3.

25 Chemistry of Coffee
S. Oestreich-Janzen, CAFEA GmbH, Hamburg, Germany

ª 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

3.25.1 Overview 1085

3.25.1.1 Coffee’s Origin 1085
3.25
3.25.1
.1.2
.2 Earl
Ea rly
y Cu
Cultltiv
ivat
atio
ion n an
andd Co
Consnsum
umpt ptio
ion
n 1086
3.25.1.3 Ways Out of Arabia 1087
3.25
3.25.1
.1.4
.4 Disc
Di sco ove
very
ry of th
the e Ro
Robubust
staa Var
arie
iety
ty 1087
3.25
3.25.1
.1.5
.5 Coff
Co ffee
ee as a Tr Trad
ade e Co
Commmmod oditity
y – Wo
Worlrld
d Pr
Prod
oduc
ucti
tion
on 1088
3.25.1.6 From Field to Physi sio
ology 1089
3.25.2 Botany 1089
3.25
3.25.2
.2.1
.1 Plan
Plantt ChChararac
acte
teririst
stic
ics,
s, Ha
Habibit,
t, an
andd Gr
Grow
owthth 1089
3.25
3.25.2
.2.2
.2 Spec
Sp ecieiess an
and d Cl
Clasassisifi
fica
cati
tion
on 1091
3.25.2.3 Modern Classi siffic
icaations 1092
3.25
3.25.3
.3 Chem
Chemis istr
try
y Co
Compmpon onenentsts an
and d Pr
Proc
ocesesse
sess 1094
3.25
3.25.3
.3.1
.1 Nitr
Ni trog
ogenenouous s Co
Comp mpououndnds s I: Ca
Caffffei
eine
ne 1094
3.25.3.2 Processes an andd Rea eacctions 1096
3.25.3.2.1 Postharvest processing: dry and wet methods 1096
3.25.3.2.2 Roasting 1097
3.25.3.2.3 Extraction for beverage preparation 1097
3.25.3.3 Carbohydrates 1097
3.25.3.4 Chlorogenic Acids 1100
3.25
3.25.3
.3.5
.5 Nitr
Ni tro
oge
genonousus Co
Comp mpo oununds
ds II 1101
3.25.3.5.1 Amino acids and proteins 1101
3.25.3.5.2 Trigonelline 1103
3.25.3.6 Lipids 1103
3.25.3.6.1 Total lipids 1104
3.25.3.6.2 Triacylglycerols 1104
3.25.3.6.3 Diterpenes and diterpene esters 1105
3.25.3.6.4 Sterols, Tocopherols 1106
3.25.3.6.5 Coffee wax 1106
3.25.3.7 Volatiles 1106
3.25.3.7.1 Volatiles in green coffee 1110
3.25.3.7.2 Volatiles on roasting 1110
3.25.3.7.3 Volatiles in the brew 1111
3.25.3.8 Melanoidins 1113
3.25.4 Conclusions 1113
References 1113

3.25
3.25.1
.1 Over
Overvi
view
ew
3.25.1
3.25.1.1
.1 Coffee
Coffee’s
’s Ori
Origin
gin
The coffee plant most probably originated in Africa and Madagascar. Early cultivation is reported in the
Ethiopian Highlands and also on the other side of the Red Sea, in Yemen – no surprise, since climate and
geography are similar. According to legends, coffee stepped out of Africa most likely in the first millennium.
Other narratives deal with the discovery of roasting, leading to the consumption of coffee as a beverage.

1085
1086 Chemistry of Coffee

Tropic 

Equator Equator

Tropic 

Coffee producing countries 2009 (ICO statistics and others)

Arabica prevailing (more than 75 %)
Robusta prevailing (more than 75%)
Intermediate Arabica/Robusta share 

Figure 1 Coffee producing countries around the globe.

Coffee grows best in areas lying between the tropics. Today, it is found in all continents belonging to this
geographic belt, Figure 1, even in Australia and very recently, not yet shown here, at the Northern tropic in the
Yunnan highland of China. There are two main species of coffee, Arabica and Robusta, each with its own ecology.

3.25.1.2 Early Cultivation and Consumption

The first reference to coffee in the literature seems to be from Arab scientists in the ninth and tenth centuries (Rhazes,
Persian physician (853–935); Avicenna, Arab physician (980–1037), polymath in the world of letters and sciences).
Referenced to as ‘bun’, it was a stimulant food of Ethiopia and Yemen. It might have been chewed and eaten.
The oldest material source is dated about AD 1200. Carbonized paleobotanic Arabica coffee beans were
found in 1997 in an archaeological excavation1 on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, near Oman,
together with the early thirteenth-century pottery from Yemen. Since these beans were evidently not at their
growing place, they indicate that coffee was traded at that time. The findings also reveal that the beans came
from Yemen and people knew about roasting them. 2
Until 1600, the cultivation of coffee was restricted to Arabia, and mainly centered in the highlands of Yemen,
where a sophisticated system of irrigation was practiced.3 To retain this monopoly, the export of coffee plants
was strictly forbidden, and even the beans for trade were said to have been made infertile.
Coffee was economically important for both producers and traders. The Arab Islamic world was familiar
with the beverage, even though there were times of restriction, based on whether or not religion permitted
consumption of the beverage.4 Mecca pilgrims took word of the beverage to their distant homelands.
The use of coffee spread with the Ottoman Empire, over its part of the Mediterranean. Coffee brewers
progressed into a specialized guild, as reported by Austrian legation members about a procession of guilds at a
celebration in Istanbul in 1582.5
Detailed information on coffee reached the Christian part of Europe about the same time, through travel
reports of scientists6,7 and books’ prints with drawings of the plant and descriptions of its consumption. The
 Chemistry of Coffee 1087

naked beans had circulated among European scientists some time before, mentioned in the updated 1574
edition of an earlier standard work on tropical plants.8
Coffee as a commodity for trade did not enter the non-Islamic world until 1615, when a few bags arrived in
Venice,9 followed by demand and supply. The coffee trade’s mainstream ran from Mocha, the port in Yemen
involved in export, through ship and caravan to Cairo and Alexandria.4 From there the coffee was distributed to
the Ottoman customers and to the consumers in Europe, where coffee houses started flourishing. As early as
1668, coffee had crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Dutch New York.10

3.25.1.3 Ways Out of Arabia

Despite all of the protective restrictions adopted in the Arab world, the expanding interest in the beverage
encouraged a search for a similar tropical climate for growing coffee plants and efforts to find ways of 
transferring plants. Possibly, the first expansion was to the west coast of India, where coffee was brought in
by Muslim pilgrims from Mecca. The mystical origins of Indian coffee are traced to the seven beans brought to
Karnataka by the legendary Baba Budan in 1600. 11,12
From India, coffee is reported to have moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1658, to the plantations of the
Netherlands East India Company, and to Java after 1696. 13  Java became the world’s mass supplier for coffee
outside Arabia and remained so for half a century; even today, in the United States, a cup of coffee is commonly
called a ‘cup of Java’.
From the Dutch colonies, single plants were sent to the botanical garden of Amsterdam in 1706; from there,
living plants were transported to the Dutch colony in Surinam for cultivation and a grown-up tree was gifted to
King Louis XIV in Paris in 1714. 14 Some plants of the next Parisian generation were transferred to French
colonies in the Caribbean, for cultivation in an appropriate climate. There is a well-known textbook story of a
single plant surviving on a ship to Martinique, nourished by the drinking water of its officer, in about 1720. This
was reported by the officer himself 50 years later15. The coffee variety originating from Amsterdam, called
Typica, made its way step by step into Latin America.
At the same time, there was another route of Arabica plants out of Yemen: 60 seedlings, an official present by
the Yemenite sultan16 to Louis XIV, were sent to the French Bourbon Island (La Réunion, today) in 1715; again,
these were a limited number of plants. From there, the Bourbon variety of coffee entered the French colonies in
the Americas and in other places.
Coffee cultivation was also promoted by other colonial powers such as Portugal, Spain, and England (and,
for a few decades, by Germany also). These powers also expanded cultivation to their respective spheres of 
influence.
Bourbon and Typica are the prolific ancestors of most of today’s Arabica crops – a genetically narrow route
that expanded from a few single plants to millions of tons of Arabica per year, all within 300 years.
Other coffee types, which grew without international demand in the humid tropical areas of their origin,
became objects of scientific surveys and explorations from the eighteenth century.
Today, independent coffee producing countries cooperate with the consuming ones in a worldwide research
for the conservation of the coffee plant’s genetic heritage and diversity. Numerous so-called wild or sponta-
neous varieties deserve genetic resource management. Since they are imminently threatened by advanced
deforestation, an effective preservation strategy is needed.

3.25.1.4 Discovery of the Robusta Variety 

The tropical areas of Africa, from Guinea to Angola and to Uganda in the east, host different species of coffee.
The first to gain economic importance was the Ethiopian Arabica, with its early cultivation in Arabia.
Reports of other species in Africa and their indigenous cultivation and trade date from the nineteenth
century. For the East African countries, expeditions of 185717 and 186218 informed that coffee was familiar to
the people there, grown in homegardens,19,20 and chewed and eaten as green bean for its stimulating effect.21,22
Discussions on the identity of these species of coffee, whether they were wild Arabicas (prospector’s hope) or
sui generis, remained ongoing23 till 1897. Several non-Arabica species were determined by Froehner,24
including Coffea canephora  Pierre,25 with the later extension ex A. Froehner.
1088 Chemistry of Coffee

Cultivation of this species for use as roast coffee was initiated in 1898,26,27 and promoted by a Belgian
horticultural company.28,29 This coffee was called Robusta by the Belgians as it proved more robust against diseases
and had less ecological requirements in terms of humidity, temperature, and altitude of plantations. Although
different in taste, it soon turned out to be a useful alternative for the vulnerable Arabicas, which were disease prone
due to their narrow genetic origin.30 There was an actual demand for resistant plants as a disastrous epidemic of leaf 
rust, caused by the devastating Hemileia vastatrix fungus, started in 1869.31 The first to suffer from it were the Ceylon
coffee plantations. There, at the abandoned plantations, coffee was replaced by tea. The next coffee countries soon to
be attacked were India and, then, Indonesia. Eventually, the search for rust-resistant coffee types led to the
substitution of Arabica by Robusta, after an intermezzo with the species Coffea liberica . During the last century,
Robusta made its way to other coffee growing regions and witnessed an enormous expansion in its cultivation.
Besides pests and diseases, coffee crops can also be reduced by drought and frost,32 thus influencing the
available volume of coffee. This happened regularly after a frost in Brazil, causing declines in world supplies in
the 1970s. Soon the cultivation of Robusta increased in West Africa, its original homeland.
Since 1990 there has been a steady increase in Robusta production in Vietnam, which is now the world’s of 
coffee in general.33

3.25.1.5 Coffee as a Trade Commodity – World Production

The data of total coffee production since 1620 show the overall increase and the rise of new production areas.
Compiled from several sources, these data are represented as a graph (Figure 2), with the volume of today’s big
players marked individually.

   )
  s
  n
  o
   t
   (
  r
  a
  e
  y
7 000 000   r
  e
  p
Vietnam
  n Colombia
  o
   i
   t
  c
  u Brazil
   d
6 000 000   o
  r Indonesia
   P
Others
World coffee production in the last centuries Total
5 000 000 - compilation from different sources - 25 years average

4 000 000

1 000 000
Colombia
3 000 000
Brazil
Indonesia
Selected origins Haiti
Yemen 500 000
2 000 000 of early production

0
1 000 000
  0   0   9   0   0   0   0   0   0
   7  0   1
  1    7  2    7  8   1  8  0   1  8  2   1  8 4   1  8  6   1  8  8   1  9  0
  1

0
1789 1820 1880 1940 1955 1970 1985 2000 2008

Figure 2 World Coffee production compiled from several sources.

 A. 1620, 1700: Becker, 34 p 11.

B. 1670, 1955: Söhn,35 pp 11, 98.
C. 1720: Eccardi; Sandalj, 9 p 48.
D. 1789, 1936: Dahlgren,10 pp 22, 41.
E. 1800–1920, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1975: Sivetz, 36 pp 13.
F. 1980–1995: ICO,33 historical data, total production of member plus non member countries (2009).
G. 2000–2008: ICO,33 world supply, total production (accessed July 2009).
 Chemistry of Coffee 1089

The known data for world coffee trade started with about 10 000 tons per year in 1700,34 all from Yemen,
followed by supply from Indonesia and from the Caribbean.35,37 In 2008, a total of about 8 000 000 tons was
traded (roughly, Brazil 35%, Vietnam 15%, Colombia 10%, and Indonesia 5%, followed by Ethiopia, Mexico,
and India; Arabica constituted 60%). The world production figures are likely higher because there is domestic
consumption as well. The volumes of world coffee production and trade before the seventeenth century is not
clearly reported; compared with the volumes of today, it was negligible.

3.25.1.6 From Field to Physiology 

Coffee passes through several steps to reach its final destination: human consumption. All of these steps – the
seed maturation, postharvest processing, storage and transportation on land and ship, roasting, home brewing or
industrial extraction, and eventual intermediate treatments – have an impact on its chemical composition.
The economic importance of coffee is evident in agriculture, occupation, and welfare both in producing and
consuming countries. Production, international trade, and world wide consumption create normative rules in legisla-
tion, administration and standardization in the countries concerned, regarding registration, food surveillance, customs,
subsidaries, analytical methods, and many other aspects. Coffee’s agriculture has an impact even on theglobalecology.
Originally, coffee’s stimulating property, its oldest-known physiological effect, was the basis of its use; later
on the focus shifted to enjoying aromatic roast coffee beverage as a psychoactive stimulant. Today, due to
sophisticated research on the effects and mechanisms of action of coffee, a more balanced view has emerged on
the effects of coffee on our well-being and health.

3.25.2 Botany
3.25.2.1 Plant Characteristics, Habit, and Growth
In nonrestricted growth, the coffee plant is a perennial tree or treelet with a single main trunk and horizontal branches,
primary, secondary, and tertiary horizontal branches (plagiotropic); pruning can lead to multiple-stem plants.
Coffee’s original place is the forest understorey. Coffee plants bear clusters of flowers and cherry-like fruits.
A short central taproot fades into axillary and lateral roots and a manifold of feeder bearers and root hairs. The
dark green elliptical leaves grow in opposite pairs on the main stem and branches. The wood is dense; the fruits,
nectar, and leaves are food resources.
Under tropical conditions, flowering and fruiting happen in parallel; the nearer coffee plants are to the
equator, the more pronounced is a bimodal cycle.
Multistem growth is trained by either capping the main stem, giving rise to suckers that develop into new
vertical stems with horizontal branching, or bending the principal stem to the horizontal (agobiado technique),
with several suckers in a row.
Periodic pruning is done to optimize the plant shape for good fruiting, easy harvesting, and effective disease
and pest control, as well as to rejuvenate the plant.
Pests may attack the plants in the field and the beans in store by boring, biting, mining, and sucking, or living
as parasites on the root system; fungi, viruses, and bacteria may cause severe coffee diseases.
Further characteristics and figures are given in Table 1. For each characteristic, the properties common to
all species are written in the first line, followed by the differing ones beneath in separate columns for the species.
The development of flowers from the buds takes several weeks, that of the fruits several months after
flowering, with periods of growth and of dormancy. The sequence of steps is enzymatically controlled in-plant
and is triggered externally by photoperiodism, relief of water stress, and temperature drop.
In a days-after-flowering (DAF) scale,43 depicted in Figure 3, the tissues of the growing fruit show marked
changes in volume ranking of all pericarp, perisperm, and endosperm. Embedded in the start-up pericarp, the
perisperm expands to equal the pericarp mass; then, it gets absorbed by the developing endosperm, the final
organ for all storage compounds in the fruit.
Propagation to the next generation starts with either seeds from the farmer’s own plants, sown directly in the
fields, or seedlings from seeds or cuttings delivered by a nursery in plastic bags for planting. Development time
in soil from the naked seed to the first leaves is 1–2 months at best. A third method for propagation in vitro  is
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 Chemistry of Coffee 1091

Perisperm phase  Endosperm development  Pericarp maturation 

Flowering 

Arabica 7–9 months  250 DAF 

Robusta 9–11 months  300 DAF 

Figure 3 Fruit development in coffee, days-after-flowering scale, compiled from several sources. A. Flower: Linnaeus, 46
p 1. B. Bean development: De Castro; Marraccini, 43 p 177.

used in research: the cultivation of a fragment of tissue from a plant in a suitable substrate, producing a new
plant that is genetically identical to the plant from which it originated.44

3.25.2.2 Species and Classification

The first attempts at coffee classification were as early as 1623, when Bauhin45 in his Pinax theatri botanici 
(Illustrated exposition of plants ) mentioned Coffea and set it in relation to Evonymus.
A century later, a comprehensive descriptive systematization was proposed by Linné; he set up plant classes
with easily identifiable characters of the floral structure, including the genusCoffea, at the very beginning,46,47
with publications in 1735 and 1737. The final naming of the species as Coffea arabica was presented in his ‘Species 
Plantarum ’ in 1753.48 This work was based on direct observations in botanical gardens and herbaria,49,50 and in
discussions and exchanges with colleagues. He explicitly cited Jussieu’s description of coffee for the Royal
Academy in Paris in 1713/1715.14
In Figure 4 shows the coffee of Linné’s original private herbarium, pressed, dried, and fixed on a sheet
(N 2490 of the Linnaean Herbarium at the Linnean society London, Salvage No. 232.1; the mark ‘‘india’’


presumably indicating the origin of the specimen; collection purchased from Linné’s widow in 1784).
The official reference for C. arabica  L. is the type specimen from Clifford’s herbarium,51 which Linné
had described in 1737.49,50 It is designated as a lectotype52 on the basis of the procedures of the
International Botanical Code (the Vienna Code of 200553). ‘Lectotype’ means that the first publisher had
described the specimen prior to the reference to it – the requirement to explicitly design a reference
specimen came up later.
Linné’s typification became a benchmark for the botany of that time, as underlined by the title ‘Order
out of Chaos’ for an anniversary book of 2007.54 Although his classification was soon overtaken,55 the
binomial principle of naming remained – the first part indicates the botanic genus; the second is an epithet
given by the first author, who is indexed. The overall genus for the coffee species is Coffea  L., indexed as
named by Linnaeus. The principal commercial species used for beverage preparation are C. arabica  L., and
C. canephora  Pierre ex A.Froehner,25 commonly called var. Robusta. Coffea liberica  Bull ex Hiern and some
other species are much less important today; there are numerous varieties, including cultivated ones
(cultivars).
The botanical classification of coffee has reached a high degree of consensus, presented in international
conferences56,57 and with ongoing publication in the World Checklist of Rubiaceae58  – coffee is positioned in
this family since Jussieu 1789.55
Chevalier’s system,59 with four subgenera of  Coffea , was popular for some decades of the last century.
However, it became obsolete the more taxa of the different pools of coffee origin were described and
classified.60–62
In terms of the Botanical Code, the classification lineage of coffee, starting at the family rank with Rubiaceae,
goes down via subfamily Ixoriadeae, tribe Coffeae DC.,63,64 to the genus Coffea L. Some 100 accepted species of 
the genus, belong to the subgenus Coffea, including all beverage coffees; subgenus Baracoffea  holds about 10
species.42 That is the actual status.
Nevertheless, there are follow-up refinements.65
1092 Chemistry of Coffee

Figure 4 ‘Caffe’ in Linnés herbar, marked ‘arabica’ by his own hand, courtesy of the Linnean Society, London.

3.25.2.3 Modern Classifications

The changes in classification since Linné’s time came along with a change of characterizing properties and of 
observables, morphological characters against molecular phylogenetics. Involved is a change in the philosophy
of systematic biology, ‘‘from being considered a plan in the mind of the creator, . . . finally to a phylogenetic
mapping of the tree of life’’.66 Recently, a ‘phylocode’ had been proposed, to substitute the Botanical Code’s
system with its taxa and their hierarchy, at least partially.67 Discussions are under way.
Modern analytical chemical measurements can now be used in combination with chemometric comparison
of secondary plant metabolite levels such as caffeine or chlorogenic acids to classify varieties in phylogenetic
trees. Studies of the molecular genetic variation help to identify the relationships of species help to identify
their relationships, presented in dendrograms and resulting in genetic clusters of coffees, which can be
compared to the biogeographical grouping of coffee clades. Several lineages with geographical or ecological
coherence are now recognized,68 as shown in Figure 5.
The phylogenetic approach widens the principles of classification from the morphological similarity of 
existing plants toward an evolutionary dimension, with genetic clades, where the taxa are traced back to
ancestry.
With these instruments, the genetic origin of  C. arabica  could be investigated, with a strongly supported
hypothesis: Arabica seems to have been formed by interspecific crossing of diploid progenitors, one species
close to C. eugenioides  as the maternal and another species close to the canephoroid group as the paternal
 Chemistry of Coffee 1093

Figure 5 The tropical African origin of coffee, distribution map showing the location of groups of Coffea.

progenitor. This might have taken place in East–Central Africa, very likely in the late Quaternary period.69
Several mechanisms were discussed – how the new species moved from a tetraploid via progressive diploidiza-
tion toward the amphidiploid, which it is considered to be now. With the adaptation to the tropical mountain
climate of Ethiopia, a low but continued natural selection may have occurred. 70
In contrast, the high genetic diversity found in the canephora branch of coffee encourages an earlier dating of 
the origins, as some 500 000 years ago.71 The clustering of natural C. canephora diversity groups, with some 40
species in continental Africa, supports the link to climatic variations in that tropical zone. In the last glacial
maximum, an arid period 18 000 years ago, the environment became hostile and few forest refugia72 remained.
There, the differentiation of disseminated subgroups could have occurred,73 with rare migration of species
along the rivers74 and with unpopulated gaps in-between due to adverse conditions. From the East African
group, a dispersal to Madagascar and the neighboring islands might have taken place. They show more than 50
species of the genus Coffea , distinct from the continentals: no naturally occurring species is shared between
Africa, Madagascar, and the Mascarenes.42
Not so far away in history emerged the question about the origin of Bourbon Pointu from Re´union,
C. arabica  ‘Laurina’ – whether it is a mutation of the Arabica introduced from Yemen or a result of crossing
between this Arabica and the indigenous Café marron of the island. A combination of historical and modern
analytical research revealed that it is a very young mutant of the Yemenite Arabica that was introduced in
Réunion.75
The genomic era facilitates the understanding of coffee seed development. Using current knowledge, the
metabolic pathways of the major seed storage compounds of coffee were elucidated.76
1094 Chemistry of Coffee

3.25.3 Chemistry Components and Processes

Coffee, as internationally agreed by coffee people, means in the vocabulary ISO, the ‘‘fruits and seeds of plants
of the genus Coffea , usually of the cultivated species, and the products from these fruits and seeds, in different
stages of processing and use intended for human consumption’’ (subclause 1.1. of the ISO 3509 coffee
vocabulary),77 and in the wording of the International Coffee Agreement, the ‘‘beans and cherries of the coffee
tree, whether parchment, green or roasted, and includes ground, decaffeinated, liquid and soluble coffee’’
(Article 2 of the said Agreement).78 Both definitions describe ‘coffee’ in terms of a series of stages from
maturation to consumption.
The composition of coffee varies with the species and with the step in the line. Table 2 gives an overview of 
analytical data.
The data are averages from literature reviews,80 and from investigations executed in other analytical
contexts,82 where the components of constituent groups had been individually determined and summarized.79
The in-bean localization of distinct components during the development stages of growing and ripening of 
the coffee fruit had been observed with electron microscopy supported by tissue coloring. Consecutive papers
presented at conferences of association for the science and information on coffee (ASIC) since 1977 featured
impressive findings:83 constituents had been distinguished in their cellular environment and their migrations
observed.
An integral view – arrived at through the use of modern instruments – of key biosynthetic pathways of the
main coffee seed storage compounds was published recently.76 Readers may refer to this paper for the plant
biochemistry as that will not be further elaborated here.
The following sections deal with the main components, caffeine, carbohydrates, chlorogenic acids, lipids,
other nitrogenous compounds, volatiles, and melanoidins, and include the transformation processes.
The first compound covered here is caffeine, associated even by name to our subject, coffee. Caffeine is a
nitrogenous compound that is not affected by the central process in coffee chemistry, roasting.

3.25.3.1 Nitrogenous Compounds I: Caffeine

Caffeine, 1,3,7-trimethyl-xanthine, a purine alkaloid, is a secondary metabolite of the coffee plant: the
biosynthesis starts from xanthosinemonophosphate.84 In the metabolic pathway, subsequent methylation
steps occur with different N-methyl transferases, methionine being the methyl donor. The purine catabolism
of caffeine comprises its degradation via successive demethylation down to carbon dioxide and ammonia.85

Table 2 Chemical composition of coffee, mass percent in dry matter, different sources

 Arabica Robusta  Arabica Robusta  Arabica Robusta

 green a  green a  roasted  b  roasted  b  instant  a  instant  a

Constituent % DW % DW % DW % DW % DW % DW  

Caffeine 1.3 2.3 1.2 2.4 2.5 3.8

Trigonelline 0.8 0.7 0.3c 0.3c 0.7 0.4
Carbohydrates 53.7 50.7 38 42 46.6 44.7
Chlorogenic acids 8.1 9.9 2.5 3.8 2.6 1.6
Lipids 15.2 9.4 17.0 11.0 0.11 0.26
 Amino acids 11.1 11.8 7.5 7.5 6.2 6.0
Organic acids 2.3 1.7 2.4 2.6 8.1 7.9
Melanoidins – – 25.4 25.9 25.1 28.6
Volatile aroma Traces Traces 0.1 0.1
 Ash (minerals) 3.9 4.4 4.5 4.7 8.0 7.4
Others In melan  Added to
partly unknown oidines melan
 a
Leloup79.
 b
Illy and Viani 80.
c
Macrae81
 Chemistry of Coffee 1095

In the coffee plant, caffeine is present in all parts over the ground. The ecological effects of caffeine as an
intrinsic chemical defense against herbivory, molluscs, insects, fungi, or bacteria86 have often been discussed,
but experimental results for clear support are difficult to obtain.87
O CH3
CH3 N
N1 6 7
5 8
2 4 9
3
O N N

CH3
Caffeine

Caffeine biosynthesis takes place in the leaves and in the pericarp, the outer part of the fruit. In aged leaves
the caffeine content is lower.88 In the pericarp tissues, light strongly stimulates the methylation step of caffeine
synthesis. When the seed inside the fruit starts growing, caffeine is translocated through the membranes and
accumulates in the endosperm. There, the final value is reached 8 months after flowering.89
The caffeine content of the coffee beans depends on species and variety, from 0.6% in Laurina up to 4% in
some extreme Robustas; averages are given in Table 3.90
Not included here are coffees from the Mascaracoffea group of Madagascar, which do not belong to the
‘beverage’ coffees.91 They have very low caffeine contents at the limit of analytical detection (caffeine free)92 and
may serve as genetic resources for further work. These low caffeine species also show low caffeine in their leaves.93
The caffeine content in dry matter base is not affected by postharvest processing, neither by the roasting.
Although the roasting process occurs well above sublimation temperature, during it only a small percentage of 
caffeine vanishes, which is overbalanced by the organic weight loss.91
Caffeine is a physiologically active compound, and the human exposure to it after a cup of coffee is of interest.
Some general calculations can be made: an aqueous extraction at regular brewing conditions transfers the caffeine
almost completely into the beverage. A cup of 100 ml with a brew of 55 g lÀ1 of roast and ground coffee, with the
world trade ratio of 60% Arabica and an average caffeine content of Table 2, supplies about 100mg caffeine.
Looking beyond the averages, Table 4 roughly gives the variability (brewing strength 40 g/l) 94,95 of the
value, omitting extremes and exotics – a range of plus/minus 100%.
But even the term ‘cup’ or ‘serving’ is in motion: the mug has become widespread, with a volume of about
250 ml, and ‘jumbos’ are on the market, of about 500 ml.
A cup of tea for comparison, has a slightly lower caffeine content: Prepared from a 1.75 g teabag with an average
caffeine content for tea of 3%, a cup of 100 ml contains 50 mg, with a natural variability similar to the case of coffee.
The limit for mandatory caffeine labeling in non-coffee and non-tea drinks is set at 150 mg lÀ1(sets the
obligation for caffeine labelling at amounts exceeding 150 mg/l and a sentence intended as warning, ‘‘contains
high amounts of caffeine,’’ unless (Art.2 2) the beverage is based on coffee or tea);96 this labeling should help
consumers avoid unexpected caffeine intake.
The data given here reflect a standard beverage preparation – others exist. In an espresso-style percolation, for
a cup of 30 ml, 6.5 g roast and ground are taken; with the same coffee, about 87mg caffeine can be expected. The
very short time available to extract caffeine from the cellular structure leads to 75–85% extraction yield only. 97

Table 3 Caffeine content in green beans of different species and varieties

Leaf bean

Species Variety % DW % DW  

C. arabica Mundo Novo 0.98 1.11

Typica 0.88 1.05
Catuai 0.93 1.34
Laurina 0.72 0.62
C. canephora Robusta 0.46 >4
Kouilou/Conillon 0.95 2.36
Laurentii 1.17 2.45
1096 Chemistry of Coffee

Table 4 Estimated ranges of caffeine content per cup, standard brewing of 
different strengths

Species  Arabica Mix 60 Ar/40 Rob Robusta

(caffeine range) (0.9–1.6%) (1.7 %) (1.4–2.9%)

Caffeine per cup Caffeine per cup Caffeine per cup

Brewing strength  mg/100 ml   mg/100 ml   mg/100 ml 

4 0 g lÀ1 a 36–64 67 56–116

5 5 g lÀ1 b 50–88 92 77–160
7 0 g lÀ1c 63–112 118 98–203

Brewing strength according to

 a
NEVO, 1991, Dutch nutritional tables 94: 40 g lÀ1.
 b
Mean between a and c: 55 g lÀ1 (German common use).
c
ISO 6668:2008,95: 70 g lÀ1.

While enjoying his coffee, the consumer may benefit from the stimulating effect of caffeine.
The alerting effects are well known and the mechanisms investigated.98,99
After its consumption, caffeine is readily and completely absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. Within 1 h
it is evenly distributed within the body, readily passing the blood–brain barrier. Peak plasma levels occur
30–60 min after ingestion.
Provoked by a cup of regular coffee of the previously-calculated concentration, a caffeine level of 2 mg lÀ1
body fluid is reached (total body fluid taken as 60% of a 70-kg man), just in the range of the stimulatory level of 
about 1–4mg lÀ1 body fluid.100 At blood concentrations such as these, the main mechanism of action in the
central nervous system is the antagonism of adenosine receptors, which increases central nervous system
activity, with effects on alertness and cognitive control.
During circulation, caffeine is metabolized in the liver via successive demethylation and oxidative degrada-
tion to uric acid. The breakdown products are excreted through the kidneys. About 5% of caffeine is excreted
unchanged. The half-life ranges from 2.5 to 4.5 h in healthy male adults. For children, women, pregnant women,
and people under stress, longer times were reported.
The caffeine content of coffee can be reduced by decaffeination. The process starts with a steam treatment of 
the green coffee to soften the tissues, followed by solvent extraction. The first patent dates back to 1905. 101
Today, processes run with dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, supercritical or fluid carbon dioxide, or water – each
process with its own special technology.102 In the United States, nondecaffeinated coffee is called ‘regular’ coffee.
Legal requirements on the caffeine content apply to decaffeinated coffee for the final product for consump-
tion, that is, roast and soluble coffees. In the United States, decaffeination is measured through the degree of 
decaffeination; common are 97%.103 The European legislation sets a maximum residual caffeine content of 
0.3% for soluble coffee;104 roast coffee is covered by national legislations, in general 0.1% on dry matter.
The standard analytical methods for caffeine determination employ chromatographic separation and
spectrometric detection.105
Although caffeine as pure chemical has a clearly bitter taste (it can be used as a ‘‘bitter’’ standard in basic
sensory tests), it plays only a minor role in giving a bitter tinge to the coffee beverage.

3.25.3.2 Processes and Reactions

The ripe coffee beans, cherry-like, embedded in the pulp of the fruit, need to be dissected soon after harvesting
to avoid an uncontrolled fermentation in the wet mucilage, which would cause undesired ‘off-flavors’ in the
cup. The cherries can be processed by either the dry method – sun drying on patios for 3–9 days followed by
mechanical removal of the dried outer parts, resulting in ‘natural coffee’ – or the wet method – pulping,
controlled fermentation of the mucilage in an 18–36 h process, then rinsing the residuals and drying to produce