Lipids in coffee beans undergo morphological changes and migration during the roasting process, but the impact of roasting intensity on lipid profiles remains unclear. The lipidomics characteristics of coffee beans with different degrees of roasting (unroasted green beans, light roast, medium roast, and dark roast) were compared using ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS). A total of 571 lipid metabolites were identified, encompassing 25 species of fatty acyls (FA), 142 species of glycerophospholipids (GP) across 12 subclasses, 42 species of sphingolipids (SP) across four subclasses, 360 species of glycerolipids (GL) across ten subclasses, and two species of prenol lipids (PR). GL content was found to be the highest, followed by FA and GP. Through multivariate analysis, 160 lipids were identified that exhibited significant differences among beans with different degrees of roasting. GP content was significantly influenced by the degree of roasting (p < 0.05), with diverse dynamic evolution observed through K-means cluster analysis. These findings have important implications for understanding lipid transformation and its effect on the flavor profile during coffee roasting.
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