Contents of Tocopherols in Coffee Beans, Coffee Infusions and Instant Coffee

Abstract

Contents of tocopherols (α-, β-, γ-, and δ-Toc)in 14 kinds of green coffee beans, each ofwhich had its own brand name, their roasted beans, infusions of those beans, and 38 kinds of instant coffee were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. In 14 kinds of green coffee beans, total Toc of 12 kinds of them were more than 10mg/100g, the maximum was 15.7mg/100g and the average was 11.9mg/100g. The contents of α-Toc were 2.3-4.5mg/100g and the average was 3.5mg/100g. The contents of β-Toc were 3.2-11.4mg/100g and the average was 8.4mg/100g. γ-Toc and δ-Toc were not found. Eighty-three to ninty-nine % (averge 94%) of total Toc, 79-100% (average 91%) of α-Toc and 84-100%(average 95%) of β-Toc were remained after roasting. The content of β-Toc in the coffee beans was higher than α-Toc whose ratio was 1:2-3 except one whose ratio was 1: 1.5. The content of total Toc in coffee infusion or instant coffee solution was O.007mg/100ml. From these fact it was concluded that only 0.4-1.8% of Toc was infused from the roasted coffee beans.