Thursday, 23 April 2015 21:36

Lipids in Coffee

Of the two commercially important species of coffee - arabica generally contains more lipids than robusta averaging 15-17% and 10-11.5%, respectively. With the actual coffee bean only a small percentage of the lipid oil is actually contained in the waxy portion covering the bean, while the majority being distributed in the endosperm.   

The following table summarizes the lipid fraction composition generally found in green coffee.

Lipids in Green Coffee:

lipids in green coffee

In terms of quality, arabica contains almost 60% more lipids than robusta which may play an important role in aroma retention. In one study of Central American coffees it showed a direct correlation between lipid content and beverage quality by a panel of cupping experts. 

Studies on coffee storage have also shown that fatty acid concentrations increase when coffee is stored for an extended period of time at subtropical temperatures. As a result, it is believed that decomposition of lipids during elevated temperate storage may lead to the formation of flavors in the coffee.  

But interestingly during roasting lipids (as well as caffeine) remain virtually unchanged owing to their relatively high melting points. 

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Read 40997 times Last modified on Tuesday, 18 April 2017 10:17