Chemical Profiling for Origin

"Think about Kona coffee," said Anderson. "It sells at premium price because of where it was grown and the practices that have gone into it. About 20 million pounds of Kona coffee are sold annually, but only 2 million pounds are actually produced. Somewhere, 18 million pounds of coffee are being labeled as something it's not. When you can buy Columbian coffee for $1 a pound then turn around and sell it under a different label for $35 a pound, someone is going to take advantage of that."

Work being done by the University of Oregon may provide us with a definitive test for Kona coffee. If successful, this could enable Kona coffee producers to challenge suspect Kona coffee rip-offs and could make the current expensive and time-consuming certification system redundant.

Headed by Dr. Kim Anderson and Dr Brian Smith, the team has already put out a study titled “Chemical Profiling to Differentiate Geographic Growing Origins of Coffee” and is continuing work on other agricultural products.

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