Microwave-assisted methanolysis of green coffee oil

► We have developed a new method to obtain a mixture of cafestol and kahweol from green Arabica coffee oil (Coffea arabica) by optimisation of a microwave-assisted methanolysis. ► The microwave-assisted protocol proved to be simple, fast and enabled the use of higher reaction amounts than other methods. ► The microwave-assisted heating gave better conversion rates when compared to conventional heating and does not need a clean-up procedure. ► Our findings may provide an easy method to scale-up the isolation of cafestol and kahweol.