Biochemical content of Robusta coffees under fully-wash, honey, and natural processing methods

Abstract

Robusta coffee processors in Indonesia apply three methods of processing cherry coffee into green coffee beans, which can affect the quality of the coffee produced. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of those various processing methods on the coffee beans by finding out differences in Robusta coffee samples’ biochemical content, both as a pulped and green bean. Red-picked Robusta coffee samples were collected from the Kepahiang Bengkulu, one of Indonesia’s highest Robusta coffee producer areas. The primary biochemical contents of coffee, such as moisture, caffeine, chlorogenic acid, sucrose, and lipids, were tested using standard methods on cherry, pulped, and green bean samples. We observed that both pulped and green bean samples showed significant differences (p<0.05) in their biochemical content. Therefore, selecting the right processing method is necessary to get green beans with biochemical content that will produce coffee with preferable sensory attributes.