The objectives of this study were to understand the sensory attributes that drive consumer liking for tea products and to investigate the effects of consumer age and product information on the acceptance of tea products. Descriptive analysis and consumer taste testing were conducted with 10 canned tea products. In the descriptive analysis, the sensory characteristics of tea products were evaluated using 17 attributes. In the consumer taste testing, 500 tea drinkers were recruited from 5 age groups (that is, ages in the 10′s to 50′s). Each age group was divided into 2 subgroups and rated the acceptance of samples with or without accompanying information about each sample. The General Linear Model was constructed to evaluate the effect of information and age on the liking of the tea products. Preference mapping was performed to understand the important sensory characteristics that drive consumer liking. The non‐sensory factors significantly affected the acceptance for tea products. The younger consumers distinctly preferred black tea to green/oolong tea, but this tendency diminished in the older groups. The majority of consumers liked lemon‐flavored black tea when the product information was not provided. When the information was presented, the acceptance tended to shift to bitter/astringent‐tasting green/oolong teas, which are marketed for their health benefits.

This study compared the texture characteristics and consumer acceptance of cooked wheat noodles produced in four countries, which were Korea, Japan, China, and Italy. Noodle types were selected after FGI (focus group interview). Eleven noodles were studied, and they were categorized into four types: udon, fried udon, oriental noodles of various thickness, and pasta. Color was measured as L (lightness), a (redness), and b (yellowness) values using a colorimeter. Lightness decreased when noodles were cooked, whereas redness and yellowness of cooked noodles were unchanged. Texture properties of wheat noodles in terms of hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, and chewiness were measured using the Rheometer. Italian spaghetti (spgt_IL), Korean fried udon (yk_udng_KR) had highest values for hardness. Korean udon had the highest value for springiness, whereas Chinese medium noodle (mid_CN) had the lowest value (p<0.05). Chinese thick noodle (thick_CN) and fettuccine (fettc_IL) showed lower hardness but higher springiness. Cohesiveness was significantly higher for Japanese udon (udng_JP), Chinese medium noodle (mid_CN), and Chinese thick noodle (thick_CN), whereas values for Korean thin noodle (thin_KR) and Korean fried noodle (yk_udng_KR) were significantly low (p<0.05). Spaghetti (spgt_IL) showed significantly high values for chewiness (p<0.05). For overall acceptability, thick Korean noodle showed the highest score with a level of 'slightly like'. Taste and texture attributes were highest among all noodles, and its high scores for chewiness and smoothness might contribute to its overall acceptance. Korean thick noodle, Korean udon, and Japanese udon were not significantly different from Korean or Japanese thin noodles. Japanese fried noodle (yk_udng_JP) showed the lowest acceptance among noodles in terms of color, flavor, taste, and texture. Chinese thick and medium noodles showed lower scores for overall acceptability, whereas chewiness was not significantly different from other noodles. Spaghetti and fettuccine showed lower scores in terms of overall acceptability, taste, texture, springiness, and chewiness.