Coffee is one of the most produced and consumed food products worldwide. Its production generates a large amount of byproducts with bioactive potential, like the fruit skin and pulp, popularly called cascara. This study aimed to evaluate the volatile and sensory profiles and the consumption potential of commercial Coffea arabica cascara teas by Rio de Janeiro consumers. Analyses of volatile organic compounds in unfermented (n = 2) and fermented (n = 4) cascara tea infusions were performed by GC-MS. RATA and acceptance sensory tests were performed with untrained assessors (n = 100). Fifty-three volatile organic compounds distributed in 9 classes were identified in different samples. Aldehydes, acids, alcohols, esters, and ketones prevailed in order of abundance. With mild intensity, the most cited aroma and flavor attributes were sweet, herbal, woody, prune, fruity, honey, toasted maté and black tea for unfermented teas. For the fermented teas, sweet, woody, black tea, prune, herbal, citric, fruity, honey, raisin, peach, toasted maté, tamarind, and hibiscus were rated as intense. A good association between the attributes selected by the assessors and the volatile compounds was observed. Unfermented teas, with a mild flavor and traditional characteristics, showed better mean acceptance (6.0–5.9 points) when compared to fermented teas (6.0–5.3 points), with exotic and complex attributes. These were well accepted (>8.0 points) by only about 20% of the assessors, a niche of consumers that appreciate gourmet foods.

The United States is the largest coffee consuming country worldwide. Recently, in addition to cup quality, the focus on health promotion has increased significantly in the country, with launching of many brands with health claims, mainly highlighting the antioxidative and stimulating properties of the beverage. On the other hand, mycotoxins and, to a lesser extent, acrylamide, have raised concerns among consumers and health authorities. This study investigated the contents of the main bioactive compounds (caffeine, chlorogenic acids and their 1,5-γ-quinolactones, and trigonelline) in health performance coffees and compared them to those of conventional roasted coffees available on the U.S. market. The following categories were compared by ANOVA at p ≤ 0.05, followed by Fisher's test: 1 – health performance, 2 – gourmet and 3 – traditional, totaling 127 samples. As complementary results, the contents of acrylamide and ochratoxin A were evaluated in part of the samples (n = 58). The mean contents (g per 100 g) of bioactive compounds for categories 1 to 3, respectively, were 1.09, 1.11 and 1.07 for caffeine; 1.75, 1.88 and 1.34 for chlorogenic acids/lactones, and 0.63, 0.64 and 0.56 for trigonelline. The mean contents (μg kg⁻¹) of acrylamide for categories 1 to 3, respectively, were 82, 71 and 85. Only about 7% of the evaluated samples presented quantifiable amounts of OTA and all of them were within the maximum limits established by health authorities. In general, the contents of bioactive and potentially harmful compounds were not consistently different among categories, with high and low individual amounts in all of them. Most health claims on labels related to the amount of bioactive compounds in health performance coffees were unjustified, suggesting the need for improvement in coffee labeling regulation in the U.S.