Descriptive Sensory Evaluation and Consumer Acceptability of Sujeonggwa in a Tea Bag

Abstract

Abstract Sujeonggwa is a popular Korean traditional beverage. However, consumers only prepare it at home on special occasions due to the time and effort required. Developing a convenient form of Sujeonggwa may promote its consumption. The objectives of this study were to 1) develop Sujeonggwa in a tea bag using different sweeteners and 2) describe the characteristics of Sujeonggwa's flavor in tea bag samples and 3) determine how well consumers accept the tea bag samples. A total of four types of Sujeonggwa in a tea bag were developed: two samples with varying amount of sugar, another sample using sugar and stevia and the last sample using sugar and short chain fructo-oligosaccharide as a sweetener. A commercial ginger tea and cinnamon tea were used as control products. Descriptive analysis was conducted on the same six samples and a descriptive panel identified its attributes. A total of 61 consumers evaluated acceptability using a nine-point hedonic scale and how they felt about intensities of the samples using a just-about-right scale. The results indicated that consumers liked Sujeonggwa samples in a tea bag more than commercial ginger tea and cinnamon tea. Key words: Sujeonggwa, tea bag, descriptive, acceptability, sweetener