This work reports on monoamines (MA), diamines (DA) and polyamines (PA) as well as free amino acids (fAA) in nutritional supplements and infusions derived from green coffee beans. Samples were investigated using a ultra-high performance liquid chromatography UV/FLR method, which was validated regarding specificity, linearity, range, precision, accuracy and limits of detection and quantification. Nutritional supplements based on green coffee beans showed large amounts of total amines ranging from 1090 to 2593 mg/kg, with exceptional high levels of spermidine up to 724 mg/kg, and a content of fAA from 4004 to 12,389 mg/kg. Infusions brewed from green coffee beans showed much lower contents of amines (14–17 mg/L) and fAA (78–100 mg/L). However, if the customary edible portion was considered, infusions from green coffee were a mainly better source for MA and PA as well for fAA, compared to nutritional supplements. Tryptamine and tyramine were predominant as MA putrescine as DA, and spermidine as PA, respectively.
Graphic abstract