The lipid content and composition of boiled, filtered, dripped, Turkish and espresso coffees prepared from roasted beans of Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta, and of coffees prepared from different brands of instant coffee were examined. The lipid content varied with the method of preparation. While coffee brews filtered through filter paper contained less than 7 mg lipids, those prepared by boiling without filtering and espresso coffee reached 60-160 mg lipids/150-ml cup. Coffee brew filtered through a metal screener contained 50 mg lipids/150-ml cup. Although the lipid content varied, the method of preparation of the brew and filtration had no important influence on the lipid composition. During paper filtration lipids remained mainly in spent coffee grounds, and the brew and filter paper retained only 0.4 and 9.4%, respectively, of the total lipids recovered. However, the lipids in the brew, filter paper and spent coffee grounds had the same profile, indicating that there was no preferential retention of a particular lipid component in filter paper. Triglycerides and diterpene alcohol esters were the major lipid classes in coffee brewed from ground coffee beans, and ranged from 86.6 to 92.9 and 6.5 to 12.5% of total lipids, respectively. For coffee brews made from instant coffee, the levels of these two lipid classes were 96.4-98.5 and 1.6-3.6%, respectively. The lipid contents of both regular and decaffeinated instant coffees varied slightly from one brand to the other, and ranged from 1.8 to 6.6 mg/150-ml cup.