CORRELATION BETWEEN PRECURSORS AND VOLATILES IN BRAZILIAN ARABICA COFFEE PROCESSED BY DRY, SEMI-DRY AND WET METHODS AND DISCRIMINATION BY PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS

CORRELATION BETWEEN PRECURSORS AND VOLATILES IN BRAZILIAN ARABICA COFFEE PROCESSED BY DRY, SEMI-DRY AND WET METHODS AND DISCRIMINATION BY PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS. The influence of preprocessing of arabica coffee beans on the composition of volatile precursors including sugars, chlorogenic acids, phenolics, proteins, aminoacids, trigonelline and fatty acids was assessed and correlated with volatiles formed during roasting. Reducing sugars and free aminoacids were highest for natural coffees whereas total sugars, chlorogenic acids and trigonelline were highest for washed coffees. The highest correlation was observed for total phenolics and volatile phenolics (R= 0.999). Experimental data were evaluated by Principal Components Analysis and results showed that washed coffees formed a distinct group in relation to semi-washed and natural coffees.