Characterization of the impact of chlorogenic acids on tactile perception in coffee through an inverse effect on mouthcoating sensation

Coffee "body" is acknowledged by coffee industry professionals to be an attribute which contributes meaning-fully to overall coffee quality and is defined as the collective tactile sensation imparted by the beverage. Currently, there is limited knowledge of the chemical compounds that contribute to tactile attributes in coffee. In the present work, coffee body was determined to be comprised of 4 sub-attributes including mouthcoating, astringency, chalkiness, and thickness and the specific constituents contributing to the tactile sensation of mouthcoating were further pursued using sensory-guided fractionation via preparative-scale liquid chromatog-raphy. Signal detection-based sensory methodologies were employed to characterize the sensory effects elicited by selected compounds in water and coffee matrices. Two chlorogenic acids, 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3-CQA) and 4-O-caffeoylquinic acid (4-CQA), were observed to impart subtle but significantly perceptible mouthcoating effects in water and/or coffee. Counterintuitively, sensory perception was inversely related to compound con-centration. Complex receptor-ligand interactions or salivary lubrication dynamics are discussed as two potential mechanisms to explain this inverse relationship. Taken together, the outcomes of the present study (1) provide new targets for coffee tactile sensation optimization and modulation, (2) identify a novel dimension of sensory impact for two compounds of the chlorogenic acid family, and (3) present a need for deeper investigation into 3-CQA and 4-CQA mechanisms of sensation.