Coffee – A Celebration of Diversity

By Fulvio Eccardi and Vincenzo Sandalj
Sandalj Trading Company spa, Trieste, Italy (2002)
(http://www.sandalj.it/libro.asp)

Across forests, mountains, and vast tropical plateaus, the authors take us through the life of coffee – from its very beginning in Central and Eastern Africa to its later spread across Asia and the Americas. The coffee tree is now cultivated in a hundred different tropical countries, growing under a wide range of environmental conditions that are more or less similar to those under which it originally evolved. Differences in the varieties grown, climate, soil, farming practices and processing methods result in an incredibly wide range of differences in quality between one area and another, and even between one plantation and another. The influence of the factors is often unfamiliar to those working with coffee further down the chain, and will be of interest not only to them but also to the more curious consumer. For their part, many coffee producing countries are only just beginning to discover great coffees and what makes them great. In this photographic journey the reader will gain an understanding of how coffee quality is shaped by climate, farming practices, plant varieties, processing methods and other factors involved in the many different traditions in the coffee world, as the product makes its way from field to cup.

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Recherche et Caféiculture - Research and coffee growing
Special issue of "Plantations, recherche, développement" journal

D. Berry, ed.
Montpellier: Cirad, 2002

The coffee research conducted by CIRAD is dictated by the major issues of the commodity chain: the agro-economic sustainability of the crop, product and beverage quality, integrated control of pests and diseases, and varietal improvement. This special issue of Plantations, recherche, développement, in French and English, contains 13 articles reporting on the current state of progress in research on these issues.

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Coffee Flavor Chemistry

Flament, I.; Bessière-Thomas, Y.
Chichester: Wiley, 2002

For the best part of two centuries investigators have tried with varying degrees of success to identify the compounds which give roasted coffee its characteristic aroma and taste. The analytical methods and the state of progress in chemistry at the end of the 19th century did not allow for the separation, isolation and identification of the multitude of trace chemicals, which are present in roasted coffee. By 1900, scarcely a dozen compounds had been identified. Since the beginning of the sixties, with the advent of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, the number of identifications has increased tremendously. To date, 850 compounds have been identified in the flavor of roasted coffee and 300 in the smell of green coffee. In this work, the authors systematically review the non-volatile constituents of green coffee, including their structure, and discuss their important contribution as flavor precursors during the roasting process. They also trace the chronological discovery of the individual chemicals and critically examine the validity of their identification, highlighting the enormous progress, which has been realized during the 20th century and particularly in the last 40 years. For convenience, the constituents of green and roasted coffee have been distributed into chemical classes according to structure, systematic and empirical names, their CAS Registry Numbers and occasionally their FEMA classification.

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Coffee - Recent Developments

Clarke, R.J.; Vitzthum, O.G.
London: Blackwell Science, 2001
(World Agriculture Seri

Coffee, one of the most commercially important crops grown, is distributed and traded globally in a multi-million dollar world industry. The book commences with three cutting-edge chapters covering non-volatile and volatile compounds that determine the flavor of coffee. Chapters covering technology follow, including comprehensive information on developments in roasting techniques, decaffeination, the science and technology of instant coffee and home / catering beverage preparation. The physiological effects of coffee drinking are considered in a fascinating chapter on coffee and health. Agronomic aspects of coffee breeding and growing are covered specifically in chapters concentrating on these aspects, particularly focussing on newly-emerging molecular and cellular techniques. Finally, recent activities of some international organizations are reviewed in a lengthy appendix. Contents: Coffee carbohydrate chemistry (Green, roasted, soluble... Functional properties... Coffee fiber); Acids in coffee (Formation mechanisms, content, and sensory characteristics...); Coffee lipids, amino acids, and protein; Volatile compounds (Isolation and identification... Formation of odorants); Technology: roasting, decaffeination, instant coffee, beverage preparation; Health effects and safety considerations; etc.

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Coffee Biotechnology and Quality Proceedings of the 3rd International Seminar on Biotechnology in the Coffee Agro-Industry, Londrina, Brazil

Sera, T.; Soccol, C.R.; Pandey, A.; Roussos, S.
Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000

This book is essentially based on the papers presented at the 3rd International Seminar on Coffee Biotechnology (III SIBAC), held in Londrina, Parana, Brazil, in May 1999. It provides a guide for those wishing to learn about recent advances in coffee cultivation and post-harvest technology. The book provides a quantitative and rational approach to the major areas of coffee research, including breeding and cloning, tissue culture and genetics, pest control, post-harvest technology and bioconversion of coffee industry residues into commercially valuable products. The chapters review recent experimental work, allowing a conceptual framework for future research to be identified and developed. Contents: Use of coffee pulp (as a substrate in fermentation processes, as antioxidants and antitumoral derivatives, as animal feed...); Coffee cultivation in India; Development of coffee cultivars; Molecular breeding in coffee; Interspecific protoplast fusion in Coffea; Biological pest control; Amylase and protease inhibitors as alternative against insect herbivores; Electric conductivity of exudates of green coffee and its relationship with the quality of the beverage; Sensory properties of espresso coffee as influenced by coffee botanical variety; Mycotoxic situation in coffee; Production of aroma compounds using coffee husk; etc.

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Caffeinated Beverages
Health Benefits, Physiological Effects, and Chemistry

Parliament, T.H.; Ho, C.T.; Schieberle, P.
Washington: ACS, 2000
(ACS Symposium Series 754)

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the recent developments in the flavor and chemistry of caffeinated beverages. It includes an update on the chemistry and flavor research on coffee, tea, and cocoa, specifically addressing antioxidative phenolic compounds found in the beverages, and an examination of the health benefits, such as the anticancer, anti-aging, and heat disease prevention properties of these beverages. Contents: Chemistry and health benefits of caffeinated beverages; Pathways involved in the metabolism of caffeine by Coffea and Camelia plants; Comparing coffee and tea; Behavioral effects of caffeine; The anticancer activity of coffee beans; Coffee consumption and cancer; Cancer prevention properties of tea; Antioxidant capacity of cocoa and teas; Radical scavenging properties of phenolic compounds; Hypolipidemic activity of green epicatechins; Cardiovascular health benefits of procyanidins present in chocolate and cocoa; Sensory studies on the key odorants of roasted coffee; Flavor development of cocoa during roasting; Chocolate flavor via the Maillard reaction; The chemistry of guarana; The analysis of coffee phenols and phenolic acids; HPLC-MS analysis of flavonoids in foods and beverages; Methyluric acids; etc.

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The Coffee Book
Anatomy of an Industry from Crop to the last Drop

Dicum, G.; Luttinger, N.
New York: New Press, 1999
(Bazaar Book Series)

The Coffee Book is an engaging, informative look at one of the most popular products in the world. Jammed full of facts, figures, cartoons and commentary, it covers coffee from its first use in Ethiopia in the sixth century to the dramatic rise of Starbucks and other specialty retailers in the 1990s. Written with verve and filled with revealing anecdotes and little-known facts, the book surveys the social history of cafe society from the first coffeehouses in to Constantinople Renaissance French cafes to beatnik havens in Berkley and Greenwich Village; explores the process of cultivation, harvesting and roasting from bean to cup; and tells the dramatic story of international trade and speculation for a product that can make or break entire national economies. The book also examines the industry's major players, reveals how the quest for higher profits has often come at the expense of quality, and shows how a much loved product has been turned into a lifestyle. Finally, the Coffee Book considers the exploitation of labor and damage to the environment that mass cultivation causes, and explores the growing "conscious coffee" market and "fair trade" movement.
1999

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Uncommon Grounds
The History of Coffee and how it transformed our World

Pendergrast, M.
New York: Basic Books, 1999

Coffee is the second most valuable exported legal commodity on earth (after oil), providing the largest jolt of the world's most widely taken psychoactive drug. Coffee is an extraordinarily delicate commodity. Its quality is first determined by essentials such as type of plant, soil conditions, and growing altitude. The coffee industry has dominated and molded the economy, politics, and social structure of entire countries. The coffee saga encompasses a panoramic story of epic proportions involving the clash and blending of cultures. Contents: Seeds of conquest (Coffee colonizes the world... The drug drink); Canning the buzz; Bitter brews; Romancing the bean; Appendix: How to brew the perfect cup; etc.

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Coffee, Sex and Health
A History of Anti-Coffee Crusaders and Sexual Hysteria

Bersten, I.
Sydney: Hellian Books, 1999

Is coffee really harmful? What does carbolic acid have to do with coffee? How does 'humour' relate to coffee? Why did the 'Maidens of London' blame coffee for their lack of virility in 1663? How does coffee relate to sex and masturbation? And is it a coincidence that detractors of coffee are in the burgeoning business of selling coffee substitutes? From the earliest days of medicine, doctors have come to many unsound conclusions relating to tea and coffee. Ignorance continued to dominate thinking about these beverages until the beginning of the 19th century when caffeine was discovered and chemically defined and then incorrectly classified as a narcotic. In tracing the history of anti-coffee crusaders, Ian Bersten has uncovered bizarre theories based in sexual paradigms from the first health reform movements. The inventor of Homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, wrote against coffee in the 19th century. His ideas and the similar ideas of health reformers in the United States were the forces, which kept the case against coffee in the public eye. They thought that drinking coffee led to excitement, which led to sex and masturbation. The chief opposition came from one of the most influential health fanatics, John Harvey Kellogg. Their followers, right to the present time, still oppose coffee in spite of scientific evidence relating to its effects.

 

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