Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities, surpassed only by oil. Sensory analysis defines the coffee quality, usually made by cup test, which assign notes for taste, aroma, appearance and texture. This assessment uses human being as measuring tool for classify and select the best coffees, assigning the higher prices. However, this analysis requires skilled tasters, since flavor and aroma of coffee beverage derived from hundreds of chemical compounds combination. Thus, grains composition is intrinsically related to quality, and so carbohydrate, as major constituents of matrix, show up as potential chemical marker. Due to its complexity, the final beverage quality is still influenced by raw material characteristics (crop variety, cultural practices, cultivation area and moisture) and conditions of post-harvest processing (drying processes, fermentation, roasting, grinding and packaging). This study aims to take coffees rewarded by good quality in 'Concurso Caf� Qualidade Paran� harvest 2012 and 2013' as reference, in order to investigate the exerted influence of cultivation region and soil type on higher sensory quality by determining carbohydrate�s profile and concentration. The final objective was to verify if carbohydrate can be uses as tracer to designate the origin and also assist to choose the better soil to produce coffee.  All samples of award-winning green coffees beans showed the same chromatographic profile, with only quantitative variation in carbohydrate, with galactose and mannose showing highest concentrations, while mannitol and xylose showing lower. Roasting process provide similar chromatographic profiles, presenting however lower contents of carbohydrate compared to green beans. The concentration of total carbohydrates in analyzed samples showed strong relation to cultivated area, enabling grouping by location and soil type using chemometric tools. Thus, this approach appears as a promising analytical tool to distinguish the origin of coffee cultivation, showing that Latosoil is more appropriate for high quality beverage than sandy soil.

Carbohydrate contents use as tracer for determine coffee origin and soil type of cultivation

248th National Meeting (2014)

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