ABSTRACT
Coffee beans are the seeds of red or yellow cherries of evergreen shrubs belonging to the family Rubiaceae, subfamily Cinchonoideae tribe, Coffeae (Figure 53.1). Coffea arabica (Arabica) and C. canephora (Robusta) are two species of worldwide commercial importance, with C. liberica (Liberian) being only a small player on the world stage. To process coffee, the handpicked coffee cherries are rst pulped (e.g., removal of the pericarp and mesocarp); the beans then fermented to remove their mucilage layer, dried to reduce their moisture content to <8%, and stored for at least 3 months to allow for proper avor development; parchment layer (e.g., endocarp) was removed; and the resultant green beans then roasted before brewing and consumption. During the roasting process, the phenolic constituents, namely, the chlorogenic acids (CGAs), are progressively destroyed with roughly an 8%–10% loss per 1% loss of dry matter [1].
