Abstract:
Coffee cherries were processed traditionally by the wet method that uses large quantities of water and
eco-friendly methods that utilizes less water and operate mechanically to remove mucilage. The study
is aimed at determining the effects of traditional and newly developed coffee processing methods on
fatty acid profiles and biochemical components of two coffee cultivars. A complete randomized design
was used for the study. Fresh coffee cherries for two cultivars commonly grown in Kenya, Ruiru 11 and
SL 28, were processed using three different processing methods. The methods varied on the mode of
mucilage removal and pulping techniques. The parchment obtained from the three processes, wet
pulper, hand pulper and eco-pulper methods, were sundried and subjected to chemical analysis. Fatty
acids profiles were analyzed by the use of a gas chromatography method and biochemical content;
caffeine, trigonelline and chlorogenic acid were determined by HPLC analysis. The processing methods
showed significant variations in the fatty acids concentrations but did not significantly affect the levels
of biochemical compounds. The concentration of fatty acids ranges from 1.16 to 16.88%, with linoleic
acid being dominant. The trigonelline level ranges from 1.24 to 1.36%, caffeine ranges from 1.36 to
1.45% and chlorogenic acid from 5.34 to 5.46% in the samples from the different processing methods.
