Australians on average consume 3.1kg of coffee annually. This pales in comparison to the Finns, who consume over 12kg each every year.

Provenance Determination of Coffee & Tea

In 2007, Australia was ranked 57th in the world in terms of coffee consumption. The coffee industry is one if the world’s largest industries and serves as the predominant source of income and economic stability for a number of nations. As a result of its’ status as an important global commodity, there exists a high risk of commercial coffee fraud. The ability to accurately identify the geographic origin of the coffee, is a crucial step in the authentication process and may provide significant scientific basis for preventing coffee fraud and mislabeling of products.

Limited research exists which details the potential for using elemental composition of coffee in order to determine its’ provenance - be that the country of origin or the specific growing region within a country. Research undertaken within TSW Analytical suggest that analytical technology can be used to successfully establish the origin of coffee beans through determination of their unique chemical signatures.