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Abstract
Although various studies have assessed altitude, shade and postharvest processing
effects on biochemical content and quality of coffee beans, data on their interactions
are scarce. The individual and interactive effects of these factors on the caffeine,
chlorogenic acids (CGA) and sucrose contents as well as physical and sensory qualities
of green coffee beans from large plantations in southwestern Ethiopia were evaluated.
Caffeine and CGA contents decreased with increasing altitude; they respectively declined
0.12 and 1.23gkg-1 100m-1. Sucrose content increased with altitude; however, the altitude
effect was significant for wet-processed beans (3.02gkg-1 100m-1), but not for dry-processed
beans (0.36g kg-1 100m-1). Similarly, sucrose content increased with altitude with
much stronger effect for coffee grown without shade (2.11gkg-1 100m-1) compared to
coffee grown under shade (0.93gkg-1 100m-1). Acidity increased with altitude when
coffee was grown under shade (0.22 points 100m-1), but no significant altitude effect
was observed on coffee grown without shade. Beans grown without shade showed a higher
physical quality score for dry (37.2) than for wet processing (29.1). These results
generally underline the complex interaction effects between altitude and shade or
postharvest processing on biochemical composition and quality of green arabica coffee
beans.