Development of the coffee Taster’s emotion wheel for the coffee drinking experience

Abstract

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world (International Trade Centre, 2011). Considering that sensory quality is the most profoundly related aspect to perceived quality, the development of innovations in Sensory Sciences directed to coffee may represent an important tool for this product’s quality improvement. Therefore, studies have explored more unconscious responses that precede the evaluation’s cognitive process, such as emotional responses. This study analyzed the emotional profile of four coffee samples produced at Serra de Baturite, CE, Brazil. Two focus groups were conducted to confirm or add emotional terms using the Rate-all-that-apply (RATA) technique and a hedonic scale with 106 consumer subjects. When arranged according to the acceptance profile, consumer clusters showed specific emotional patterns for coffee consumption clearly related to coffee acceptance. A coffee taster’s emotion wheel was also developed, which systematically presents the emotional terms of coffee guided according to its affective valence and increasing arousal. Next, the terms’ plot distribution was created based on their correlation from RATA data, and classification was established between the terms in the literature. The coffees’ acceptance pattern varied according to the expected emotional pattern observed in evaluating the ideal sample, showing that triggering expected emotions at the appropriate intensity directly impacts acceptance and can be explored to guide the consumer’s choice. Finally, the coffee taster’s emotion wheel can facilitate identifying emotions by the consumer and represent an enriching instrument to complement the previous list of analyses to better guide consumers to classify their emotional perception.