Headspace Analysis of Philippine Civet Coffee Beans Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Electronic Nose.

Civet coffee is recognized as the most expensive and best coffee in the world due to its unique aroma and taste. It is made from coffee cherries, which have been passed through the digestive tract of the civet cat (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). In the Philippines, civet coffee, also called as “coffee gold”, is an economically important indigenous export product. In order to safeguard its product integrity and uphold its strong market value, quality authentication is important. At present, there is no internationally accepted method of verifying whether a bean is an authentic civet coffee. This study intends to identify and establish the headspace qualitative profile of Philippine civet coffee using electronic nose (E-nose) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results revealed that E-nose successfully discriminated civet coffees from their control beans. Principal component analysis (PCA) exhibited a clearly separated civet coffees from their control beans. The findings were supported by GC-MS analysis.The chromatographic fingerprints indicated that civet coffees differed with their control beans in terms of composition and concentration of individual volatile constituents. The study showed that aroma characteristic is one of the most important quality indicators of civet coffee. Accordingly, E-nose presented a practical and promising approach for quality authentication of civet coffee.