The formation of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (HMF) and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furoic acid (HMFA) during roasting of coffee was studied. At 240 degrees C the maximum concentration of HMF occurs after 3 min with a quick degradation up to 10 min when most of the HMF has disappeared again. Similar to 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural, HMFA is formed in coffee but not in a model system consisting of sucrose, alanine with or without chlorogenic acid. It was shown that HMFA is produced from different precursors than HMF namely glyceraldehyde and pyruvate. The comparison of the laboratory scale roasting with industrial roasting showed that 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural decreases with a higher degree of roasting whereas HMFA did not change. In the laboratory scale experiments, the highest concentration of 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural in coffee (909 microg/g) was obtained after 3 min and the maximum concentration of HMFA after 4 min (150 microg/g). Industrially roasted coffee contained up to 350 microg/g 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural and 140 microg/g HMFA.