Effect of roasting on the carbohydrate composition of Coffea arabica beans

Abstract Coffee beans (arabica) with different degrees of roast were sequentially extracted with water (90 °C, 1 h), water (170 °C, 30 min), and 0.05 M NaOH (0 °C, 1 h). The amount and composition of polysaccharides, oligosaccharides and monosaccharides in the extracts and residues were analyzed. The results were compared with the composition of the same batch of green arabica coffee beans. Although part of our results were already reported in rather fragmented studies, this study gives a more complete overview of the amount and composition of unextractable polymers, extractable polymers, oligomers, monomers, and their conversion into (non-sugar) degradation products as a function of their degree of roast. It was found that most carbohydrates in the roasted coffee bean were present as polysaccharides (extractable or unextractable). The fact that only a small part of the carbohydrates in the extracts were recovered as oligomer and even less as monomers, showed that oligomers and especially monomers were converted very rapidly into Maillard and pyrolysis products. Cellulose remains unextractable and its solubility was not affected by the degree of roast. Galactomannans were also mainly present as unextractable polymers in green beans, but were solubilized to a large extent with increasing degrees of roast. The arabinogalactans in the roasted bean were highly soluble at the extraction conditions used. The arabinose as present as side-chains in the arabinogalactans were found to be more susceptible to degradation at more severe roasting conditions than the galactans. Also evidence was found that populations of arabinogalactans with very different ara:gal ratios exist in the roasted beans as well as in the green beans.