Comparison of the Effectiveness of Fatty Acids, Chlorogenic Acids, and Elements for the Chemometric Discrimination of Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Varieties and Growing Origins

Abstract

The objective of this work was to compare the effectiveness of three chemical families, namely, chlorogenic acids, fatty acids, and elements, for the discrimination of Arabica varieties (traditional versus modern introgressed lines) and potential terroirs within a given coffee-growing area. The experimental design included three Colombian locations in full combination with five (one traditional and four introgressed) Arabica varieties and two field replications. Chlorogenic acids, fatty acids, and elements were analyzed in coffee bean samples by HPLC, GC, and ICP-AES, respectively. Principal component analysis and discriminant analysis were carried out to compare the three methods. Although elements provided an excellent classification of the three locations studied, this chemical class was useless for Arabica variety discrimination. Chlorogenic acids gave satisfactory results, but fatty acids clearly offered the best results for the determination of both varieties and environments, with very high percentages of correct classification (79 and 90%, respectively).

Determination of the Elemental Composition of Coffee Using Instrumental Methods

“…Green arabica and robusta coffee beans are directly taken from coffee plantations or coffee plantation cooperatives (Krivan et al 1993;Martin et al 1998aMartin et al , 1999Filho et al 2007;Oleszczuk et al 2007;Bertrand et al 2008;dos Santos et al 2009dos Santos et al , 2010. In a laboratory, coffee beans can be washed at first with tap water, followed by a neutral detergent, a diluted HCl solution and finally de-ionized water to remove soil particles and dust (dos ).…”

“…A plant named coffee is a shrub that belongs to the Rubiaceae family, i.e., Coffea arabica (∼75 % of the world's production), Coffea canephora, named also robusta (∼25 %) and Coffea liberica (<1 %) (Martin et al 1998a;VegaCarrillo et al 2002;Zaidi et al 2006;Filho et al 2007;Grembecka et al 2007;Bertrand et al 2008). Parts of coffee plants used in the food industry for the production of coffee are fruits (berries) (Ashu and Chandravanshi 2011).…”

“…This research activity could even include the differentiation of small terroirs, which components, mostly the altitude and the rainfall, significantly affect the elemental composition of coffee (Bertrand et al 2008). Since consumers usually search for coffee with special taste and aroma, of a high quality and produced from beans of known variety and origin, the determination of the provenience of coffee is a very important part of the coffee trade (Martin et al 1998a;VegaCarrillo et al 2002;Bertrand et al 2008). Sometimes dishonest producers can sell cheaper varieties or blends of coffees but recommending them as of a much better quality (Anderson and Smith 2002).…”

“…Due to a habitual consumption of coffee, its chemical composition, namely the presence of essential, non-essential and toxic elements, has to be known and kept under control in terms of its safety, and to assists its quality, nutritional value, and certain sensorial properties (Krivan et al 1993;De Nadai Fernandes et al 2002;Zaidi et al 2006;Filho et al 2007;Oleszczuk et al 2007;Oliveira et al 2012). The authenticity of coffee related to its certain geographical origin and botanical variety based on the elemental analysis and statistical pattern recognition methods seems to be quite important to producers and consumers (Krivan et al 1993; dos Santos and de Oliveira 2001;De Nadai Fernandes et al 2002;Fernandes et al 2005;Filho et al 2007;Grembecka et al 2007;Oleszczuk et al 2007;Bertrand et al 2008). This research activity could even include the differentiation of small terroirs, which components, mostly the altitude and the rainfall, significantly affect the elemental composition of coffee (Bertrand et al 2008).…”

“…The authenticity of coffee related to its certain geographical origin and botanical variety based on the elemental analysis and statistical pattern recognition methods seems to be quite important to producers and consumers (Krivan et al 1993; dos Santos and de Oliveira 2001;De Nadai Fernandes et al 2002;Fernandes et al 2005;Filho et al 2007;Grembecka et al 2007;Oleszczuk et al 2007;Bertrand et al 2008). This research activity could even include the differentiation of small terroirs, which components, mostly the altitude and the rainfall, significantly affect the elemental composition of coffee (Bertrand et al 2008). Since consumers usually search for coffee with special taste and aroma, of a high quality and produced from beans of known variety and origin, the determination of the provenience of coffee is a very important part of the coffee trade (Martin et al 1998a;VegaCarrillo et al 2002;Bertrand et al 2008).…”