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The equations of coffee Brixter index: the boosting of sugar concentration in post-harvest by using low temperature, low relative humidity

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Abstract

This article is to study the criteria of dehydration model, and to establish the Brixter index. Coffee cherries (Coffea arabica L. var. catimor) were selected from two different farms in Pangkhon village, Chiang Rai province, which are in the northern part of Thailand: Farm A, and Farm B. The low air temperatures (18–30 °C) and low relative humidities (65–30%) technique (LTLH) was gradiently applied, to dehydrate the coffee bean, leading to higher sugar concentration. The applicability of the various measurements, such as physicochemical properties, dehydration kinetic, Brix boosting parameters, and their correlations were investigated. The level of soluble solids (°Brix) and acid concentrations in coffee samples were analyzed, to determine the °Brix/acid and oBrix*pH2 ratios. The qualities of coffee cherries changes depending on the decreasing level of moisture content during the dehydration process. The °Brix degree reveals that by the end of the dehydration process, the sugar concentration of coffee cherries has increased by 1.5 times that of its initial. The °Brix/acid, and oBrix*pH2 ratios highly correlated to the amount of soluble solids (r2 = 0.923 and 0.972, respectively) within coffee cherries. The most suitable timing to select dehydrating coffee cherries for the fermentation process is when the coffee cherries have attained °Brix/acid ratio of > 10 to 33, and oBrix*pH2 ratio of > 400 to 850. These ratios can be used as an efficient instrument to determine the optimum Brix boosting stage of coffee cherry in the LTLH system.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agro-Industry, Faculty of Science and Agricultural Technology, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, 128 Huay Kaew Road, Muang, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Wanphen Jitjaroen, Rungtiwa Kongngoen & Lachinee Panjai

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  1. Wanphen Jitjaroen
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  2. Rungtiwa Kongngoen
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  3. Lachinee Panjai
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Contributions

WJ wrote the manuscript, supervised and performed the experiment, RK performed the experiment, and LP performed the experiment, conducted all statistical analyses, co-work the manuscript, reviewed and approved the final version of the work. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lachinee Panjai.

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The authors did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors would like to thank the Department of Agro-industry and the Office of the Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Thailand for the facilities. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Jitjaroen, W., Kongngoen, R. & Panjai, L. The equations of coffee Brixter index: the boosting of sugar concentration in post-harvest by using low temperature, low relative humidity. Eur Food Res Technol 250, 311–323 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-023-04388-6

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