The influence of coffee cherry fermentation on the properties of Cascara arabica from Subang, West Java

Abstract

Cascara is an infusion beverage of dried coffee cherry pulp prepared from a by-product of coffee production. Cherry of arabica coffee was fermented with spontaneous fermentation, Lactobacillus plantarum and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) at room temperature for 24 hrs. The properties of cascara including total phenolic, flavonoid, and caffeine contents, antioxidant activity, colour, and sensory acceptance were evaluated. Results showed that cascara from L. plantarum fermentation (Y) exhibited the highest polyphenols and caffeine contents of 46.78 ppm and 52.8 ppm, respectively. Cascara from spontaneous fermentation (X) resulted the highest flavonoids content and antioxidant activity of 0.28 ppm and 89.52%, respectively. The result of sensory evaluation showed that cascara from yeast fermented cherry obtained the highest overall acceptance score of 4 out of 6.