P. Bucheli et al., INDUSTRIAL-STORAGE OF GREEN ROBUSTA COFFEE UNDER TROPICAL CONDITIONS AND ITS IMPACT ON RAW-MATERIAL QUALITY AND OCHRATOXIN A CONTENT, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 46(11), 1998, pp. 4507-4511
Green Robusta coffee was stored in silos for 8 months under industrial
conditions in Thailand, and subjected to air-conditioning, aeration,
and nonaeration, and compared to bag storage under ambient conditions.
Air-conditioning clearly reduced the relative humidity (RH) of the si
lo atmosphere and the moisture content (MC) and the water activity (a(
w)) of green coffee. Overall storage behavior was better for coffee in
the aerated silo (RH 68%; MC = 13.0%; a(w) = 0.69) than for coffee st
ored in bags (RH = 81%; MC = 13.5%; a(w) = 0.72). Aeration provided an
efficient means to reduce MC and a, during the rainy period. Glucose
content was linked positively with the increase of a woody/rubbery not
e in coffee cup quality and increased by similar to 50% between months
3 and 6 when green coffee MC and a(w) increased the most. Glucose is
a potential green coffee quality marker. Under the tested storage cond
itions, neither the growth and presence of ochratoxin A (OTA)-producin
g fungi nor consistent OTA production was found. OTA contamination app
eared to have occurred before storage.