COFFEE SENSORY ANALYSIS SPECIALISTS
At IIAC - International Institute of Coffee Tasters, we are an independent and scientific association for coffee tasting, a non-profit organization that lives only on membership fees, founded in 1993 with the aim of developing and disseminating a scientific method for coffee tasting.
Since the foundation, we have held hundreds of courses attended by 13,000 students from more than 40 countries around the world. The Espresso Italiano Tasting manual, published in Italian and English, has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Thai.
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We have an important scientific committee that plans research to ensure innovation in the sector: it includes university professors, technicians, and professionals. We also have direct branches in China, Korea and Japan.
THE COFFEE TASTER
The coffee taster is a professional with advanced sensory and product-related skills, capable of fully understanding the product and the impact of the production chain.
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The skills acquired are fundamental in various fields:
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in quality assurance to evaluate the product in a structured way;
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in research and development to evaluate different product alternatives;
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in human resources to give the company a shared product knowledge;
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in marketing to plan actions consistent with the sensory profile;
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in sales to adopt strategies consistent with the product characteristics.
THE IIAC METHOD
The IIAC method is based on the strict rules of sensory analysis. It involves the use of sensory judges who operate blindly, therefore without knowing the product, to ensure the impartiality of the judgment. The data collected is subsequently processed statistically to evaluate their quality and achieve validated sensory profiles.
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Each sensory evaluation according to the IIAC method is carried out by a panel of specially selected and trained judges. The calibration of the judges is mandatory at the beginning of each tasting session, and the opinions expressed are subjected to statistical validation: the least reliable data are excluded from the calculation of the final score, thus ensuring maximum accuracy of the results.
