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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contents of bioactive compounds and/or that of interest for the brew quality (trigonelline, caffeine, total chlorogenic acids and melanoidins), acidity and antioxidant activity (AA) of roasted coffee brews produced with Coffea canephora.

Coffee samples corresponded to three cultivars – Diamante ES8112, ES8122 “Jequitibá,” and Centenária ES8132 – with different fruit-ripening seasons (early, medium and late, respectively). The study evaluated five genotypes from each cultivar and coffees were cultivated in two sites, a total of 30 samples.

The average contents on the coffee brews varied from 1,176 to 1,452 µg mL⁻¹ for caffeine; from 206 to 413 µg mL⁻¹ for trigonelline; from 528 to 942 µg mL⁻¹ for total chlorogenic acids; from 6.8 to 7.8 mg mL⁻¹ for melanoidins; showing total titratable acidity between 1.15 and 1.79 mL of NaOH 0.1 mol L⁻¹ by 20 mL of the brew. AA varied from 6.78 to 8.80 mg of TROLOX mL⁻¹, correlating positively with the contents of caffeine, total chlorogenic acids, melanoidins. Fruit-ripening seasons had no effect on coffee brew composition and AA.

The results presented provide not only a unique analysis of coffee brew from genotypes developed to improve the good agricultural practice and brew quality, but also relevant information that can be extended for research in coffee composition and for the coffee industry.

In developing economies, 30% of the gross domestic product on average is undertaken by unregistered businesses. The informal economy leads to high opportunity costs by preventing gains from trade with strangers. To overcome this obstacle, sellers who usually operate in the informal economy should strive to move to formal markets. Current theories are drawn from a view of markets as institutions governed by formal and informal rules. In a nutshell, informal-formal market transitions must be met with a regulative solution. However, the overall results have been disappointing. This failure invites a re-diagnosis of the problem that informal sellers face to act in formal markets and suggesting novel solutions. This paper aims to address this gap.

This is a conceptual paper. The authors adopt MacInnis’s (2011) framework to characterize the approach to theory development.

The authors argue that extant views of formal/informal markets differences address only one of Scott’s (2014) three pillars (regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive). By drawing on Bourdieu’s legacy, the authors propose a cultural-cognitive reading of institutions and suggest it offers a lens to understand the problem as an access challenge, and thus a marketing problem. This perspective allows us to conceptualize informal/formal markets as two distinct institutional fields and argues that all individuals inhabit a particular habitus and contend that moving between markets requires a habitus shift. Thus, acting in formal markets involves bridging a habitus gap. Finally, the authors argue the need for a market-facing intermediary that takes on a market habitus bridging role.

The authors suggest future research efforts could benefit from this new conceptual lens as a means of re-diagnosing other forms of market access that have produced disappointing results.

By looking at differences between formal and informal markets as a habitus gap, the allocation of public funds to support transitions can be better targeted and spent.

The concept of market-facing intermediaries suggests that the beneficiary (e.g. informal seller) and target populations can be different. This insight could catalyze social innovation and trigger novel perspectives to design systemic solutions.

Conceptualizing the formal-informal market transition as a habitus gap suggests new directions to resolve access challenges and a new mediator solution.