A new study from Italy introduced a novel sensor for the chemical properties of coffee. Its creators say the sensor type may have the potential to transform real-time chemical assessment and quality control in busy commercial coffee shop environments, without the need for bulkier or hyper-specialized laboratory equipment.
The researchers, from the Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, created what they called an “intelligent electrochemical sensor,” designed to analyze a broad range of properties, beginning with moisture content and grind size, and relating it to other properties such as caffeine content, total polyphenols and antioxidant activity.
As opposed to traditional sensors used in coffee analysis — primarily optical sensors — electrochemical sensors operate by measuring the electrical signals generated during chemical reactions.
The researchers noted that electrochemical sensors have already been employed in coffee analysis and quality control for individual tasks, such as coffee origin authentication, caffeine and chlorogenic acid measurement, polyphenol characterization or to correlate general organoleptic (sensorial) analyses. Yet previous sensors have not provided a more comprehensive view of brewed coffee’s chemical characteristics, particularly as they relate to sensory or health-related qualities.
The researchers noted that caffeine and phenolic compounds, for instance, contribute not just to coffee’s flavor but also to its antioxidant activity. The researchers noted that finer grinds led to a higher extraction of certain beneficial compounds, resulting in beverages with potentially stronger antioxidant effects. Meanwhile, moisture content also plays a role, though less significantly than grind size, in determining the final beverage’s taste and quality.
The research team, which did not declare any affiliations with coffee equipment makers, suggests the electrochemical sensor can provide a relatively low-cost solution to correlate all these elements in real time, as a lower-cost alternative to bulkier traditional lab equipment.
In matching electrochemical sensor readings with results from more traditional analysis equipment, the research team confirmed the sensor’s overall consistency at 86%.
“While the sensor itself is primarily designed for detecting specific markers of coffee quality, the chemical assays were used as a complementary approach to cross-validate the electrochemical data and provide a more comprehensive assessment of the coffee’s quality parameters,” the authors wrote.
The study suggests a miniaturized version of the sensor could be placed in espresso groups to instantly measure key chemical markers as the coffee brews. The resulting data might then be used to adjust brewing variables — such as water temperature, pressure, or the coffee-to-water ratio — in real time, ensuring consistent flavor.
The full open-access study, called “Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment,” was published in the MDPI journal Chemosensors.
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