The analytical quest for a good cup of coffee

摘要

Coffee scientists have worked for years to identify and quantitate the complex mixture of compounds present in a good cup of coffee. Using GC/MS, they've determined that >1000 volatile organic compounds exist in roasted coffee but that only ～50 of those actually contribute to coffee's distinct aroma and flavor. Correlating this data with the more qualitative information produced by a sensory panel—a group of professional tasters who are trained to pick out the subtle flavor notes, which are divided into the categories of citrus, acid, bitter, butter toffee, cereal, woody, roasted, cocoa, flowery, winey, and coffee—has been difficult. Now, in work published in AC (2008, 80, 1574-1581), Christian Lindinger and colleagues at the Nestle Research Center (Switzerland) describe a reliable method to correlate proton transfer reaction (PTR) MS data with the descriptions produced by a sensory panel.