– by Steve Sheppard –
Throughout history, coffee has taken on several transformations, initially serving as an energy source when nomadic tribes combined coffee berries with animal fat as an early form of an energy bar. It’s gone through a couple of iterations as a hot drink before coming to the beverage we’ve come to identify with today.
Coffee has always been a product of great mystery, and although it has been in existence for thousands of years, it’s only been in the past half century or so that scientists have been able to truly identify and understand what exactly is contained in this mystical bean. Scientists have identified over 1,000 compounds in coffee. Products such as wine or chocolate, composed of a few hundred compounds, pale in comparison to that of coffee. Luckily, through advancements in technology, much of coffee’s chemical makeup has been unlocked and we now have a better perspective on the chemistry contained within this mystical bean.
Caffeine: For many, coffee drinking is simply a delivery medium for a potent alkaloid we have come to identify as caffeine. Although caffeine is strongly associated with coffee, its production within the plant kingdom is not exclusive to the coffee plant: Mother Nature was quite generous when it came to distributing it. For humans, caffeine is very unique. So far we are the only living forms on Earth that readily seek caffeine for both its stimulatory and psychological effects.
But what else is in coffee, other than our friend caffeine?
Trigonelline: Although its concentration is slightly less than that of caffeine, it plays a significant role in the development of important flavour compounds during roasting. Modeling studies show that during the roasting process, 60% of the initial trigonelline is decomposed, leading to the formation of carbon dioxide, water and the development of a large class of aromatic compounds. These compounds play an important role in flavour and are responsible for producing the sweet/caramel/earthy-like aromas commonly found in coffee.
Vitamin B3: More commonly known as niacin and depending on roasting conditions, niacin can increase up to 10 times its initial concentration, providing anywhere between 1mg of niacin per cup for Americano-type coffees and roughly two to three times this concentration in espresso-type beverages.
Lipids: Lipid production and its subsequent survival after the roasting process play an important role to overall coffee quality in the form of coffee oil.
In Part II of this series we will discuss the role of carbohydrates, proteins and a number of aromatic compounds that give coffee its alluring flavor … Steve out.
