Journal of Applied Science and Agriculture, 10(7) Special 2015, Pages: 18-23

AENSI Journals

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND

AGRICULTURE
ISSN 1816-9112
Journal home page: www.aensiweb.com/JASA

A Review of Quality Coffee Roasting Degree Evaluation

1

A.M. Noor Aliah, 1A.M. Fareez Edzuan, 2A.M. Noor Diana

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, 94300 Kota Samarahan,
Sarawak, Malaysia.
2
Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia.
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received 12 February 2015
Accepted 1 March 2015
Available online 28 March 2015
Keywords:
Coffee roasting
Roasting degree evaluation
On-line assessment
Chemical composition

ABSTRACT
Background: Roasting is the most essential part in coffee processing; the desired
aroma and flavors of coffee are developed in the process. During this process, the beans
undergo a series of reactions leading to the changes in physical properties and chemical
composition. It is important to control the roasting process, and stop the process when
the aromas have fully developed and the color of the coffee is homogeneous throughout
the whole bean. Therefore, a method to evaluate the coffee roasting doneness in realtime is necessary. Many studies have been done to evaluate the quality of roasted coffee
experimentally using different parameters such as aroma, flavor, color, bean
temperature, pH, and chemical composition. However, these techniques could not be
implemented in real-time and have their own limitations. Objective: This paper
presents a review of recently developed approaches and latest researches carried out for
evaluating the quality of roasted coffee beans. The review is based on some selected
refereed journal articles. Results: The review indicates that end product alone, i.e.
beans weight loss and color are not suitable to determine the roasting degree of
doneness. Conclusion: Future direction should investigate on the chemical
compositions in high quality roasted beans, and more effort must be done in
establishing a large database of v formation dynamics during roasting.

2015 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.

To Cite This Article: A.M. Noor Aliah, A.M. Fareez Edzuan, A.M. Noor Diana., A Review of Quality Coffee Roasting Degree Evaluation.
J. Appl. Sci. & Agric., 10(7): 18-23, 2015

INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the quest of knowledge
regarding coffee is spreading due to the growing
appreciation of coffee. Consumers are no longer
content with instant coffee and now crave for the
experience as well as flavors of freshly roasted-high
quality coffee. The quality of coffee beverage is
closely related to the chemical composition of the
roasted beans, which is affected by the composition
of green beans and postharvest processing
conditions, i.e. drying, storage, roasting and grinding
(Franca, et al., 2005; Illy & Viani, 2005). Green
coffee beans contain a wide range of different
chemical compounds and complex composition
(Franca, Oliveira, et al., 2005). However, green
coffee by itself does not have an attractive taste or
aroma.
The desired aroma and flavors of coffee are
developed in the roasting process; thus this step is
probably the most important step in coffee
processing. In this process, the beans undergo a
series of reactions leading to the desired changes in

physical properties and chemical composition (Illy &

Viani, 2005; Pittia et al., 2001). Nevertheless, this
process is highly complex, since the quantity of heat
transferred to the bean is crucial. In coffee roasting,
the green beans are heated to high temperatures (in
the case of an Italian-style roasting it ranges between
200C and 240C bean temperature) for different
times depending on the desired characteristics of the
final products (Pittia et al., 2001). During the
roasting process, coffee beans are subjected to a
steady weight loss (Hernndez et al., 2007;
Jokanovic et al., 2012) due to the water loss and loss
of volatile materials. At the same time, the coffee
beans undergo a significant increase in volume
(Dutra et al., 2001). Consequently, the coffee beans
density decreases and the typical porous structure of
roasted coffee bean is formed (Pittia et al., 2001). In
addition, coffee beans undergo other major changes
in terms of color, form, pH, flavor and aroma. To
achieve a homogeneous roasting profile, the process
must be precisely controlled, aiming at small
temperature gradients throughout the bean (Illy &
Viani, 2005). Finally, the beans must be cooled

Corresponding Author: A.M. Noor Aliah, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Department, Faculty of Engineering, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.

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Journal of Applied Science and Agriculture, 10(7) Special 2015, Pages: 18-23

rapidly to stop the reactions (using water or air as

cooling agent) and prevent excessive roast which will
alter product quality (Schwartzberg, 2002). This
paper presents a review on the various roasting
degree evaluation of quality coffee beans and
proposes some further studies that could be
conducted to improve the existing method on
roasting degree evaluation.
2. Coffee Roasting Degree Evaluation:
Coffee roasting process is the most crucial part
in coffee processing because it is important to
generate and control the correct temperature at the
right moment, then stop the process when the aromas
has fully developed and the color is homogeneous
throughout the whole beans. The extent of roasting
reactions depends on both reaction rate (which is
dependent
on
temperature
and
reactant
concentration) and reaction duration. Therefore, in
order to reproduce the supply of desired coffee flavor
it requires control of bean temperature-time history
during almost the entire roast, since the concentration
of some reactants used in later-stage reactions
depends on the early stage reactions. Most roasters in
the market do not yet utilize this system to achieve
such control; they rely on monitoring bean/hot gas
temperature and provide a constant fuel flow/hot gas
flow rate (Schwartzberg, 2002).
Many attempts have been done to evaluate the
quality of roasted coffee experimentally using

different parameters such as aroma, flavor, color,

bean temperature, pH, chemical composition, bean
pop, weight loss, exhaust gas composition and
volume (Alessandrini et al., 2008; Dutra et al., 2001;
Hernndez et al., 2007; Hernndez, Heyd, &
Trystram, 2008; Illy & Viani, 2005; Schwartzberg,
2002). However, in the industry it is very difficult to
evaluate these parameters on-line; to identify the
optimal roasting doneness in order to stop the
roasting process at the right moment. The analytical
methods used in the industry are often complicated,
costly and time-consuming since they require sample
preparation and even chemical manipulations to
predict the product quality offline in a laboratory
(Dutra et al., 2001). Furthermore, they are noneffective because the quality of raw materials varies
between laboratory measurements (Santos et al.,
2012). Consequently, in most cases the roast master
plays an essential role.
3. Methods Used to Determine Roasting Degree:
Studies on coffee roasting degree evaluation
have been carried out extensively in the past few
decades. Various parameters have been used to
determine the roasting degree, and these parameters
can be categorized into two major groups, i.e.
physical properties and chemical compositions.
Studies on the evaluation of roasting degree by some
researchers have been summarized in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Some Studies on Roasting Degree Evaluation.

Author
Methodology
(Hernndez et al., 2008)
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Image analysis was used to determine
brightness and surface area on-line during
roasting. Roasting stop automatically when
grey level from image acquisition system
reached the target grey level of optimally
roasted coffee beans.
(Alessandrini et al., 2008)
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used to
observe the coffee spectra. Partial Least
Square (PLS) correlation between coffee
spectra region to physical changes (weight
loss, density and moisture) was obtained and
regression models to predict roasting variables
were proposed. Then, another experiment was
conducted with 56 samples to validate the
predicted values.
(Romani et al., 2012)
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Electronic nose and artificial neural network
(ANN) model was used to determine physical
properties (density, moisture weight loss,
color).
(Dutra et al., 2001)
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Chemical composition profile was observed
using gas chromatograph. pH level of the
exhaust gas was also monitored.
(Dorfner et al., 2004)
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Roasting process was analyzed by direct
injection of roaster gas into laser mass
spectrometer. Ionizing technique was done to
monitor mixtures of volatile organic
compounds (VOC). Principle component
analysis (PCA) was applied on time-intensity
traces of nine VOCs.

Results
Initially, the color of beans remained the
same. Color darkened slightly when
internal temperature of beans reached
100C, then it became slightly lighter at
temperature above 160C, and darkened
gradually until finish roasting. Roasting
assessment was performed in real-time.
Different roasting degrees were predicted
with high accuracy, leading to high
correlation coefficient results between
measured and predicted roasting variables.

Physical properties and roasting time

calculated by ANN models provided good
agreement with experimental results.

Significant increase in peak intensities was

detected for the roasting period of 6 to 8
min. At optimum roasting degree the pH
of exhaust gas was found to be lowest.
10 important VOCs were discussed in
connection with their formation chemistry
during roasting. The roasting degree was
traced as a consistent path on the score
plot of two most significant principle
components.

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Journal of Applied Science and Agriculture, 10(7) Special 2015, Pages: 18-23

(Franca, Mendona, & Oliveira, 2005)

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Arabica coffee samples previously classified
by cup quality were observed for both green
and roasted beans. Caffein, trigonelline and 5caffeoyilquinic acid (5-CQA) concentrations
were analyzed by high-performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC). pH was measured
with pH meter.

(Farah et al., 2006)

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
HPLC was used to determine sucrose,
caffeine, trigonelline and 5-CQA for five
samples of Arabica coffee beans with
different cup quality and a Robusta coffee
bean.

(Franca et al., 2009)

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Volatile profiles of green and roasted coffee
beans were observed using gas
chromatograph. Coffee beans were roasted
with two different processing temperature (i.e.
high temperature-short time and low
temperature-long time)
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
58 Arabica samples from different origins
were analyzed using gas chromatograph. The
results were compared with those from
sensory evaluation adopting five-point scale;
assessing flavor, body, cleanliness and overall
quality.

(Ribeiro et al., 2009)

Methodology Comparison:
The studies in Table 1 above investigated the
relationship between coffee beans physical properties
and chemical composition with cup quality. All
studies were done by experiment and most of the
papers quantify the physical attributes of the beans
after roasting, i.e. weight loss, density and moisture
loss. Since the studies in Table 1 focus on the quality
of roasted coffee, Arabica green beans of high
quality were utilized; except for study by Farah et al.
(2006) where Robusta coffee beans were also
observed. Hernndez et al. (2008) used a static
roaster and attached a CCD (charge-coupled device)
video camera to perform roasting experiments of
eight Colombia Arabica coffee beans. Alessandrini et
al. (2008) and Romani et al. (2012) conducted
experiment of eight green coffee samples in a pilot
plant roaster with a rotating drum; both authors
proposed analytical models to predict roasting
degree. Alessandrini et al. (2008) developed a
correlation between NIR spectral data of 168
representative and suitable green and roasted coffee
samples with each roasting variables (weight loss,
density and moisture), based on PLS regression.
While, Romani et al. (2012) utilized electronic nose
and ANN models to predict the roasting variables
including brightness and red index.
Different than the measurement methods used
before, chromatography devices were used to
measure the chemical composition of the volatiles in
studies by Dutra et al. (2001), Franca, Mendona, &
Oliveira, et al. (2005), Franca et al. (2009) and
(Farah et al., 2006). In the experiment by Dutra et al.

Higher protein level, may be due to high

caffeine contents were found in good
quality beans. No correlation between 5CQA level and cup quality were found.
Acidity levels decreased significantly after
roasting and the lowest acidity level was
found in good quality beans. Defective
beans were detected using pH level and
chemical composition in green and roasted
beans.
Trigonelline levels were lower for green
Robusta beans and quite similar to the
levels in worst quality Arabica sample.
There were no correlations between
sucrose and beans quality. Higher caffeine
contents were found in highest quality
green beans. Lower quality green beans
have higher 5-CQA level.
Different volatile profiles for different
processing temperature were observed
although weight loss and color of roasted
coffee beans were similar.

13 compounds found from gas

chromatograph and discriminant analysis
(PLS-DA) considered as possible markers
for the overall differentiation of cup
quality. Good agreement between
regression models prediction and the
sensory evaluation.

(2001) single origin Arabica beans were roasted in a

lab-scale stovetop popcorn popper. The gases
evolved were condensed and analyzed with a gas
chromatograph in 2 min interval. In the studies
carried out by Franca, Mendona, & Oliveira, et al.
(2005) and Farah et al. (2006), HPLC was utilized to
determine caffeine, trigonelline and 5-CQA levels in
different quality of Arabica coffee samples (green
and roasted). In addition, nitrogen and fat contents of
the coffee samples were determined according to
official AOAC procedures (AOAC, 1995) in the
study by Franca, Mendona, & Oliveira, et al.
(2005). Convective oven was used (Franca,
Mendona, & Oliveira, et al., 2005; Franca et al.,
2009), while electric lab scale roaster was utilized by
Farah et al. (2006). In the later study by Franca et al.
(2009), various roasting conditions were applied to
analyze
the
volatiles
profile
using
gas
chromatograph.
Study Results Comparison:
Physical Properties:
The results from the compared studies above
have shown that the physical properties and chemical
composition of the roasted beans varied significantly
in different roasting profiles. It was observed that the
volume of the roasted beans increased between 15%
to 70% in air temperature between 190C and 300C
(Hernndez et al., 2008). Dutra et al. (2001)
determined a 120% increase in volume after roasting
for 12 min at an air temperature of 275C; and
mentioned that the increase in the volume was
caused by: water vaporization, the release of carbon

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Journal of Applied Science and Agriculture, 10(7) Special 2015, Pages: 18-23

dioxide, and the release of volatile components from

beans. Coffee beans were also subjected to a gradual
weight loss; 18% after roasting 19 min at 200C in a
pilot plant roaster with a rotating drum (Romani et
al., 2012) and an average of 19% weight loss were
found after roasting 120 min at 200C in an oven
(Franca et al., 2009). While Dutra et al. (2001) found
a significant decrease of 45% in weight loss (roasting
time and temperature: 12 min 275C) and the weight
loss curve presents a behavior similar to Franca et al.
(2009) for oven temperature of 300C.
The average moisture content of green beans
was 12.5% (measured in 100 beans samples) and
decreases with roasting time, reaching to a minimum
of 0.72% in 12 min of roasting at 275C (Dutra et al.,
2001). Meanwhile, Franca, Mendona, & Oliveira, et
al. (2005) found the average of 9g/100g moisture
content in green coffee samples (which was within
the range reported in the literature by Clarke (1985);
8.5-13g/100g). The moisture content then decreased
to an average of 1.5g/100g after roasting. In the study
by Farah et al. (2006), the degree of luminosity of
green Arabica samples increased significantly as
their quality decreased. These results were also found
in literature by Franca, Mendona, & Oliveira, et al.
(2005), which determined that both black and sour
defective beans presented lower luminosity and color
saturation values in comparison to non-defective
ones.
Chemical Composition:
Dutra et al. (2001) observed that the average pH
level of the condensed gas varied with roasting time,
where it increased up to 3 min before slowly
decreased to minimum pH at 9 min and then
increased again. This corroborates the fact that close
to optimum roast the pH of the condensed gas would
reach a minimum. It was also reported that the
significant increase of the peak numbers detected for
the roasting period of 6 to 8 min. Intensive research
works by Dorfner et al. (2004) concluded that 10
important coffee volatile compounds were produced
during roasting process which includes 4Vinylguaiacol, Indol, Guaiacol, Furfural, Phenol,
Phenylacetaldehyde, Methanethiol, Pyridine, 2Methylfuran and Furfuryalcohol.
Franca, Mendona, & Oliveira, et al. (2005) and
Farah et al. (2006) detected that in higher quality
green Arabica coffee beans, the levels of caffeine,
trigonelline, protein and pH were higher while the
levels of 5-CQA and acidity were lower. This can be
good precursors selection criteria for quality green
coffee beans. It was also noted that the roasted coffee
beans chromatograph profiles showed no distinct
variation between any sample qualities. Other work
by Franca et al. (2009) presented different behavior
of volatile profiles of coffee under two different
processing temperatures which concluded that: the
color and weight loss measurement alone were not
reliable as roasting degree assessment criteria, and

the roasting temperature must also be taken into

account.
Ribeiro et al. (2009) reported that when
compounds
3-methypropanal,
2-methylfuran,
furfural,
furfuryl
formate,
5-methyl-2furancarboxaldehyde and 4-ethylguaiacol appear in
higher amounts, the overall quality of the roasted
Arabica coffee increased. On the other hand, when
compounds
such
as
3-methylthiophen,
2furanmethanolacetate, 2-ethyl-3, 6-dimethylpyrazine
and 1-(2-furanyl)-2-butanone were more abundant,
the overall quality of the product drops. This
indicated that certain precursors such as protein and
trigonelline might be important to the high level
production of high quality coffee compounds.
Regression Model Prediction:
Alessandrini et al. (2008) built various PLS
regression models correlating NIR spectral data.
Different roasting degrees such as weight loss,
density and moisture were predicted with high
accuracy, resulting in high correlation. Romani et al.
(2012) used EN sensor response values for the
prediction studies by means of ANN methods with
MLP and GRNN neural network types. Prediction of
density, weight loss, moisture and color can be fairly
predicted. High correlation between predicted PLS
regression models using chromatograph profiles with
the cuppers sensory attributes were developed by
Ribeiro et al. (2009).
4. Future Research on Coffee Roasting:
Based on this review, there are many studies
done to investigate the chemical composition that
contributes to the desired taste and aroma of quality
roasted beans. The studies on determination of
physical changes to evaluate roasting degree are seen
in some of the literatures (Alessandrini et al., 2008;
Hernndez et al., 2008; Romani et al., 2012). These
studies explains the changes that takes place when
green beans undergoes roasting process and proposed
analytical models to predict the roasting degrees,
which provides good agreement with the
experimental results. However, results based on the
chemical composition of the roasted beans by Franca
et al. (2009) indicate that color and weight loss
measurements alone are not reliable for roasting
degree assessment criteria. This is because, beans
roast at different roasting condition, thus resulting in
different volatile profile and quality may have similar
physical appearances.
In order to control the product quality and
optimize on-line processes, practical, faster and
simpler method of assessing coffee roasting degree is
important. This method must be capable of being
easily implemented in coffee roasting analysis to
supply real-time measurements. Hernandez et al.
(2008), proposes a method to determine brightness
using image analysis in real-time during coffee
roasting to measure product quality. However, as

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Journal of Applied Science and Agriculture, 10(7) Special 2015, Pages: 18-23

mentioned earlier the use of physical properties alone

is not suitable for evaluation of coffee roasting
degree. Therefore, future research must focus on
determining the chemical composition that comprises
a good quality roasted beans. In a recent study by
Gloess et al. (2014), it was found that coffee samples
from five different origin have different formation
dynamic of VOCs. In addition, the time of VOC
formation started during roasting differed for each of
the coffee when roasting along the same timetemperature roasting profile. Therefore, in order to
apply the on-line process control by laser mass
spectrometry and PCA on the time-intensity traces of
selected profile volatile compound as suggested by
(Dorfner et al., 2004), a large database of VOCs
formation dynamics must be established.
5. Conclusion:
This review has covered some of the recent
researches on coffee roasting evaluation methods. In
order to evaluate the roasting process, study on
changes in physical and chemical composition during
roasting must be widely addressed. Future studies
should aim on building a database of VOCs
formation dynamics and determining the compounds
that are crucial in quality coffee roasting.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to express their gratitude
to Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for providing the
opportunity and support to conduct this research.
This study is funded under Dana Pembudayaan
Penyelidikan (RAGS), Ministry of Education
Malaysia.
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