1Global Perspectives in Coffee Quality Improvement

Coffee is drunk for pleasure. Its flavor is, therefore, the most important quality criterion; it is the sum of different parameters all coming into play during primary production of green coffee: ¨ Plant genetics, with the choice of variety based on resistance to pests, productivity, morphology, and, not to be neglected, liquoring characteristics; ¨ Orchard practices, particularly at harvest, when only ripe fruits should be selected; ¨ Primary processing, where the choice between dry and wet processing must depend, not only on local climate, but also on end-use of the product (filter, espresso or soluble coffee). All the downstream operations (storing, roasting, brewing, etc.) can only preserve cup quality. Besides its flavor characteristics, other factors such as environmental impact, purity, and safety are becoming important for the global evaluation of coffee quality. This paper reviews all these factors (taste testing, measures of physical parameters, chemical and microbiological purity, etc.), and discusses their impact on consumers and regulators in consumer countries