Belo Horizonte – Instant coffees now have a quality evaluation methodology. While other types of coffee already had their profile and quality assessment methods, instant coffee still did not. The Brazilian industry united to create and show this innovation to the market last week.
The Instant Coffee Sensory Analysis Protocol was launched during International Coffee Week (SIC) in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the state of Minas Gerais. The technical document has been developed since 2019 in an initiative of the Brazilian Association of the Instant Coffee Industry (ABICS) and the Institute of Food Technology (ITAL). The project also has worldwide advertising by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil).
The goal is to change how the market sees and uses the product. With the rating and definition of categories, it will be possible, for instance, to improve communication between manufacturers, companies, and consumers.
Instant coffee rating
The methodology developed in Brazil evaluates quality by the intensity of attributes instead of scores. The technical group completed the protocol after carrying out professional tests called cuppings with different samples of instant coffee produced in Brazil and abroad.
In the process, samples were grouped by flavor profile, then described by the characteristic taste notes of each group. Some of the attributes indicated by experts were sweetness, acidity, floral, nuts, spices, fruity, chocolatey, and bitterness. Based on the main attributes, the team developed a sensory lexicon for the product and, finally, the three quality grades for instant products: Excellent, differentiated, and conventional.
For ABICS Institutional Relations director Aguinaldo Lima, the new methodology is a paradigm shift, helping the public to appreciate and rediscover instant coffee. “Now we need to do the homework, that is, make the most significant possible number of professionals from the ABICS member industries apply our methodology. We need to train more people. Later, there will be a consolidation and refinement of these courses. And when we are training companies, they will invite international customers to take these courses with them. As this could become widespread, we could manage to consolidate our protocol and turn it into a global analysis language,” said Lima in an interview with ANBA.
The director explained ABICS does not intend to have exclusivity in courses on the methodology. “We want this to be implemented by other institutions so they can have training worldwide. We want to spread knowledge about instant coffee,” he added.
ABICS consultant Eliana Relvas coordinated the methodology’s technical group of almost 30 specialists, including representatives of ITAL, Sindicafé, the ten ABICS member companies, and a network of coffee shops and international specialists.
Brazil is the biggest exporter of instant coffee, selling to over 120 countries. The consumption of the product in the world grows by over 2% a year, according to ABICS. National industries are accredited with over 25 different types of international certifications, including Halal, which attests the product is suitable for consumption by Muslims.
According to Fábio Sato, president of ABICS, who also participated in the launch, the Brazilian industry of instant coffee remains optimistic, with investments in expanding production capacity and new technologies. For him, one of the significant challenges is transforming this instant coffee sensory analysis method into a global protocol.
Image project
Abics, in partnership with ApexBrasil, is organizing an international dissemination project called “Image project.” For the launch of the technical document, for example, opinion makers and journalists from major media outlets and representatives of relevant world entities were brought. Among them were representatives from the National Coffee Association (NCA) and Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) from the United States, the All Japan Coffee Association (AJCA), the European Coffee Federation (ECF), and the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI).
In addition to launching the instant coffee sensory analysis protocol, ABICS held a tasting session to show in practice the methodology for evaluating the quality of instant coffees.
*Journalist Thais Sousa traveled at the invitation of the International Coffee Week (SIC)
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
