title: Identification of 3-methylbutanoyl glycosides in green Coffea arabica beans as causative determinants for the quality of coffee flavors.
abstract: The quality of coffee green beans is generally evaluated by the sensory cupping test, rather than by chemical compound-based criteria. In this study, we examined the relationship between metabolites and cupping scores for 36 varieties of beans, using a nontargeted LC-MS-based metabolic profiling technique. The cupping score was precisely predicted with the metabolic information measured using LC-MS. Two markers that strongly correlated with high cupping scores were determined to be isomers of 3-methylbutanoyl disaccharides (3MDs; 0.01-0.035 g/kg of beans) by spectroscopic analyses after purification, and one of them was a novel structure. Further, both the 3MDs were determined to be precursors of 3-methylbutanoic acid that enhance the quality of coffee. The applicability of 3MDs as universal quality indicators was validated with another sample set. It was concluded that 3MDs are the causative metabolites determining beverage quality and can be utilized for green bean selection and as key compounds for improving the beverage quality.
authors.affiliation: †Research Division, Suntory Global Innovation Center Limited (Suntory SIC), 5-2-5 Yamazaki, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka 618-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwasa
authors.affiliation: ‡Innovation Center for Medical Redox Navigation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Daiki
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Setoyama
authors.affiliation: †Research Division, Suntory Global Innovation Center Limited (Suntory SIC), 5-2-5 Yamazaki, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka 618-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.affiliation: †Research Division, Suntory Global Innovation Center Limited (Suntory SIC), 5-2-5 Yamazaki, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka 618-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Harumichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Seta
authors.affiliation: ‡Innovation Center for Medical Redox Navigation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujimura
authors.affiliation: ‡Innovation Center for Medical Redox Navigation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.affiliation: ‡Innovation Center for Medical Redox Navigation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.|§Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.|∥Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 512-8581, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wariishi
authors.affiliation: ⊥Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, P.O. Box 100, Kunia, Hawaii 96759, United States.
authors.forename: Chifumi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.affiliation: †Research Division, Suntory Global Innovation Center Limited (Suntory SIC), 5-2-5 Yamazaki, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka 618-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakahara
mesh_terms: D040503:Coffea / Q000737:chemistry*; D003069:Coffee / Q000737:chemistry; D005421:Flavoring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D006027:Glycosides / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013649:Taste
chemical_list: D003069:Coffee; D005421:Flavoring Agents; D006027:Glycosides
keywords: 3-methylbutanoyl disaccharide; Coffea arabica green coffee bean; GC−MS; LC−MS; NMR; cupping score; metabolic profiling; pyrolysis