Temporal dominance of sensations and preferences of Brazilians and Slovakians: A cross-cultural study of cachaças stored with woods from the Amazon rainforest
Running title: Cross-cultural study of cachaça stored with woods from the Amazon rainforest
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Síntia Carla Corrêa Simioni1, Diego Mercado Tovar2, Jéssica Ferreira Rodrigues1, Vanessa Rios de Souza1, Cleiton Antônio Nunes1, Vladimir Vietoris3, Ana Carla Marques Pinheiro1*
1 Universidade Federal de Lavras, Caixa Postal 3037, 37200-000, Lavras, MG, Brazil. 2 Universidad de Sucre, Dirección: Cra 28 #5-267, Sincelejo (Sucre), Colombia. 3 Slovenská Poľnohospodárska Univerzita, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 949 76, Nitra, Slovakia.
*
Corresponding author: Departamento de Ciência dos Alimentos, Universidade Federal de Lavras,
Caixa Postal 3037, 37200-000 Lavras, MG, Brazil. Tel.: +55 (35) 99983-6536 Fax: +55 (35) 3829-
1401. E-mail address:
[email protected]
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Brazilians and Slovakians evaluated the temporal profile and the acceptability of cachaça stored with different woods (Cumarurana (CM), Jatobá (JT) and, Louro-vermelho (LV)) found in the Amazon rainforest and oak with the aim to perform a cross-cultural comparison of the
dynamic profile of the attributes perceived in the cachaças and the hedonic perception of the samples.
RESULTS: Important differences were observed between the temporal sensorial profiles generated by the two groups and their preferences. Brazilians preferred cachaças stored with the traditionally used wood, oak, followed by those stored with JT and CM woods. In contrast, Slovakians preferred
This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/jsfa.8922
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cachaças stored with JT, followed by those stored with LV and oak woods. For both countries, dominance of wood flavor and vanilla attributes at the end of the analysis time was positively associated with acceptance, while dominance of off-flavor and the wood flavor attribute at the
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beginning of the analysis time was negatively associated with acceptance for Brazilians and Slovakians, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Brazilians preferred cachaça stored with oak wood, and Slovakians preferred cachaça stored with JT wood, with the acceptability being strongly associated with the dominance of wood flavor and vanilla attributes at the end of the evaluation time.
Keywords: distilled beverages, aging, Amazon rainforest, cross-cultural, TDS, acceptance test. INTRODUCTION
Cachaça, the typical and exclusive distilled beverage of Brazil, is obtained by the distillation
of fermented sugar cane juice. It has an alcohol content between 38–48% (v/v) at 20°C and is characterized by peculiar sensory features.1 It is the second most consumed alcoholic beverage in Brazil and the third most consumed alcoholic beverage around the world.2 This beverage is popular due to its taste and aroma, which are derived from fermentation, distillation, and aging in wooden casks. These methods help in making the flavor of the beverage milder, more pleasant and improve its quality, thereby increasing its value.3 Oak wood is traditionally used for making casks in which beverages are aged.4 However, a
majority of the wooden casks used in cachaça aging is made from European oak wood, which is difficult to acquire and not easily available.5 Brazil is the country with the highest biodiversity in the world,6 and the Amazon rainforest, with more than 2.5 thousand tree species, is the cradle of this biodiversity.7 We believed that the use of wood from the Amazon rainforests, as an alternative to oak wood, in cachaça aging can infuse unique sensorial characteristics to the beverage, and characterizes a genuine Brazilian product.
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Aging of the distilled beverages in wooden casks helps stabilize the color and improves and enriches the sensorial characteristics of the product.8-10 Guchu et al.,11 studying Chardonnay wines treated with oak wood chips of different geographical provenances and treatment, verified that the
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differences among the oak wood chips did not affect the wine quality, and all the studied wines received good grades for overall impression from the panelists. Sensory and chemical modifications of brandies, stored in either chestnut and oak wood casks, were studied by Caldeira et al.12 and they verified that brandies that had been aged in chestnut wood casks was more mature than those aged in oak wood casks, and this finding explained the highest overall quality of those brandies. In studies regarding cachaça, Alcarde et al.3 concluded that oak wood helped produce the best tasting cachaça, followed by the wood of purple ipês, peanuts, cabreúvas (Myrocarpus frondosus), cherry trees, and pear trees. Faria et al13 verified that oak wood can be replaced by wood of peanut, pear, and Jatobá trees for aging of cachaça without significantly changing its consumer acceptability. In the international consumption scenario of distilled beverages, 50.1% of total recorded alcohol
is consumed in the form of spirits, and Europe has the highest per capita alcohol consumption.14 Therefore, due to such high demand, there was a significant increase in the volume of cachaça exported to this continent, especially to countries like Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Greece, and Denmark.15 Cross-cultural studies on many products have been conducted to compare the acceptability and
perception of foods by people of different cultures.16 Hong et al.17, through studies involving intensity scale and acceptance testing, investigated how changes in the ingredients affect the acceptability and perception of Bulgogi in different markets, namely, Korea and the United States. Hong et al.18 studied the sensory characteristics described by consumers from Korea, China, and the US, and their hedonic responses, through QDA®, regarding gochujang dressing formulated with varying levels of sugars. In addition, Laureati et al.19 examined the differences in the perception of perilla and perilla-based food formulation by Koreans and Italians through sensory profiling, using Napping®, and evaluating consumer acceptance.
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Many studies have reported the association between temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) and acceptability20-22, but no cross-cultural studies have been conducted on this topic. TDS can give important information about the description of the dynamic sensory perceptions during ingestion, and
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it is considered to be more appropriate than static descriptive analysis for explaining a taster’s response, due to its temporal element.23 In addition, the dynamic information from TDS may contribute to our understanding of drivers of liking.24 Although there is no data regarding cachaça export to Slovakia, this country was chosen in this
study considering that 46% of alcoholic drinks consumed in that country are distilled beverages, which has a per capita consumption of 5 L/person /year that is higher than that of beer, wine, and all other alcoholic drinks.25 In comparison, consumption of distilled beverages in Slovakia is higher than that in Brazil, where only 36% of alcoholic drinks consumed by Brazilians are distilled beverages, with a per capita consumption of 2.5 L/person /year.26 This shows the great potential for export of cachaça produced in Brazil to Slovakia. Therefore, the use of woods from the Amazon rainforests for cachaça aging, and its evaluation
through cross-cultural studies, can provide important information about the perception of the product, and promote its commercialization. In this study, Brazilians and Slovakians evaluated the temporal profile and acceptability of cachaça stored in casks made with different woods, like Cumarurana (CM), Jatobá (JT) and, Louro-vermelho (LV)) from the Amazon rainforests, and oak with the aim to perform a cross-cultural comparison of the dynamic profile of the attributes perceived in the cachaças, and the hedonic perception of the samples.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Obtaining cachaça stored with different woods from the Amazon rainforests Commercial and freshly distilled cachaça, that did not go through any process of storage and/or aging, with an alcohol content of 44 g/L, was obtained from a traditional alembic located in the city of Perdões, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. All the samples belonged to the same production batch.
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The Amazon species, whose wood was studied, were CM (Dipteryx polyphylla (Huber) Ducke), JT (Hymenaea courbaril L.), and LV (Nectandra rubra (Mez) C.K. Allen), and these samples were collected from the management area of Monte Verde farm owned by Precious Woods Amazon
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Company, which is a company certified by FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®), in Silves, Amazonas State, Brazil. Oak (Quercus sp) wood was collected from wooden casks in a cooperage of Brodowski, São Paulo State, Brazil. Three trees for each Amazon species were collected, except for CM, for which only two trees
were collected. An approximately 3.0-cm thick disk was cut out from the foot of each log of each tree. Subsequently, the disks were divided into cubes of nominal dimensions of 2 x 2 x 2 cm.27 In relation to oak, cubes with the same nominal dimensions were prepared from wood collected from three different casks. The heat treatment procedure was performed for all samples, where oak wood cubes were
subjected to heat treatment in an oven with a constant temperature of 200°C for 120 min. In a similar way, wooden cubes, belonging to the woods from the Amazon rainforests, were subjected to the same process. Next, the cubes were stored in glass recipients containing cachaça, for over a period of six months at room temperature. These conditions were based on a study conducted by Castro et al.,27 who stored cubes in hydroalcoholic solutions to obtain physicochemical information on Brazilian woods. The ratio used followed the order of one wooden cube for 250 mL of cachaça. After this period, the wooden cubes were removed, and the cachaça was subjected to sensory evaluation.
Conditions for sensory evaluation
Temporal profiling and acceptance tests were performed at the Sensory Analysis Laboratory
of the Department of Food Science – Federal University of Lavras, Lavras, Brazil, and at the Sensory Laboratory of Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovakia. The tests were carried out in individual cabins under white light, standard temperature, and with adequate ventilation. Tasters were instructed about how a sensory analysis should be carried out, and sufficient water was offered during
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the analysis. All tasters were required not to drive for 1 h after the experiment to ensure that all alcohol ingested would be metabolized. The World Health Organization's (WHO) International Guide for Monitoring Alcohol
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Consumption and Related Harm28 has identified that consuming less than 280 grams of pure alcohol per week (40 g/day) represents low risk, and greater than 424 grams of pure alcohol per week (60 g/day) represents high risk for men. For women, consuming less than 140 grams of pure alcohol per week (20 g/day), and greater than 288 grams of pure alcohol per week (41 g/day) represented low risk and high risk, respectively. As the cachaça being studied had an alcoholic content of 44%, we offered a maximum volume
of 20 mL (4 samples × 5 mL) or 8.8 g of cachaça to each taster per day of the experiment, an amount that is below that recommended by WHO to guarantee a low risk for both men and women. This project was approved by the Ethics and Research with Humans Committee of the Federal
University of Lavras, with protocol number: 32991814.7.0000.5148. Participants of the sensory evaluation were informed about the study objectives, procedures, possible discomforts, risks, and benefits of the research, and those who agreed with these terms were required to sign the participation form. The criteria for selecting tasters were: (1) They should be interested in evaluating this beverage, (2) They should have the time to participate in the evaluation process, (3) They should be frequent consumers of distilled drinks, (4) They should be 18 years old or above, (5) They should not have aversions or any type of allergy to the product. Individuals who did not fit into any of these criteria were excluded from the study. To determine the effect of the different woods from the Amazon rainforests, on the temporal
profile and acceptability of cachaças, the analyzed samples and selection and recruitment criteria were the same for the tasters from both countries. Sensory evaluations were conducted at various stages.
TDS analysis
Selection of tasters
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The tasters were selected using an additional test—the sequential method proposed by Wald29—with the aim of evaluating the discrimination ability of each individual.30 In this test, two
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commercial cachaças of different brands (Cachaça 51® and Cachaça João Mendes ®) chosen from a preliminary test were used. Samples used in this test presented a significant difference (p < 0.05) in preliminary triangular tests. A total of 22 Brazilian consumers of cachaça and 22 Slovakian consumers of distilled
beverages who were interested in evaluating this beverage were recruited. Subsequently, their sample discrimination ability was evaluated through the application of a series of triangular tests.30 For Wald’s sequential analysis, the following values: P = 0.30 (maximum incapability
acceptable), P1 = 0.70 (minimum acceptable skill), and the risks, a = 0.10 (probability of accepting a candidate without sensory acuity) and b = 0.10 (probability of rejecting an applicant with sensory acuity) were used. The Wald graph was constructed from defined parameters and tasters were selected or rejected
according to the number of correct tests and the number of total tests. With eight triangular tests, a total of 12 tasters for each nationality were selected, who remained in the acceptance region of the graph. For Brazilians, the selected tasters were between 24 and 50 years old (average age of 35.7 years), and consisted of 2 females and 10 males, and for Slovakians, the selected tasters were between 21 and 37 years old (average age of 24.4 years), and consisted of 8 females and 4 males.
Parameter definitions and training of selected tasters
Samples of cachaça stored with CM, LV, JT, and oak wood cubes were provided to the
Brazilian tasters to define an attribute list. Tasters were required to taste the samples and make notes of all the perceived sensations following Kelly's repertory grid.31 Subsequently, their answers were collected and compared under the guidance of a leader through a group discussion, during which irrelevant descriptors were eliminated, and synonyms were combined. Finally, only the most
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frequently cited attributes were selected and kept for further TDS analysis. Thus, the attributes (vanilla, alcoholic flavor, sweet, pungent, wood flavor, spicy, and off-flavor) were obtained from the descriptions of each attribute given unanimously by the tasters (Table 1). In this session, the tasters
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defined the total duration of the sensory analysis (30 s) and the sufficient amount to be ingested for each sample (5 mL). The Slovakian tasters performed the analysis after the Brazilian tasters. Discussion was based on the descriptors given by the Brazilian tasters (translated into Slovak). During the session, cachaças samples were presented to Slovakians to confirm their agreement with the descriptors, the total duration of the sensory analysis, and amount of each sample. The Slovakians did not generate any additional descriptors or information.
After describing the attributes, the tasters also participated in two sessions, according to
description given by Albert et al.,32 with the aim to limit the volume of the samples during training to a maximum of 20 mL per day. In the first session, they were introduced to the TDS method and SensoMaker software (version 1.91), which was used for data acquisition and analysis.33 In the second session, the tasters participated in a TDS analysis simulation with different samples of aged cachaça. They were instructed that the dominant taste is the one perceived to have the greatest clarity and predominance, i.e., the one with the most striking perception at a given time.34
TDS test
Eventually, the tasters evaluated the cachaça samples stored with the woods, such as that of
CM, LV, and JT, from the Amazon rainforests, and that with oak. Samples were evaluated in three replicates, in a total of three sessions and four samples per session. Samples at room temperature were presented in monadic order35, served in disposable glass cups covered with a lid to prevent ethanol evaporation, and coded with three-digit numbers. Each taster was required to drink a cachaça sample
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(5 mL), wait for 2 s (delay time) before swallowing the sample, and subsequently evaluate the sample for a 30-s period soon after swallowing. During tasting, they were required to select the dominant attributes that were presented in the form of buttons, whose order was the same for both countries, in a
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non-randomized manner. After the 30 s had elapsed, they were not allowed to select any attribute. It is important to emphasize that TDS includes consistent changing of the dominant attribute during analysis time when it was possible to select one or more attributes.
Acceptance test
Acceptance tests were performed by 120 consumers (sixty Brazilians and sixty Slovakians).
For Brazilians, the consumers were between 18 and 60 years old, 29% of the group were females and 71% of the group were males. For Slovakians, the consumers were between 21 and 47 years old, and 67% of the group were females and 33% of the group were males. Consumers evaluated the samples regarding the overall liking using a hedonic 9-point scale (1 = dislike extremely; 9 = like extremely).36 Each sample (5 mL) was served in a glass cup labeled with three digits following balance order according to the Williams Latin Square design.35
Statistical analysis
For each sample, the dominance rates were computed and plotted against time to obtain the
TDS curves. Dominance rates were calculated by dividing the number of citations of an attribute (all replications) by the number of runs (judge x replication). The graphs depicted the attributes perceived during evaluation time, and their corresponding chance line and significance line. Chance line is the dominance value which an attribute obtains by chance; and significance line is the minimum dominance value that can be considered significant at 95% of confidence level. TDS sensory data was analyzed using the TDS curves considering the dominance rate of the significant sensations, i.e.,
attributes, depicted in the curves, that reached the significance level.34
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TDS difference curves were also drawn for cachaça sample comparisons. These curves were drawn by subtracting the dominance rates of each attribute for two samples at a single time point. The difference in dominance rate was only plotted when it was considered significantly different from
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zero. The significance of the difference was calculated as described by Pineau and Schlich.37 ANOVA test was conducted to examine effects of different types of cachaças (samples), the
different nationalities of the tasters, and their interaction (sample versus nationality) on overall liking data. When a significant effect (p < 0.05) was found, Tukey´s test was applied. For all analyses, SensoMaker software, version 1.91 was used.33
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
TDS curves for cachaças evaluated by Brazilians and Slovakians are shown in Figure 1, and
both dominant and non-dominant attributes were reported for each cachaça sample. TDS analysis showed that there was a variation in the sensorial profile of each sample evaluated by tasters from each country.
For the sensorial profile of cachaça stored with oak wood cubes, the profile generated by
Brazilians was characterized by the predominance of alcoholic and wood flavor attributes, which were significantly perceived after 17 s and 20 s, respectively. It is noteworthy that although both these attributes were significantly perceived, alcoholic flavor presented a higher dominance rate than wood flavor. Additionally, vanilla was significantly perceived at the end of the evaluation time. In contrast, in the profiles obtained by Slovakians, the dominant attributes that were significantly perceived were alcoholic flavor, wood flavor, spicy, and pungent. The spicy attribute presented a higher dominance rate than the other attributes evaluated, and it was perceived after 10 s, which is concomitant to the perception time of the alcoholic flavor. Wood flavor was the first attribute to be significantly
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perceived, but it showed the lowest dominance rate of all attributes. Additionally, pungent was significantly perceived at the end of evaluation time. Comparing the TDS curves obtained from the evaluation data of Brazilian and Slovakian
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tasters, we observed that the sensorial perception of cachaças, stored with oak wood cubes differed significantly between the two groups. Brazilians perceived mainly vanilla and alcoholic flavor attributes, which showed higher dominance rates at the end of the time of ingestion (20–30 s). Slovakians perceived the wood flavor attribute, which showed higher dominance rates at the beginning of ingestion (approximately 7s) and perceived the spicy and pungent attributes later. For the cachaça stored with LV wood cubes, the Brazilian tasters perceived alcoholic flavor,
which showed a significant dominance rate at ~18 s, and off-flavor, which showed a significant dominance rate at the end of the evaluation time. The Slovakian tasters perceived the dominant alcoholic flavor differently from Brazilians, between 10 and 20 s of evaluation time, and the pungent and spicy attributes were significantly perceived later. Analyzing the difference curves, we could clearly observe the difference in the temporal profiles generated from the data obtained from the Brazilian and Slovakian tasters. There was a predominance of the off-flavor attribute in the profile generated by the Brazilians, while a predominance of the pungency attribute was noted in the profile produced by the Slovakians. For cachaça stored with CM wood cubes, the Brazilians significantly perceived alcoholic
flavor and spicy attributes from 15 s and 20 s onwards, respectively, with a higher dominance rate for alcoholic flavor. The Slovakians significantly perceived wood flavor as the most dominant attribute between 10 and 15 s. Later, the pungent and spicy attributes were perceived between 15 and 23 s. At the end of the evaluation time (from ~23 s), alcoholic flavor became dominant along with the spicy attribute. Difference curves of the significant attributes revealed that Slovakians perceived the wood flavor attribute, which showed higher dominance rates, in ~10 s and the pungent attribute at a later time point. For cachaça stored with JT wood cubes, the Brazilian tasters perceived alcoholic flavor after ~20 s. The Slovakian tasters significantly perceived the wood flavor at the beginning and end of the
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evaluation time. However, the wood flavor attribute showed a lower dominance than that of the alcoholic flavor attribute, which was perceived at ~10 s. Subsequently, the spicy and vanilla attributes were perceived at ~15 s. Difference curves revealed that according to the Slovakian tasters, wood
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flavor was the dominant attribute between 6 and 10 s; alcoholic flavor, around 10 s; vanilla, between ~13 and 24 s; and wood flavor, attribute again at ~26 s, whereas according to the Brazilian tasters, the alcoholic flavor attribute was dominant after 25 s. In all samples analyzed by both the groups of tasters, the alcoholic flavor attribute was
identified to be dominant at a given time. The perception of this attribute in all samples may be due to the fact that the samples were stored in glass containers with wooden cubes, which possibly inhibited the complete volatilization of alcohol, thereby resulting in the dominance of this attribute. The Brazilian tasters identified the off-flavor and spicy attributes as dominant in cachaças
stored with LV and CM wood cubes, respectively, apart from alcoholic flavor. In addition, in cachaças stored with oak wood cubes, they perceived wood flavor and vanilla attributes, which are often positively associated with the acceptability of aged cachaças.38-40 Finally, for cachaças stored with JT wood cubes, they only perceived the alcoholic flavor attribute. The Slovakian tasters identified the alcoholic flavor, pungent, and spicy attributes to be
dominant in all analyzed cachaças. In the cachaças stored with oak, CM, and JT wood cubes, the wood flavor attribute was identified to be dominant, while the vanilla attribute was identified to be dominant for only the cachaça stored with JT wood cubes. For cachaças stored with LV wood cubes, they only perceived the alcoholic flavor, pungent, and spicy attributes, and these attributes were altered greatly, over time. In general, both TDS and TDS difference curve analyses revealed that the description of the
cachaça samples by the Slovakians presented higher dominance rates for the attributes, a faster perception of the dominant attributes, and a greater number of attributes. Some studies have already reported that consumers in different countries have distinctive perceptions of products.41-44 Preference for different qualities appears to be dependent on the context in which the products are experienced. Thus, cultural preference differences are evident, most probably
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as a function of the different dietary experiences of different cultures.45 The different perceptions and preferences for alcohol across cultures can be attributed to many factors, including the difference in consumption habits (Brazilians are accustomed to consuming cachaças, whereas Slovakians typically
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consume other distilled drinks), frequency of alcohol consumption, sensory experiences/cultural aspects, and other factors such as the palate profile and physiological aspects related to the consumption habits, which could have made the Slovakians more sensitive to the time of perception of dominant attributes and helped them perceive a greater number of attributes. Analysis of variance showed a significant difference among the effects due to different
samples (F-value 3.32, p ≤ 0.05, df 3), different nationality of the tasters (F-value 12.84, p ≤ 0.01, df 1), and the interaction “sample versus nationality” (F-value 3.15, p < 0.05, df 3) on overall liking ratings. There was significant difference in the overall liking of cachaça stored with oak wood cubes
and that stored with CM wood cubes by Brazilians and Slovakians (Table 2). These cachaças were preferred by Brazilians, whose notes for these samples ranged from “like slightly” to “like moderately,” while those from the Slovakians ranged between “neither like or dislike” and “like slightly.” The higher grades for cachaça stored with oak from the Brazilians may be due to the fact that this group identified the wood flavor and vanilla attributes to be dominant at the end of evaluation time, while the Slovakians identified the wood flavor attribute at the beginning of the evaluation time, but identified the spicy and pungent attributes as residual flavors. For cachaça stored with CM wood cubes, it seemed that the wood flavor attribute, which was identified as the dominant attribute at the beginning of the evaluation time by the Slovakians, did not have a positive influence on the acceptance of this sample. This was indicated by lower grades given for this sample by the Slovakians compared to those given by the Brazilians. Regarding cachaça stored with LV and JT wood cubes, there was no difference in the grades presented by the two groups. The notes for cachaça stored with LV wood cubes ranged from "neither like or dislike" to “like slightly,” while those for the cachaça stored with JT wood cubes ranged from “like slightly” to “like moderately”.
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We also observed that the Brazilian tasters preferred the cachaça that was stored with oak wood cubes, which showed no significant difference from the ones stored with JT and CM wood cubes, with grades ranging from “like slightly” to “like moderately.” Additionally, it was observed
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that among the Brazilian tasters, the cachaça stored with LV wood cubes had a low acceptability, with an average of 5.81 (“neither liked or disliked” to “like slightly”). In this case, this sample was the only one in which the off-flavor attribute was significantly perceived as an after taste, which could be responsible for its low acceptability and poor sensory profile compared to the others. Among the Slovakian tasters, however, the cachaça stored with JT wood cubes presented the
highest acceptability, with an average of 6.26 (“like slightly” to “like moderately”), and no significant difference with the ones stored with LV and oak wood cubes, with notes ranging from “neither like or dislike” to “like slightly”. The cachaça stored with CM wood cubes showed the lowest acceptability, with an average of 5.41 (“neither like or dislike” to “like slightly”). Thus, it was inferred that the wood flavor attribute, which was dominant at the beginning of the evaluation time and showed a higher dominance rate in CM compared to that observed for the other samples, did not positively influence the acceptability of this sample.
< Insert Table 2 here>
A study involving cachaça sensory analysis showed a tendency of grouping samples into
two clusters of cachaças with hedonic index < 6 and hedonic index > 6 in the PCA. In this study, aged cachaças received higher scores (HI > 6) for appearance and taste compared with those received by cachaças that were not aged, according to the ANOVA test (p
