Analysis of furan in coffee of different provenance by head-space solid phase microextraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry: effect of brewing procedures

Abstract

A simple, sensitive and accurate method for the analysis of furan in roasted coffee has been used based on headspace–solid-phase micro-extraction (HS–SPME) coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The extraction was performed using 75-µm carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fiber. Ionic strength, extraction time and temperature, and desorption time were assessed as the most important parameters affecting the HS–SPME procedure and d ₄-furan was used as the internal standard. The linearity range was in the range 0.0075–0.486 ng g⁻¹; the LOD and LOQ calculated using the signal-to-noise ratio approach were 0.002 and 0.006 ng g⁻¹, respectively. The inter- and intra-day precision was 8 and 10%, respectively. The concentration of furan found in batches of roasted coffee powder different producing countries ranged from 57.3 to 587.3 ng g⁻¹. The mean reduction in furan levels observed when brewing coffee by either infusion, using a moka pot or an expresso machine was 57, 67.5 and 63.3%, respectively.

Keywords:

• brewing procedures
• coffee
• furan
• SPME–GC/MS

Acknowledgements

We thanks Zi-Caffè s.p.a. (Marsala, Trapani) which entirely financed this research.