The College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Science’s Flavor Research and Education Center is working with the Coffee Science Foundation to discover what makes coffee sweet. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Lantern File Photo
Although it could be a tall order, scientists are solving the mystery of the coffee bean.
The College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Science’s Flavor Research and Education Center’s collaboration with the Coffee Science Foundation hopes to see results soon with their project to discover what makes coffee sweet. The project, titled “Sweetness in Coffee: A Sensory Analysis and Identification of Key Compounds,” could have global implications for coffee production and sustainability.
Peter Giuliano, executive director of the Coffee Science Foundation, said coffee’s sweetness, initially thought to come from sugars in the coffee fruit, is one mystery in a long line of perplexities.
“A lot of things about coffee flavor are mysterious to us,” Giuliano said. “Of all the fruit products that are out there, it’s one of the least studied.”
Studying what makes coffee sweet can benefit consumers and producers worldwide, Devin Peterson, director of the Flavor Research and Education Center and professor of food science and technology, said.
“What science should be doing is elevating our quality of life,” Peterson said. “It’s us learning or understanding the world around us to create better opportunities.”
The science behind the study uses untargeted chemical fingerprinting, Peterson said. He said the method examines coffee’s molecular composition and relates certain features to sweetness.
“[We] try to understand the composition of the coffee or the bean — the chemical composition — and use stats to then understand what in that chemical composition is related to an attribute of interest,” Peterson said.
Peterson said looking at the whole molecule is important because multiple stimuli can contribute to a sweet taste, including sugar and phenolics — another type of chemical compound.
According to a press release from the CSF, research started in the fall of 2022.
Peterson said other sensations, such as the smell and texture of foods, can change flavor perceptions.
“If I have sugar in my mouth, and I smell something sweet at the same time, it will taste sweeter to me,” Peterson said. “So, there’s a combination of stimuli that come together.”
Peterson said knowing where certain flavors come from is a key component in coffee quality and sustainability.
“Understanding what is really elevating the quality, the flavor quality, of a coffee allows us to do a better job of creating beans, not of lower value, but of higher value,” Peterson said. “If you need to create varieties that are more sustainable, then those varieties can be competitive.”
Over 120 million people rely on coffee for their livelihoods, according to Conservation International, and most farmers rely on cheap labor and unstainable farming practices to make a profit.
Giuliano said sweeter, high-value coffee beans benefit farmers — many of whom live on the edge of poverty.
“If we can unlock something about coffee sweetness that allows a farmer to create better, sweeter coffees through agricultural technique or choosing certain varieties or something, that can make a really positive change in producers’ livelihoods,” Giuliano said.
For an industry susceptible to climate change, the ability to identify chemical markers in coffee can maintain sweetness while bolstering the fruits’ ability to cope with high temperatures, Giuliano said.
“There are organizations out there and other scientists who are trying to make new coffee breeds that are more resistant to warm temperatures,” Giuliano said.
Peterson said this research could impact the entire coffee community, from farmers to consumers.
“The goal of this is just to know, ‘How do we advance the quality of these products so they’re more appreciated and more valued in a way that elevates the whole system?’” Peterson said.
