complicates purification and causes the oil to retain color and odor characteristics that are undesirable for the food industries (Hartmann et al., 1968). Therefore, coffees with low unsaponifiable matter content can con- tribute to increase oil quality and reduce refining cost.
Lago and Antoniassi (2001) reported sitosterol as the main sterol in the unsaponifiable matter of oil extracted from roasted and green coffee beans.
Unsaponifiable matter would be responsible for moisture bind- ing, skin penetration and adhesion properties. For that reason, the high content of unsaponifiable matter such as that found in C. ara- bica, C. congensis and C. salvatrix (Table 4) could improve the quality of cosmetic products. On other hand, C. kapakata and C. liberica var.