Discrimination between Arabica and Robusta green coffee using visible micro Raman spectroscopy and chemometric analysis

We have applied visible micro Raman spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis (PCA) as a powerful technique for the fast discrimination between the two coffee species, Arabica and Robusta, based on their chlorogenic acid (CGA) and lipid contents. The Raman spectra reveal different CGA and lipid compositions when comparing Arabica and Robusta green coffee. Analysing the whole Raman spectrum, the PCA yielded a clear separation between Arabica and Robusta with 93% of the total spectral variation. Here, the most significant spectral range lies between 1000 and 1750 cm(-1) and is dominated by the Raman bands of CGA. Also, by restricting the PCA analysis to the spectral range from 2700 to 3050 cm(-1), which is dominated by lipid bands, a reliable discrimination between the two coffee species could be achieved. In this case, the first two principal components of the PCA accounted for 85% of the explained total spectral variation. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.