Antioxidant activity and physico-chemical properties of mead suppemented with coffe

Mead is a fermented drink with honey as the main ingredient, being called melomel when fruits or grains are added. In this work, the objective was to evaluate the physical-chemical parameters and the antioxidant potential of mead produced with the addition of coffee. Meads were made in a process similar to wine making, involving the operations of preparing the pre-inoculum, the must, yeast inoculation, fermentation and packaging. The meads produced with and without the addition of coffee were subjected to physical-chemical analyzes (moisture, acidity, pH, alcoholic content, reducing sugars, soluble solids (ºBx), ash) and the antioxidant potential (phenolic compounds and total flavonoids, DPPH , ABTS and FRAP). It was observed that for the parameters of pH (3.41), ash (0.04%) and reducing sugar (107.71 g L-1) the mead with coffee obtained higher values compared to the control drink without the addition of the adjunct coffee, which in turn demonstrated higher performance in the moisture (88.26%) and acidity (65.7 mEq L-1, 4.9 g of tartaric acid L-1) analyses. When related to the alcohol content of the drinks, both showed the same significantly value of 11.62% (without coffee) and 13.53% (with coffee). Regarding the properties of phenolic compounds and total flavonoids, the mead with coffee presented higher levels (305.85 mg GA100 mL-1), flavonoids (33.47 mg Q 100 mL-1), DPPH (153.01 mg T 100 mL-1) and FRAP (1236.08 µmol Fe(II) 1000 mL-1). The traditional drink presented ABTS as the best antioxidant activity with 245.67 mg T 100 mL-1. Coffee additives significantly influenced the beverage's physicochemical and bioactive characteristics, promoting its antioxidant potential and functional performance.