According to the study, genetics can contribute to how the taste of coffee is “bitter” or “not bitter”. Researchers at the University of Munich, Germany, have identified a new group of bitter compounds in fried Arabica coffee and analyzed how they affect its taste.
They also demonstrated for the first time that the genetic trends of the person also play a role in determining how bitter these fried substances are. The conclusions are published in Food Chemistry. Beans from the “coffee Arabica” plant fried to produce the aroma before being ground and brew for a drink.
The role of Mozambiozide in the bitterness of coffee
While caffeine has long been known to the bitter pressure, even the coffee with decofein, perhaps, believing that there are other substances that contribute to the bitter taste of fried coffee, the researchers said.
“Mozambioz” is one of these substances in the Arabic’s beans, which is known to taste about 10 times bitter than caffeine, and activates two of the approximately 25 mountain receptors in the human body, namely: Tas2r43 receptors and “Tas2r46”.
However, we found that the level of Mozambioz is significantly reduced during frying, and therefore the substance “only contributes to the bitterness of coffee,” said researcher Roman Lang. “It has pushed us to check whether frying also produces the products of the destruction of Mozambioside is also bitter and can affect the taste of coffee,” Lang said.
The team showed that Mozambioside degrades seven different products during frying, which are in different quantities in fried coffee, depending on the temperature and duration of pouring.
Process of frying and its impact on bitterness
During the experiments, the cells found that seven products activate the same bitter taste receptors as Mozambioz. Researchers said three frying products even had a stronger effect on the receptors compared to the original Mozambio. However, they also found that the concentrations of these frying products, measured in custard, were too low to cause a noticeable taste.
Only the combination of Mozambioside and its fried products in the sample brought eight of the eleven participants to perceive the bitter taste, the team said. In addition, the genetic test showed that the sensitivity to the taste depended on the genetic inclination of the participants – two were both copies of the Tas2r43 gene variant, seven had one intact and one defective variant of the gene, while only two people had both copies that both had both copies Copies of the gene are unharmed.
“New conclusions deepen our understanding of how the frying process affects the aroma of coffee and opens new opportunities to develop coffee varieties.
“Bitter substances and their receptors perform additional physiological functions in the body, most of which are still unknown,” Lang said. According to Lang, it is still necessary to do a lot of work, because for many bitter substances in coffee, it is unknown what receptors of bitter taste they activate, although millions of people who drink coffee every day.
