Effects of the Orientation of the Mountainside, Altitude and Varieties on the Quality of the Coffee Beverage from the “Matas de Minas” Region, Brazilian Southeast

Abstract

Based upon\rqualitative parameters experiments, this study aims to investigate how the\relements of the environment, where the coffee is produced, contribute to the\rfinal quality of the product. For the analyses, it was used approximately one\rkilogram of coffee cherry samples collected in 14 municipalities previously\rchosen on the East side of the Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The coffee cherry\rsamples were collected and analyzed for each of the two varieties in four\rlevels of altitude for each exposure side of the mountain in relation to the Sun.\rThe quality of the coffee was evaluated through the analysis of its physical\rcharacteristics and sensory analysis, popularly known as "Test of drink or\rCupping" carried out by three tasters that belonging to the group of\rQ-Graders, according to the rules of national and international competitions of\rthe Brazilian Association of Special Coffees (BSCA). Were performed analysis by\rmeans descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and multivariate analysis,\rall of them aiming to study the individual sensory characteristics of quality\rof the coffee beverage from the “Matas de Minas” region. Path coefficient\ranalysis also was carried out for the partition of the phenotypic correlation\rcoefficients into measures of direct and indirect effects, in order to determine\rthe individual sensory characteristics that played a major role in the beverage\rfinal score. The results demonstrate that it is not possible to conclusively\restablish the differences among coffees evaluated with basis on varieties and\renvironmental factors previously cited. It can be concluded that it is not\rrecommended to associate the quality of coffee only to a specific factor\rwhether from the environment or being it a specific of the culture of coffee.\rHowever, the cafes that were evaluated had intrinsic quality, which were\rderived from the specific characteristics of the “Matas de Minas” region where\rthey were grown.