Relationship between Physicochemical and Sensory Characteristics of Commercial Plant-Based Beverages

This study aims to evaluate the relationship between the physicochemical characteristics and sensorial profile of a plant-based beverage. The beverages were classified as hypotonic (cashew nut, oat, and soybean beverages) and isotonic (rice and spelt grain beverages). The spelt grain and cashew nut beverages presented a higher content of particles with flocculation and higher sedimentation values. The viscosity of the beverages varied from 5.0–16.8 mPa.s. The viscosity and color attributes in the sensorial analysis were considered "about-right" or "much-more-than-ideal" by over 50% of the judges for the soybean (81 judges for both viscosity and color, respectively) and oat (65 and 69, respectively) beverages. The highest acceptability index for the flavor attribute was found for the soybean beverage, which was the most preferred beverage (p < .01).