Madrid-Restrepo, M. A.; Leon-inga, A. M.; Penuela, A. E.; Cala, M. P.; Reyes Munoz, A.

Coffee is one of the most important and widely consumed drinks around the world, and fermentation plays a pivotal role in shaping its quality. This research explores the impact of co-fermentation with starter cultures on the sensory and metabolic profiles, as well as in the microbial communities involved in coffee processing. Freshly harvested Arabica coffee beans were subjected to two wet-fermentation processes, where one was inoculated with a microbial starter culture and the other, spontaneous fermentation was allowed to occur. Quantitative descriptive analysis revealed that the inoculated coffee outperformed the spontaneous fermentation in all sensory attributes, boasting a higher sweetness, reduced acidity and bitterness, and presence of consumer-preferred notes. Untargeted metabolomic analysis identified over a hundred differential metabolites distinguishing both fermentation processes in green and roasted coffee beans. Inoculated coffee displayed elevated levels of compounds such as sucrose, mannitol, methyl phenylacetate, and organic acids like malic, citric, and quinic acid, compounds likely associated with a better sensory perception. The inoculated process featured abundant lactic acid bacteria and Kazachstania yeasts, which are linked to desirable metabolites like lactic, acetic, isobutyric, and hexanoic acids. Our results strongly suggest that the use of starter cultures can enhance coffee beverage quality as determined by standardized cupping and reflected by changes in the metabolic profile and microbial community structures. Future studies should focus on microbial identification and the association between species and resulting metabolic compounds, where specific bacterial and fungal groups could be isolated to be used as commercially available starter cultures for coffee fermentation.