Lecture Description
Specialty coffees offer a wide range of sensory profiles that warrant the investigation of the appropriateness of their pairing with different foods. Our hypothesis was that fruity and acidic coffees would pair better with sweet breakfast or dessert foods, whereas dark roasted and bitter coffees would pair better with savory foods.
In a first experiment, 240 specialty coffee drinkers evaluated the appropriateness of the pairing of 4 specialty coffees with different flavor profiles and 6 savory (breakfast sandwich, nut mix) or sweet (red berries, croissant, cheesecake, chocolate) foods, using an incomplete, balanced block design, whereby each consumer evaluated the pairing of 2 of the coffees with 3 of the foods for appropriateness and congruency, complexity and balance of flavors, and other measures of their impression of the coffees and of the foods separately (i.e., degree of liking, Just-About-Right scaling of specific attributes, Check-All-That-Apply from a list of sensory attributes), and provided demographic and coffee usage information. In a second experiment, 200 black coffee drinkers tasted the same 4 coffees and evaluated the appropriateness of their pairing with a larger set of foods that they viewed on their smartphone or tablet, but did not taste.
Familiarity with the pairing was the main driver of coffee and food pairing appropriateness or quality, but sensory congruency (i.e., the coffees and the foods having some commonality in their sensory profiles) and hedonic congruency (i.e., the coffee and the food both being liked) also resulted in high appropriateness ratings. Consumers felt that the dark roasted Columbian coffee would pair well with chocolate, desserts, baked goods and pastries. Actually tasting the more unusual combinations in our design (of coffee and nut mix, or coffee and red berries) led some consumers to give them high hedonic ratings, suggesting new avenues for the marketing of specialty coffee.
Date: Saturday April 26, 2025
Time: 11:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Room 362ABC
Category: Science
Access: This lecture is free to attend with a Specialty Coffee Expo entry badge. Register to attend Specialty Coffee Expo here.
Please note that lecture sessions are open on a first-come, first-served basis. Early arrival is highly recommended to secure your seat.
Speakers
Jean-Xavier Guinard (he/him)
Professor, University of California, Davis
Jean-Xavier Guinard is Professor of Sensory Science and Co-Director of the Coffee Center at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on sensory and culinary strategies for dietary change and the optimization of the sensory quality and consumer acceptance of foods, beverages (including coffee!) and other consumer products. He was an architect of the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel, the Coffee Sensory and Consumer Brewing Control Chart, and Coffee Cuality™. Jean-Xavier has authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications. He teaches undergraduate, graduate and lifelong learning courses at UC Davis and consults for food and beverage companies and consumer agencies worldwide.
Lik Xian Lim (he/him)
PhD Candidate, UC Davis Coffee Center
Lik Xian is a Ph.D. candidate in the Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry Graduate Group at the University of California, Davis. He earned his B.S. in Food Science and Technology from UC Davis in 2021.
As a key researcher at the UC Davis Coffee Center, Lik has explored the effects of water pulsing duty cycles on coffee extraction and concentration, as well as topics such as cold brew coffee chemistry, coffee and food pairings, and sensory acceptance. His expertise extends beyond coffee—he is also highly skilled in the sensory evaluation of wine, specializing in smoke taint and mouthfeel characterization.
Through his interdisciplinary approach, Lik bridges chemistry and sensory science to enhance the understanding and enjoyment of coffee and wine.