Investigation of Varietal Classification Method for Coffee Beans Using Aroma Compounds

Introduction

Common coffee bean species are broadly classified into two types: Coffea arabica (Arabica) and Coffea canephora (Robusta). Among them, Arabica is superior in flavor and is highly favored as a specialty beverage. However, in recent years, there have been multiple reports of products sold claiming to be 100% Arabica while being adulterated with Robusta. A reported method for discriminating between the two is the analysis of lipophilic extracts of coffee beans using a benchtop NMR spectrometer1). This method uses 16-O-Methylcafestol, which is present in Robusta but almost undetectable in Arabica, as a marker. However, it requires complicated pretreatment such as extraction and concentration. Therefore, in this Application News, we investigated a method to discriminate between Arabica and Robusta more easily and rapidly using GC-MS/MS and the statistical analysis software eMSTAT Solution.

September 8, 2026 GMT