Sensory evaluation of Poncokusumo Liberica Coffee based on bean size and post-harvest processing

Abstract

Coffea liberica from local farm in Poncokusumo, Indonesia has several accessions identified, unfortunately there has been no further sensory research to develop it into high quality coffee products. This study was aimed to evaluate the sensory attributes of different liberica coffee accessions from a local farm in Poncokusumo based on beans size and post-harvest processes. Liberica coffee green beans were dried using two processes: natural and wine, followed by measuring its bean size. The beans were roasted using three roasting levels (light, medium, and dark), and sensory attributes were tested using a cupping test with nine trained panelists based on Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) guidelines. The findings show that the bean size and post-harvesting processes affected the coffee’s sensory quality. The highest total score was 77.69 for beans that were dried by natural process and roasted at a light level. Compared to wine processing which earns a “good” score, the optimal drying technique for liberica coffee beans that receive a “very good” grade was natural processing. The flavor of liberica coffee was most optimal at light to medium roasting levels, which produced “very good” results that differed from dark levels. The link between bean size, post-harvest, and sensory attribute values demonstrates that the size and procedure of coffee processing is an important sequence to be observed in order to improve the result to the highest quality. It is expected that the findings of this study can be applied to examine the quality standards of local liberica coffee products in Poncokusumo.