Fungi are known producers of a large number of volatile compounds (VCs). Several VCs such as 2,4,6
trichloroanisole (TCA), geosmin and terpenes have been found in coffee beverages, and these compounds can
be responsible for off-flavor development. However, few studies have related the fungal contamination of coffee
with the sensory characteristics of the beverage. The aimof this researchwas to investigate the production of VCs
by fungi isolated fromcoffee and their potential asmodifiers of the sensory coffee beverage quality. Three species
were isolated from coffee from the southwest of São Paulo state and selected for the study: Penicillium
brevicompactum, Aspergillus luchuensis (belonging to section Nigri) and Penicillium sp. nov. (related to Penicillium
crustosum). VCs produced by the fungal inoculated in raw coffee beans were extracted and tentatively identified
by SPME–GC–MS. Different VCs thatmay interfere in the coffee beverage qualitywere detected in the rawcoffee
beans inoculated with these fungal species (mainly A. luchuensis). Oct-1-en-3-ol was detected in the raw coffee
inoculatedwith A. luchuensis. This compound,which is characterized by earthy andmoldy/mushroomaroma, can
be related to negative characteristics of coffee beverage in sensory analysis. On the other hand, the presence of
some fungal species in the coffee, even at a high percentage of infection, did not necessarily result in loss of
the sensorial quality of the beverage, since the samples with a high infection of P. brevicompactum showed
positive sensory evaluation.