# Volatile, Microbial, and Sensory Profiles and Consumer Acceptance of Coffee Cascara Kombuchas
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Sensory Tests
#### 3.4.1 Rate All That Apply (RATA)
In CCN K d3, the attributes showing higher intensities were honey, berries, and raisin/prune for odor; sweet for taste; raisin/prune and fruit syrup for flavor; and full-bodied for mouthfeeI. The sensory complexity attributed to CCN K d3 is most probably derived from the fact that CCN was obtained from previous fruit fermentation during the post-harvest process [2]. For CCN K d6, assessors marked higher intensity for berries and medicinal/syrup for aroma; sweet for taste; citric, berries, and rip fruit for flavor; and watery for mouthfeeI. However, as previously stated, this sample received a lower acceptance score than CCB K d3, probably because of the increase in acetic/vinegar flavor together with the positive attributes (Figure 3). Reports on some spirits prepared with coffee cascara were found in the literature. [PERSON] et al. [94] produced fresh coffee cherry spirits, with vegetable, nutty, and earthy aroma attributes, while the taste descriptors were vegetable, alcoholic, and nutty. [PERSON] et al. [90] also produced cherry spirits from different arabica coffee varieties and found different sensory results and preferences among the coffee plant varieties. In both studies, woody, plum, compote/jam, sweet, herbs, dried fruits, stone fruit, and cherry-like were cited attributes. These descriptors are in accordance with the present study results, partly explaining the differences between CCB and CCN during K production. Figure 5: Intensity means for odor (**A**), taste (**B**), flavor (**C**), mouthfeeI, and appearance (**D**) for CCN K d3, d6, and d9. Note: O: odor; T: taste; F: flavor; M: mouthfeeI; A: appearance; CCN: Nicaragua coffee cascara. Higher intensity means for acid/sour are usually attributed to the organic acid concentration reflected in higher TA and lower pH values [95], which was also observed in the present study. It is known that sourness decreases the ability of humans to detect the initial sweetness of sucrose, given that the sucrose threshold stabilizes with the increase of acid in the same medium [96]. This can help explain the low intensity mean for sweet taste in kombuchas fermented for 9 days. In CCN K, some of the attributes with high intensities used to describe d9 samples were brewer's yeast for flavor, sparkling for mouthfeel, and more opaque/matte for appearance. In CCB K, some of these attributes presented similar intensities in all samples. Table 5 contains the RATA attributes that, based on data from the literature, could correspond to the volatile compounds identified in this study. Principal Component Analysis was performed using as variables the volatile compounds summarized in Table 5; the biplot obtained (Figure 6) highlights that, in general, the evolution of the profile of those selected volatiles during fermentation is in agreement with the changes observed in sensory characteristics. Similar changes for the profile of selected volatiles of CCB and CCN from infusion to d3 were observed, while at d6 and d9 relevant differences were noted between CCB K and CCN K, which were all observed in the RATA test.