PHENOLS AND CAFFEINE IN WET-PROCESSED COFFEE BEANS AND COFFEE PULP

The contents of low molecular mass phenols and caffeine have been analysed in five samples of beans and the associated pulp, derived from two species of coffee and two associated hybrids. The composition of the coffee beans was consistent with previous reports. The pulp contained smaller quantities of the same caffeoylquinic acids, feruloylquinic acids and dicaffeolyquinic acids as the beans, but caffeoylferuloylquinic acids were not found even in the pulp from a robusta coffee. Pulp from a robusta coffee had a lower caffeine content than the pulp from two arabica cultivars, the reverse of the situation existing in the beans. A significant component in all pulp samples was isolated and identified as protocatechuic acid.