Microbiological and Chemical Characteristics of Wet Coffee Fermentation Inoculated With and and Their Impact on Coffee Sensory Quality.

and were used as starter cultures to conduct inoculated wet fermentations of coffee beans, and their growth, metabolic activities and impact on the flavor, aroma and overall sensory quality of coffee were compared with spontaneous fermentation (control). and dominated the fermentations, growing to maximum populations of about 10.0 log CFU/ml compared with 8.0 log CFU/ml in the spontaneous fermentation. The dominance of the inoculated yeasts led to faster and more complete utilization of sugars in the mucilage, with resultant production of 2-3 fold higher concentrations of metabolites such as glycerol, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, and organic acids in the fermented green beans. Cup tests showed coffee produced from the inoculated fermentations, especially with , received higher scores for flavor, aroma and acidity than the control. The findings of this study confirmed the crucial role of yeasts in the wet fermentation of coffee beans and their contribution to high quality coffee, and demonstrated the potential and as starter cultures in the process.