The present work was carried out using trees of Coffea arabica L. variety Red Catuaí grown at Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" - Campus of the University of São Paulo, Piracicaba,SP. The objective was to estimate damages that Ceratitis capitata (Wied., 1824) can cause to coffee fruits. The results showed that C.capitata did not cause premature fruit fall, but it increased berry fall. The activity of the enzyme polyphenol oxidase and potassium lixiviatiou give strong evidences that atacked coffee beans produce coffee beverage of inferior quality.
Ceratitis capitata; mediterranean fly; coffee; polyphenol oxidase; potassium leching