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Caffeine Content of Retail Market Coffee in Portugal

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Abstract

How much caffeine does one ingest when drinking a simple cup of coffee in Portugal? The study presented herein tried to answer this question through the assessment of caffeine content of commercially available espresso coffee samples, both caffeinated and decaffeinated, using a high-performance liquid chromatography assay. Caffeine was rapidly separated from the sample matrix using a RP-18 column (250 × 4 mm i.d., 5 μm). The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min and the mobile phase consisted of water acidified with 5% of orthophosphoric acid/methanol (35:65, v/v). Caffeine was detected directly at 273 nm. The assay was validated for linearity, lower limit of quantification and limit of detection, precision, accuracy, and stability. Seventeen different brands of caffeinated coffee and six of decaffeinated coffee were analyzed. As for capsule coffee, eight caffeinated and two decaffeinated blends were analyzed. The caffeine content of caffeinated coffee varied from 53.8 ± 5.9 to 141.3 ± 5.3 mg/cup, whereas for caffeinated capsule coffee caffeine concentrations ranged from 45.0 ± 5.3 to 60.8 ± 6.2 mg/cup. As for decaffeinated coffee, caffeine concentrations ranged from 0.96 ± 0.04 to 3.9 ± 0.1 mg/cup and for decaffeinated capsule coffee from 0.93 ± 0.04 to 1.2 ± 0.1 mg/cup.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Maria Isabel Barroso, Florência Prata, Teresa Costa, Lídia Joaquim, and Maria Adriana Costa for their support in the laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Av. Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024, Lisbon, Portugal

    Sara X. Candeias & Ana C. Matos

  2. Centro de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde (CICS), Universidade da Beira Interior, Av. Infante D. Henrique s/n, 6201-001, Covilhã, Portugal

    Eugenia Gallardo

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  1. Sara X. Candeias
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  2. Eugenia Gallardo
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  3. Ana C. Matos
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Correspondence to Sara X. Candeias.

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All the authors have contributed equally to the work reported in this paper.

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Candeias, S.X., Gallardo, E. & Matos, A.C. Caffeine Content of Retail Market Coffee in Portugal. Food Anal. Methods 2, 251–256 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-008-9058-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-008-9058-8

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