Abstract:
In particular, the East Gojjam and West Gojjam zones of the Amhara region are heavily planted
for coffee Arabica. However, the national and international markets have not been adequately
described or marketed for this coffee. The purpose of this study was to profile the fatty acid
composition of green coffee beans from the Amhara region's West Gojjam and East Gojjam
zones. 53 samples of green coffee (Coffea Arabica) beans were obtained from the main
producing zones, including different Woredas, and their fatty acid contents were examined. The
solvent extraction method was used to separate the lipid fractions from the powdered green
coffee beans, and the fatty acid part was converted to the matching fatty acid methyl esters
(FAMEs). Using established methods, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
was used to identify and quantify the different fatty acids. SPSS version 26.0 was used to analyze
the data. The following 14 fatty acid varieties were found: The prominent ones were myristic
(C14:0), pentadecanoic acid (C15:0), palmitic (C16:0), margaric acid (C17:0), stearic (C18:0),
and linoleic (C18:2) acids, as well as gondoic acid (C20:1), behenic (C22:0)and tricosanoic
acid (C23:0) were the major ones . There was insignificant difference ( p >0.05) between zones
and woredas in the percentage composition(%) of total fatty acids. The total fatty acid contents
of West Gojjam (104.5%) significantly higher than from East Gojjam (97.4%) zone. Myristric,
palmitic, linoleic, stearic, arachidic and trieicosanoic acid were identified as the most important
compounds for discrimination of coffee samples based on their geographical origin. A positive
correlation was found between the percent total lipid by mass (percent w/w) and cup quality data
such as acidity, total raw value plus average cup value, flavor, and body. The studied fatty acids
provide adequate information for use as descriptors of the geographical origin of coffee beans
from Amhara region