatment A3). Research parameters included roasting charts that measured time in the Drying phase, Maillard phase, Development phase, total roasting time, roasting profile, determination of Agtron value, cupping test by Q Grader, and sensory quality testing by identified panelists using the Technique for Order of Preference method by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). TOPSIS is a decision-making method based on various alternatives that are ranked to get the best results with the highest value. The results of the research showed that the best time treatment in the development phase based on cupping scores respectively were treatment A1 which was ranked 1^st (score of 85.00), treatment A2 was ranked 2^nd (score of 82.00), and treatment A3 was ranked 3^rd (score of 81.00). Meanwhile, the sensory assessment by identified panelists using the TOPSIS method showed almost the same results where treatment ranked 1^st was occupied by treatment A1 with a value of 0.909. However, rank 2 was occupied by a different treatment, namely treatment A3 with a value of 0.427, and rank 3 was treatment A2 with a value of 0.260. Therefore, it can be concluded that the assessment by certified panelists and identified panelists, who can be considered representative of consumers, showed the same conclusion that coffee roasted with the best treatment in the development phase was 2:50 minutes (treatment A1).