As globalization progresses, consumers are readily exposed to many foods from various cultures. The need for studying specialty and unique food products, sometimes known as traditional, authentic, ethnic, exotic, or artisanal foods, is increasing to accommodate consumers’ growing demands. However, the number of studies conducted on these types of products with good quality sensory testing is limited. In this review, we analyzed and reviewed sensory and consumer research on specialty and unique food products. Various factors such as manufacturing, processing, or preparation methods of the samples influence the characteristics of food products and their acceptability. Sensory descriptive analysis can be used to distinguish characteristics that highlight these differences, and consumer research is used to identify factors that affect acceptability. Familiarity with product attributes contributes to consumer acceptance. When cross-cultural consumer research is conducted to support product market placement and expansion, sensory descriptive analysis should be conducted in parallel to define product characteristics. This allows better prediction of descriptors that influence consumer acceptability, leading to appropriate product modification and successful introduction.

This study investigated the non-volatile and volatile compounds in samples of cold brew (CB) coffee, coffee from a coffee shop (CS), ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee, and brewed coffee from a coffee maker (CM). The volatile compounds were identified using headspace solid-phase microextraction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and the samples were treated with high-performance liquid chromatography for the quantification of caffeine, chlorogenic acid, and trigonelline. The results indicate that RTD coffee had the lowest amounts of non-volatile compounds. A total of 36 volatile compounds were semi-quantified; the contents of most volatile compounds in CS and Folgers samples were higher than those in CB and CM samples. The contents of 25 volatile compounds in the CM sample were higher than those in the CB sample. The consumer and instrumental data show that the bitterness intensity was correlated with pyrazines, pyrroles, and guaiacols, whereas the coffeeID intensity was correlated with phenols. Semi-quantification and principal component analysis results show that the extraction method and temperature could influence the volatile compound profiles.

This study identifies and semi-quantifies aroma volatiles in brewed green tea samples. The objectives of this study were to identify using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) paired with a headspace solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) the common volatile compounds that may be responsible for aroma/flavor of the brewed liquor of a range of green tea samples from various countries as consumed and to determine if green teas from the same region have similarities in volatile composition when green tea samples are prepared for consumption. Twenty-four green tea samples from eight different countries were brewed as recommended for consumer brewing. The aroma volatiles were extracted by HS-SPME, separated on a gas chromatograph and identified using a mass spectrometer. Thirty-eight compounds were identified and the concentrations were semi-quantified. The concentrations were lower than those reported by other researchers, probably because this research examined headspace volatiles from brewed tea rather than solvent extraction of leaves. No relationship to country of origin was found, which indicates that other factors have a greater influence than country of origin on aroma.

Due to socioeconomic changes, the demand for and interest in alcoholic beverages have recently been increasing. Among various alcoholic drinks, consumer preference for wine could be varied. It might be related with its complexity, as wine is known to have characteristics that are difficult to understand. Several factors, such as intrinsic or extrinsic factors interact to influence wine complexity and consumer perception. Many studies have been conducted to understand the complexity of wine, allowing deeper insight into its perception by consumers. Studies over the last decade on wine sensory perception using descriptive analysis and consumer tests were reviewed. Additionally, chemical analysis studies were included because flavor constituents information would contribute to a better understanding of sensory perception. Descriptive sensory analysis of wine was reviewed considering panels and flavor characterization for better understanding wine-related research. Several consumer studies regarding liking/preference, emotion, context, and extrinsic factors to understand consumer preference or perception were reviewed. Research on chemical constituents may affect consumer perception and is thus presented in this review. However, most of the research was focused on a narrow range of wine, thus is missing overall wine category evaluations. Furthermore, evaluations were mainly in wine-producing countries, resulting in limited understanding of an emergent market. This review will help guide wine researchers and industry by providing information on factors influencing consumer wine perception.

The aim of this study was to investigate consumers’ acceptability and perceived sensory attributes of cold brew coffee, which is increasing in popularity. A total of 120 consumers evaluated liking of 13 cold brew coffee samples and checked sensory attributes they perceived using the check-all-that-apply (CATA) method. Correspondence analysis identified characteristics of each cold brew sample and brewing methods, namely cold brew, coffee machine brewed but served cold, ready-to-drink, and purchased from a coffee shop. In addition, a reduced number of terms were reviewed for common-to-all cold brew samples (17 terms) and specific to each sample (48 terms), which also discriminated among samples. Furthermore, data on consumers’ liking were not influenced by caffeine contents and most of the volatile compounds, but chlorogenic acid and trigonelline contents were negatively related with sensory data. This study specifies the characteristics of cold brew coffee using the CATA method, shows consumers’ segmentation using acceptability, and investigates the relationship between sensory liking data and non-volatile, volatile compounds of coffee.