Organoleptic Quality Attributes and Their Association with Morphological Traits in Arabica Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Genotypes

Abstract

Arabica coffee is an essential crop in the national economy of Ethiopia. There is little information available about the cup quality profile of Teppi coffee, despite several sites across the country having conducted research on the organoleptic properties of various coffee types. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the quality attributes of the genotypes and correlate their inherited quality with morphological traits. The experiment was superimposed on five-year-old plants of 17 coffee genotypes during the 2018 cropping season at Teppi and Gemadro sites. Using the wet processing method, six kilograms of red coffee cherries were carefully harvested, processed, and sun dried to a moisture content of 10.5% to 11.0%. To obtain the necessary number of replications, each sample was divided into three, and three cups for each sample were prepared for the tasting sessions. Organoleptic quality attributes were scored using the standard established. The analysis of variance for aromatic quality, acidity, flavor, and overall cup quality showed a highly significant difference ( $P$  = 0.01) among the tested coffee genotypes. All of the organoleptic quality attributes evaluated showed a no significant correlation with morphological traits like body (r = −0.11) and hundred-bean weight and, flavor (r = −0.1) and bean thickness. However, there was a strong correlation between organoleptic quality attributes like flavor (r = 0.95 ${}^{\ast \ast }$ ) and acidity (r = 0.94 ${}^{\ast \ast }$ ), demonstrating that any organoleptic characteristic is an important element in beverage quality. It is challenging to simultaneously choose for cup quality and bean physical features because there were no significant correlations between organoleptic quality and these traits. In this study, genotype 3/8 showed outstanding performance across locations for all organoleptic quality attributes, which can be used in the Arabica coffee-breeding program.