CAPIXABA CONILON COFFEE: REGIONAL INFLUENCE ON CHEMICAL AND SENSORY COMPOSITION

Coffee, among agricultural products, stands out as one of the most important in the world, especially in relation to social and economic aspects, being one of the five most traded commodities worldwide. Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee, and the second largest consumer of the beverage.¹  The most commercialized species are Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (robusta and conilon varieties).¹ The coffee chemical composition is complex and has more than 1000 chemical compounds, which are responsible for its sensory characteristics, such as aroma, body and flavor.¹ Conilon coffees are characterized as the most resistant and productive coffee plant, have a beverage with lower acidity and greater bitterness, caffeine content, chlorogenic acids and soluble solids. ^1,2 

The state of Espírito Santo is the largest producer of conilon coffee in Brazil, being a world reference in the development of coffee growing of this variety.³ Conilon coffees have been seen as inferior quality by the consumer market and are often used in the production of blends with Arabica coffee, and in the production of instant and espresso coffee, due to their high content of soluble solids. Therefore, to enhance the value of conilon coffee, it is important to explore alternatives that improve its sensory characteristics, with the development of pleasant and differentiated aromas. To this end, scientific studies are necessary to better understand its chemical and sensory profile, also studying technologies capable of improving its quality, promoting greater appreciation and value by consumers.⁴

In this work, we present a study on the differences in the chemical and sensory profile of conilon coffees from different regions of Espírito Santo, using ¹H NMR and sensory analyses of roasted coffees combined with chemometrics. Coffee samples from 3 regions with different altitudes, corresponding to 167 m, 200 m and 514 m, were compared. To make the PCA graphs, the integrals of the regions of the ¹H NMR spectra related to the chemical compounds present in the coffees, such as trigonelline, chlorogenic acids and caffeine, were used.

From the PCA, it was observed that the region of highest altitude (514 m) is separated from the regions of lowest altitude (167 m and 200 m). The coffees from highest altitude presented higher levels of trigonelline and chlorogenic acids, which were the ones that most influenced the separation of this group. According to the literature, trigonelline and chlorogenic acids have a positive influence on the sensory quality of coffee.¹ This fact corroborates the results of sensory analysis, where it was found that the coffees from highest altitude obtained higher final score values.

REFERENCES

1. Pereira, L. L.; Moreira, T. R. Quality determinants in coffee production. Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2021.
2. Agnoletti et al. Discrimination of Arabica and Conilon Coffee from Physicochemical Properties Allied to Chemometrics. Revista Virtual de Química. 11. 785-805. 2019.
3. Instituto Capixaba de Pesquisa, Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (Incaper). (2023). Cafeicultura – café conilon. Acessado em:20/06/2025
4. Fernandes et al. Conilon coffee: A critical review and bibliometric analysis for the agri-food industry. Food Research International. 197. 2024.

Acknowledgements: IFES, LabPetro-DQUI/Ufes, Coffee Design.