HTC-17

Vendor Seminar

The complexity of coffee aroma
Prof. Erich Leitner from Graz University of Technology; Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Graz, Austria 

19.05.2022, during lunch break
Plenary Lecture Room

The volatile and aroma active fraction of roasted coffee shows one of the most complex compositions identified in various food products. Most of these compounds, develop during the roasting process. Due to the Maillard reaction at elevated temperatures, several compound classes like aldehydes, diketones, heterocyclic compounds with nitrogen, oxygen or sulphur are generated.
Nevertheless, the mechanism is still not completely understood due to its complexity. For sulfur containing compounds it is generally accepted, that sulfur containing amino acids are the key precursors. They undergo Maillard-type reactions with sugars and other minor compounds to generate a spectrum of different sulfur compounds. For example, 2-furfurylthiol and 2-methyl-3-furanthiol derive from the reaction between pentoses or hexoses with cysteine, going through the formation of furaldehyde and H2S. This has been reported in model systems and confirmed by biomimetic in-bean experiments. 3 Identification and quantification of contributing aroma active compounds in coffee is really challenging. In this presentation the necessity of selective, sensitive and enhanced separation efficiency is discussed. Examples using two dimensional comprehensive GCxGC with different modulators and detectors (MS and SCD) are demonstrated.

References:
(1) Melo Pereira, G. V. de; Carvalho Neto, D. P. de; Magalhães Júnior, A. I.; Vásquez, Z. S.; Medeiros, A. B. P.; Vandenberghe, L. P. S.; Soccol, C. R. Exploring the impacts of postharvest processing on the aroma formation of coffee beans - A review. Food chemistry 2019, 272, 441–452. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.08.061.
(2) Poisson, L.; Blank, I.; Dunkel, A.; Hofmann, T. The chemistry of roasting—Decoding flavor formation. In The craft and science of coffee; Elsevier, 2017; pp 273–309.
(3) Dulsat-Serra, N.; Quintanilla-Casas, B.; Vichi, S. Volatile thiols in coffee: A review on their formation, degradation, assessment and influence on coffee sensory quality. Food Research International 2016, 89, 982–988. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2016.02.008.

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