Improved detection of key odourants in Arabica coffee using gas chromatography-olfactometry in combination with low energy electron ionisation gas chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Four Arabica coffees (Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Guatemala) yield highly variant odours, attesting to the complexities of coffee aroma that command advanced analytical tools. In this study, their volatiles were extracted using solvent-assisted flavour evaporation (SAFE) and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME). Due to matrix complexity, some trace odourants were detected in SAFE extracts by aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) but remained difficult to quantify by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). This prompted the application of low energy electron ionisation (EI) coupled with GC-quadrupole time-of-flight (GC-QTOF). Optimal low EI GC-QTOF parameters (EI energy: 15 eV, acquisition rate: 3 Hz) were applied to achieve improved molecular ion signal intensity and reproducibility (relative standard deviation < 10%) across five compounds, which resulted in good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.999) and lowered detection levels (e.g. 0.025 ± 0.005 ng/mL for 4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone). Therefore, this method potentially improves the measurement of trace odourants in complex matrices by increasing specificity and sensitivity.