In this work the effect of temperature of consumption in the equi-sweetness and sweetening power of different sweetening agents was verified in tea drink in soluble powder. The panelists had evaluated: aspartame, sucralose, mixture of cyclamate/saccharin (2:1), Stevia [Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) Bertoni] and acesulfame-K as sweeteners, having sucrose as reference. All sensory tests were carried-out at 6±2ºC and 45±2ºC. Firstly the ideal sweetness was determined by just-about-right scale with 30 consumers of tea drink. After the ideal sweetness of sucrose determination, the equi-sweetness (in the same ideal sweetness) for each sweetening agent was determined, and its sweetening power in two temperatures of study, for such was applied the method of magnitude evaluation, with a panel of 10 selected and trained panelists. The ideal sweetness of sucrose concentration was of 8.3% for tea drink, without significant difference (p<0.05) between the temperatures of study. Important sensory differences occurred in function of temperature: some sweetening agent the increase of temperature promoted reduction in the sweetening power. For others, increase of the sweetening power was observed. Therefore, we can not generalize the alterations in the sweetening power in function of temperature, because it can vary in function of the involved chemical class and the way of dispersion where it is found.
tea drink; sweeteners; sweetness potency
