INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT HARVEST SYSTEMS ON QUALITY OF COFFEE (Coffea arabica L.)

Aiming to evaluating the influence of the harvest on coffee quality, six harvest systems with different mechanization level were studied. The present work was developed on the Rancho Fundo farm, Campos Gerais town, MG, in the Food Science Department of the UFLA and in the "Centro Tecnologico do Sul de Minas" of EPAMIG. In a crop of the Acaia Cerrado cultivars were randomized eighteen plots with thirty meters long each. The harvest was performed when the crop was presenting about 20 % of green fruits. A third of the ripped coffee from each plot was maintained with the mixture of fruit from the crop. The rest of the coffee was washed and separated in float and green/cherry fruits. The different coffees were placed on the drying yard till the water content of 11%(w.b.). After drying, the coffee was processed and submitted to the following evaluation: polyphenol, total, reducing and non-reducing sugars, total soluble solids, total titrable acidity and cup proof. Considering the results obtained, in spite of significant differences was observed among the average values of polyphenol content, sugar content, soluble solids and titrable acidity, for the different mechanized harvest, it was not possible to establish a definite association between harvest system and chemical composition. It was not possible to distinguish on the basis of the cup proof, differences in coffee quality in terms of the harvest system because in all the samples analyzed the drink was classified as soft, only soft and hard.