Research Objectives:

• Review the state of knowledge of chemical changes taking place in roast coffee during long-term storage, particularly when packaged effectively (i.e. in packs presenting a good barrier to oxygen).
• Formulate hypothesis regarding chemical markers that could be used to assess/track coffee degradation over long term storage (minimum 6-12 months storage)
• Make suggestions for an experimental approach to test the formulated hypothesis, and recommend a set of analytical approaches and techniques suitable to reliably quantify the hypothesised markers in a way that is comparable over time (i.e. standardised and calibrated techniques)