In this study expressions to describe (1) variations of unit and bulk density and porosity of the coffee (dried cherry and pulped) as a function of the product moisture content and (2) the behavior of the values of airflow resistance in coffee columns (dried cherry and pulped) as a function of the product moisture content, airflow intensity and depth in the coffee column were investigated. For pulped coffee, unit and bulk density and porosity are linear functions of moisture content; densities increase with the product moisture content while the porosity decreases. For dried cherry coffee: unit and bulk densities are quadratic functions of the product moisture content that present minimum values in the moisture content range investigated. The porosity is, practically, independent of the product moisture content; for the same moisture contents: the unit bulk density values of dried cherry coffee are smaller than those for pulped coffee; the porosity values of dried cherry coffee are greater than those for the pulped coffee. In terms of the behavior of the static pressure values in the product column, it was observed that the pressure in the pulped coffee is always larger than in the dried cherry coffee for all the column depths and three moisture contents.
moisture content; density; porosity; static pressure
