The relationship between organic acids, sucrose and the quality of specialty coffees

There is an increasing demand for specialty coffees in the worldwide coffee market, which justifies the need for research focused on understanding the effect of genetic factors and environmental conditions on coffee quality. The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of arabica coffee genotypes with a high potential for specialty coffee production under three different environmental conditions. Green coffee beans of arabica genotypes largely cultivated in Brazil were chemically evaluated: one Mundo Novo line and three Bourbon lines. The experimental sites were established in fields in three different municipalities (Lavras, Santo Antonio do Amparo and Sao Sebastiao da Grama) located in Brazil. The level of sucrose and oxalic acid was a good discriminant marker for the beverage quality of the genotypes assessed, in which coffees with higher scores also showed higher levels of sucrose and lower levels of oxalic acid. Yellow Bourbon IACJ9 and the Yellow Bourbon/Origin SSP were indicated as the most suitable genotypes for specialty coffee production. Key words: Specialty coffees, sugar, acids, sensory profile, principal component analysis.