CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF BRAZILIAN ROASTED COFFEES FROM "CERRADO� AND SOUTH OF MINAS GERAIS STATE

Abstract

In this work eight arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) samples which four from Brazilian "cerrado� and four from South of Minas Gerais State, previously classified as soft, hard, rioysh and rio, were submitted to light roasting (light brown beans) and chemically analyzed. The pH, soluble solids and caffeic acid content were not related to beverage quality neither growing region. However, in regarding to the content of proteins, total phenolics, chlorogenic acids, caffeine and trigonelline significative differences were observed between the beverage quality types and the growing regions. Further, cerrado's coffees presented higher concentration of chlorogenic acids and trigonelline, and South of Minas coffees presented higher content of proanthocyanidins, which could be responsible for their greater astringency. Keywords: Arabica coffee, roasted coffee, chemical composition of coffee.