Stable isotope analysis for green coffee bean: A possible method for geographic origin discrimination

Isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and elemental analysis (EA) were applied in order to achieve geographic origin discrimination between 68 green coffee bean samples from 20 different geographic origins distributed over Central America, Pacific, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Multivariate analysis of isotopic composition of the bean (δ13C VPDB, δ15N VAIR, δ18O VSMOW) and elemental composition (carbon and nitrogen percentage) allowed some discrimination of the geographic origin of some of the coffees included in this study. The observed differences on stable isotopic and elemental composition were mainly explained by altitude and precipitation values associated with the different geographic locations.