US
The Specialty Coffee Association is partnering with the University of California, Davis, on a two-year initiative to re-evaluate the coffee industry’s basic understanding of coffee brewing.
The project, conducted through SCA’s research center and the UC Davis Coffee Center, will reconsider the long-standing the industry’s measurement tools, scientific assumptions and consumer research in an effort to update science that has been in place since the 1950s.
The research project will be co-led by Dr. William Ristenpart, a chemical engineer and founder of the Design of Coffee curriculum, and Dr. Jean-Xavier Guinard, a professor and sensory scientist who helped design the new Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel. The pair have collaborated on creating a comprehensive research program with chemistry, sensory, and consumer research elements, aimed at updating, revising, and improving the fundamentals of coffee brewing science.