This, the first comprehensive review of coffee flavor chemistry is entirely dedicated to flavor components and presents the importance of analytical techniques for the quality control of harvesting, roasting, conditioning and distribution of foods.
Provides a reference for coffee specialists and an introduction to flavor chemistry for non-specialists
The author is a research chemist with Firmenich SA, one of the few great flavor and fragrance companies in the world

• Contains the most recent references (up to 2001) for the identification of green and roasted coffee aroma volatiles

Review

"Describes individual constituents contributing to the smell of green coffee and the flavor of roasted coffee." (Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, Vol. 50, No. 9, March 2002)

"This is a masterwork and for someone working in the field of coffee aroma research I would imagine it to absolutely essential." (Chromatographia, March 2002)

"Compiles information on 300 volatile constituents contributing to the smell of green coffee and 850 contributing to the flavor of roasted coffee." (SciTech Book News, Vol. 26, No. 2, June 2002)

"...of outstanding quality in its factual content, and is essential for everyone working in the area of coffee aroma and flavor or needing information about the subject." (Angewandte Chemie, Vol. 41, No. 13, July 2, 2002)

"...the best collection of flavour-active compounds in coffee that I know...can be recommended without reservation..." (Chemistry & Industry, 16 December 2002)

"...highly recommended as an up-to-date resource on coffee flavor chemistry..." (Journal of Food Quality, Vol. 26)

From the Back Cover

For two centuries investigators have tried with varying degrees of success to identify the compounds which give roasted coffee its characteristic aroma and taste. The analytical methods and the state of progress in chemistry at the end of the 19th century did not allow for the separation, isolation and identification of the multitude of trace chemicals which are present in roasted coffee. By 1900, scarcely a dozen compounds had been identified. Since the beginning of the sixties, with the advent of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, the number of identifications has increased tremendously. To date, 850 compounds have been identified in the flavor of roasted coffee and 300 in the smell of green coffee.

In this work, the authors systematically review the non-volatile constituents of green coffee, including their structure, and discuss their important contribution as flavor precursors during the roasting process. They also trace the chronological discovery of the individual chemicals and critically examine the validity of their identification, highlighting the enormous progress which has been realized during the twentieth century and particularly in the last 40 years. For convenience, the constituents of green and roasted coffee have been distributed into chemical classes according to structure, systematic and empirical names, their CAS Registry Numbers and occasionally their FEMA classification. Comments are given on the origin or the formation during roasting of each individual compound.

Coffee Flavor Chemistry:
* contains an up-to-date list of almost 1400 original literature references;

• is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of coffee flavor chemistry;

• critically discusses all of the identified and confirmed compounds in coffee;

• presents the major part of the book as a catalogue, for the benefit of the reader;

• includes information on structures, systematic and empirical names, identification, mechanism of formation, synthesis, detection thresholds and organoleptic properties of each constituent where available;

• devotes a chapter to the flavor precursors, including the names and structures of the compounds with reference to the corresponding analytical work.
  It will be an invaluable reference for scientists - including analytical chemists and flavorists - in coffee companies, food industries, essential oils and flavor companies, pharmaceutical laboratories, food technology institutes, international and governmental regulation authorities and quality control laboratories.