February 7, 2007 - Thanks to researchers at CIRAD at the University of Campinas, Brazil we're now closer at fully understanding what exactly makes a coffee "specialty".
Since 2001, the CIRAD group has worked on a joint project to understand what compounds play an important role in coffee quality.
According to the research, it is the accumulation of sucrose or common table sugar, that plays a critical role in the development of desirable organoleptic quality.
Initiated by the enzyme - sucrose synthase - sucrose slowly accumulates in the tissue of the plant during ripening and right before picking. During roasting these compounds react to form important flavor and aroma compounds.