Rapid analysis of cholesterol-elevating compounds in coffee brews by off-line high-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution gas chromatography

A new method is proposed to analyze the cholesterol-elevating cafestol and kahweol which allows their rapid and reliable determination in different co ffee brews. The method involves the preseparation of the sample by high-per formance liquid chromatography, the collection of the selected fraction, an d its subsequent analysis by high-resolution gas chromatography using a pro grammed temperature vaporizer operated in the split mode as sampling system . Under the experimental conditions investigated, recoveries as high as 87% (cafestol) and 94% (kahweol) were achieved while detection Limits equal to 0.06 and 0.04 ppm for cafestol and kahweol, respectively, were obtained. E xamples are given comparing levels of cafestol and kahweol resulting from t he same ground roasted coffee by different brewing methods, which show the lowest values for brews prepared from coffee bags.