Technical Reports on Coffee

Coffee is an extremely popular beverage in many parts of the world that was first produced more than 400 years ago. Over 7 million tons of coffee is produced each year. The two most common species of coffee are the Coffea Robusta and Coffea Arabica. The coffee berries are picked, the seed (or bean), is removed and dried. At this point the coffee is ready to be roasted. The roasting process is described by the color of the beans after roasting, from light to very dark. The color comes from the caramelization of the sugars inside the bean as the internal temperature increases along with the loss of moisture. Coffee contains many chemicals, from the well known caffeine, to the lesser known flavor chemicals. Caffeine and chlorogenic acid are two of the most abundant non-flavor compounds in coffee.

The volatile portion of coffee contains numerous flavor compounds. Over 800 volatile compounds have been reported in coffee. Naturally, given this many compounds, the exact nature of coffee flavor is not fully understood. Some of the commonly accepted important compounds are shown below.

The following technical reports are presented in chronological order with the most recent reports at the top.