The coffee plant (Coffea, family Rubiaceae) is a rather small evergreen and has origins in Africa, but is grown intensively in South America.

Some climatic factors are of great importance for the cultivation of coffee and are:

Temperature that must be between 23 ° and 28 °
Rain that must fall within the parameters between 1500 and 2000 mm.
The species are basically two:

• Arabica (Coffea arabica) cultivated in South America. 60% of world production.
• Robusta (Coffea canephora) cultivated in Africa.

  There are about 130 different species belonging to the genus Coffea and, in addition to the two important species, cited above, there are also Coffea iberica, Coffea dewevrei and Coffea racemosa, locally cultivated.

Chemical composition of beans (1)

• Amino acids: alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid (aspartate), cysteine, glutamic acid (glutamate), glutamine, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, hydroxyproline, phenylalanine, proline, serine, sucrose, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine. Asparagine and sucrose were the most abundant amino acid.
• Organic acids: Citric acid and Malic acid
• Phenolic acids (2) : Chlorogenic acid, Ferulic acid
• Alcaloids: Caffein
• Tepenoids: The characteristic aroma of coffee is due to α-2-furfurylthiol, 4-vinylguaiacol, some alkyl tnd 3-methylbutane yrosine derivatives, furanones, acetaldehyde, propanal, methylpropanal, and 2- acontent (3)

"Coffee, healthy aspects"

References_____________________________________________________________________

(1) Casas MI, Vaughan MJ, Bonello P, McSpadden Gardener B, Grotewold E, Alonso AP. Identification of biochemical features of defective Coffea arabica L. beans.  Food Res Int. 2017 May;95:59-67. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2017.02.015. 

(2) Affonso RC, Voytena AP, Fanan S, Pitz H, Coelho DS, Horstmann AL, Pereira A, Uarrota VG, Hillmann MC, Varela LA, Ribeiro-do-Valle RM, Maraschin M.  Phytochemical Composition, Antioxidant Activity, and the Effect of the Aqueous Extract of Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Bean Residual Press Cake on the Skin Wound Healing. -  Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016;2016:1923754. Epub 2016 Nov 14.

(3) R.A. Buffo, C.C. Freire  -  Coffee flavour: an overview  -  Flavour Frag J, 19 (2004), pp. 99-104

(4) Patay ÉB, Bencsik T, Papp N.  - Phytochemical overview and medicinal importance of Coffea species from the past until now.  -   Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2016 Dec;9(12):1127-1135. doi: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.11.008. 

This study analyzed the impact of coffee on human health and concludes, contrary to the common belief, that coffee is not always harmful, but, in some diseases, it can limit the damage. It depends of caffeine intake (1) .

In considering coffee blend composition, take into account in the risk assessment that products based on Robusta beans tend to have higher acrylamide levels than products based on Arabica beans (2). This Regulation shall apply from 11 April 2018

Coffee contains antioxidants like chlorogenic acid and its isomers. In this report, effects of coffee on the nitrite-induced nitrogen dioxide (N₂O₃) formation were studied using whole saliva and bacterial fraction prepared from the saliva. The formation of N2O3 was measured by fluorescence increase due to the transformation of 4,5-diaminofluorescein to triazolfluorescein. Coffee inhibited the nitrite-induced fluorescence increase, and 50% inhibition was observed at several microg of coffee/mL in bacterial fraction of saliva as well as whole saliva. During the inhibition of the fluorescence increase, concentration of chlorogenic acid and its isomers decreased. It is discussed that the reduction of NO₂ by chlorogenic acid and its isomers contributed to the coffee-dependent inhibition of the fluorescence increase as N₂O₃ is formed from NO and NO₂. When coffee was added to whole saliva, chlorogenic acid and its isomers bound to cells in the saliva. The rate of the fluorescence increase in bacterial fraction, which was prepared at defined periods after the ingestion of coffee, was increased to the rate before the ingestion of coffee with a half-time of about 1 h. This result suggests that chlorogenic acid and its isomers remained in the oral cavity for a few hours after ingestion of coffee. The significance of coffee drinking and rinsing of the mouth with coffee for the health of the oral cavity is proposed (3).

References_____________________________________

(1) Cano-Marquina A, Tarín JJ, Cano A. The impact of coffee on health.  Maturitas. 2013 May;75(1):7-21. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2013.02.002. Epub 2013 Mar 5. Review.

(2) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32017R2158#ntr2-L_2017304IT.01002401-E0002

(3) Takahama U, Ryu K, Hirota S. Chlorogenic acid in coffee can prevent the formation of dinitrogen trioxide by scavenging nitrogen dioxide generated in the human oral cavity.  J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Oct 31;55(22):9251-8. Epub 2007 Oct 9.