Influence of solid state fermentation on Robusta coffee (Coffea cannephora) beans inoculated with microbial culture of civet fecal suspensions

Abstract

Fermentation is the essential process on the coffee processing since it could determine the quality of the coffee beans. Currently, fermentation of coffee beans via civet digestion has been more attractive since it could significantly enhance the quality of the coffee beans such as improving their flavors and reducing caffeine content. Therefore, thisstudy was conducted during March and June 2021 at Darussalam Banda Aceh to evaluate the effect of the solid state fermentation of various types of Robusta coffee beans using inocula of civet fecal suspensions. Results reveal that all types of coffee beans fermented via the solid-state system have lower glucose content (3 − 17 mmol/L of glucose) compared to that of the control sample (116 mmol/L of glucose) that is naturally fermented. The results of the present study show that all various types of Robusta coffee beans fermented by civet fecal suspensions reach has high percentage of the caffeine degradation (92-94% of caffeine degradation). This finding is greatly notable since the Robusta coffee beans inoculated with civet fecal suspensions could significantly reduce the caffeine content of the coffee beans.