ICAR AIEEA-PG / PGS Beverage Technology: Soft Drinks, Tea, Coffee, Cocoa & Alcoholic Beverages: practice questions

1 · Water for beverages: treatment and quality · easy

Why is alkalinity (mainly bicarbonate) removed from water used for acidic soft drinks?

1. It makes the water too soft to hold dissolved carbon dioxide
2. It neutralises the added acid so the drink tastes flat and pH rises
3. It reacts with sucrose to form insoluble calcium saccharate
4. It is the main cause of chlorine taste in finished drinks

2 · Water for beverages: treatment and quality · medium

A plant keeps a free chlorine residual of 0.5 mg/L for 30 minutes of contact before carbon filtration. Its CT value is

1. 15 mg·min/L
2. 60 mg·min/L
3. 0.017 mg·min/L
4. 30.5 mg·min/L

3 · Functional, sports and energy drinks · medium

Why do many sports drinks combine glucose (or maltodextrin) with fructose rather than use glucose alone?

1. Fructose is absorbed by passive diffusion only and so needs no sodium
2. The two sugars use separate intestinal transporters, so more is absorbed
3. Glucose alone cannot be sterilised without caramelising in the bottle
4. Fructose lowers the freezing point so the drink can be served cold

4 · Tea processing: black, green and oolong; instant tea · easy

The orange-red pigments in black tea liquor associated with brightness and briskness are

1. Anthocyanins
2. Carotenoids
3. Theaflavins
4. Chlorophylls

5 · Coffee processing: wet and dry methods, roasting and instant coffee · hard

Freeze-dried instant coffee is generally preferred to spray-dried for premium products because

1. It gives a lower final moisture and so never cakes
2. Low-temperature drying retains more volatile aroma
3. It needs much less energy per kilogram of water removed
4. It extracts more soluble solids from the roasted bean

6 · Cocoa processing: fermentation, drying and roasting · easy

Fermented cocoa beans are dried for safe storage to a moisture content of about

1. 7–8%
2. 20–25%
3. 1–2%
4. 12–14%

7 · Wine making: red, white and fortified wines · medium

Fermenting 200 g/L of hexose completely by the Gay-Lussac equation releases carbon dioxide of about

1. 98 g/L
2. 102 g/L
3. 200 g/L
4. 49 g/L

8 · Wine making: red, white and fortified wines · medium

During malolactic fermentation, 3 g/L of malic acid (134.09 g/mol) is fully converted. The lactic acid formed (90.08 g/mol) is about

1. 3.0 g/L
2. 1.0 g/L
3. 4.5 g/L
4. 2.0 g/L

9 · Fruit wines, cider and traditional fermented beverages · medium

In sake brewing, 'multiple parallel fermentation' means that

1. Several yeast strains ferment rice in a series of separate tanks
2. Rice is fermented twice, once in tank and once again in bottle
3. Koji mould saccharifies starch while yeast ferments alongside
4. Lactic and acetic acid bacteria ferment the mash at once

10 · Fruit wines, cider and traditional fermented beverages · medium

Pectolytic enzymes are added to fruit musts for fruit wine mainly to

1. Raise juice yield and prevent pectin haze
2. Convert pectin into fermentable glucose
3. Reduce methanol formed by yeast
4. Increase the colour of white fruit wines