Lecture Description
Coffee defects present a challenge to coffee quality because a small quantity of defect beans can drastically impact the quality of a coffee. While cause and chemicals responsible for off-flavour for some defects are well known (e.g. rio and potato), some of the physical defects, such as black and sour are less studied. Their impact is assumed to be large, but few studies that exist suggest quite the contrary.
This lecture will give an overview on the science of coffee defects and will present a pre-study to a larger study with the focus on understanding physical defects. The pre-study focuses on full black and full sour defects. The methodology behind determination of sensory detection threshold and associated aroma compounds will be presented alongside intriguing results. The findings indicate that the detection threshold of a defect depends on the coffee that is being investigated.
Date: Friday June 27, 2025
Time: 12:15 - 1:15
Location: Room W
This lecture is free to attend with a World of Coffee entry badge. Register to attend World of Coffee Geneva here.
Lecturers / Presenters
Samo Smrke (he/him)
Interim Head Coffee Excellence Center, ZHAW
Samo Smrke is acting head of the Coffee Excellence Center at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). He is leading coffee research projects in collaboration with industry partners and in fundamental research on various topics of coffee chemistry and coffee science. He is a teaching in the Coffee Excellence continuing education course at ZHAW, and in various other educational programs with partners of ZHAW. Samo is actively participating at coffee conferences, is one of the co-authors of the SCA Freshness and Water Handbooks, and has contributed to scientific papers and book chapters about coffee.