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Below are some resources available for those interested in learning more about the fascinating world of coffee.
Below are some resources available for those interested in learning more about the fascinating world of coffee.
History of Coffee
History of Coffee
Two excellent books on the topic are: 1) Uncommon Grounds: the history of coffee and how it transformed our world by Mark Pendergrast. 2010. Basic Books, and 2) Coffee Talk by Morton Satin. 2011. Prometheus Books.
Our class published a digital timeline on coffee. Released in April 2017. Find it here.
Science of Coffee
Science of Coffee
Chemistry
Ernesto Illy, past Chairman of Illycafe in Italy, wrote an article for the general public on The Complexity of Coffee, published in Scientific American. June, 2002 and later revised by his son, Andrea in 2015.
A much more rigorous treatment, Coffee Flavor Chemistry, was written by Ivon Flament. 2002. John Wiley & Sons.
Hendon et al. 2014. The role of dissolved cations in coffee extraction. J. Agri. Food Chem. 62:4947-4950.
Kaufman, 1951. Recent advances in coffee technology. Food Tech. 5:154-159. An early paper showing how pH changes during the roast.
Moon et al. 2009. Role of roasting conditions in the level of chlorogenic acid content in coffee beans: correlation with coffee acidity. J. Agric. Food Chem. 57:5365-5369. They report on CGA and pH levels in unroasted to dark roasted beans.
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has a rich site called CoffeeChemistry.com.
For a rapid-fire video on coffee chemistry, click here.
Sunarharum et al. 2014. Complexity of coffee flavor: a compositional and sensory perspective. Food Research Int. 62:315-325. A nice article in which they review what was known up to that time on flavor components of coffee.
Yang, et al. 2016. Determination of volatile marker compounds of common coffee roast defects. Food Chem. 211:206-214. Gives insight into problems than can occur during the roasting process.
Zanin et al. 2016. Good quality roasted coffees show wide variation in chlorogenic acids content. Food Sci. Tech. 74:480-483. CGAs are the most common acids in green beans, but research like this report fails to link their concentration with flavor in the cup.
Biology
Caffeine-Related
Ribeiro and Sebastiao. 2010. Caffeine and adenosine. J. Alzheimer's Disease 20:S3-S15. A nice review of how caffeine acts as a adenosine receptor antagonist.
Rogers et al. 2009. Association of the Anxiogenic and Alerting Effects of Caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 Polymorphisms and Habitual Level of Caffeine Consumption. Neuropsychopharmacology. 35:1973–1983. Suggest the "buzz" just brings habitual drinkers back up to "normal"
Nathanson. 1984. Caffeine and related methylxanthines: possible naturally occuring pesticides. Science 226:184-187. Shows that caffeine deters insect herbivores.
Temple and Ziegler. 2011. Gender differences in subjective and physiological responses to caffeine and the role of steroid hormones. J. Caffeine Res. 1:41-48.
Rogers et al. 2010. Association of the anxiogenic and alerting effects of caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 Polymorphisms and habitual level of caffeine consumption. Neuropsychopharmocology 35:1973-1983. Some individuals respond to moderate caffeine consumption with anxiety and this appears to have a genetic basis.
General Health-Related
Freedman et al. 2012. Association of coffee drinking with total and cause-specific mortality. New Engl. J. Med. 366:1891-1904. 3 cups a day reduced one's risk of morality!
Kennedy et al. 2016. Systematic review with meta-analysis: coffee consumption and the risk of cirrhosis. Alimentary Pharm. Therapeutics 43:562-574.
Santos and Lima. 2016. Coffee consumption, obesity and type 2 diabetes: a mini-review. Eur. J. Nutr. 55:1345-1358.
Genomics
Denoeud et al. 2014. The coffee genome provides insight into the convergent evolution of caffeine biosynthesis. The group sequenced the genome of C. canephora. Science 345:1181-1184. They present evidence that the genes for biosynthesis of caffeine evolved independent of those in Cacao and tea.
Tran et al. 2016. Advances in genomics for the improvement of quality in coffee. J. Sci. Food Agric. 96:330-3312. The authors explore genomic resources available in coffee to enhance coffee quality.
UC-Davis in collaboration with Suntory group have recently sequenced the genome of C. arabica. see right
Zhou et al. 2016. Developing single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for the identification of coffee germplasm. Trop. Plant Biol. 9:82-95.
Ecology
Ceja-Navarro et al. 2015. Gut microobiota mediate caffeine detoxification in the primary insect pest of coffee. Nature Comm. 6: DOI:1038/ncomms8618. Those gut microbes are amazing!
Gonthier et al. 2013. Ants defend coffee from berry borer colonization. BioControl 58:815-820. A nice display of tri-trophic interactions. Nice job Dave!
Hindorf and Omondi. 2011. A review of the three major fungal diseases of Coffea arabica L. in rainforest of Ethiopia and progress in breeding for resistance in Kenya. J. Adv. Res. 2:109-120.
Vega et al. 2009. Fungal endophyte diversity in coffee plants from Colombia, Hawai'i, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Fungal Ecology 3:122-138. Coffee plants harbor a diversity of fungi. Could some be beneficial?
Wright et al. 2013. Caffeine in floral nectar enhances a pollinator's memory of reward. Science 339:1202-1204. Coffee manipulates honeybees by lacing its nectar with low levels of caffeine!
Psychology
St. Claire et al. 2010. Interactive effects of caffeine consumption and stressful circumstances on components of stress: caffeine makes men less, but women more effective as partners under stress. J. Appl. Social Psychology 40:3106-3129.
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