Determination of coffee origins by integrated metabolomic approach of combining multiple analytical data

The flavor and taste of coffee are the most important criteria for evaluating its quality and they are influenced by environmental as well as genetic factors. Because of these factors, including soil, climate and species, diverse components of coffee have been developed. To observe the variation of coffee components by region, a metabolomic approach was applied. In this study, 21 coffee samples of different origin were analyzed by various measuring devices. The acquired data was then integrated and processed by principal component analysis (PCA) using SAS 9.1 software. We found that we could successfully identify the origins of the coffee, dividing the samples in the regions of Asia, South America, and Africa, using the integrated metabolomic approach of combining diverse analytical data with multivariate analysis. In particular, the enhancement of subtle differences by combining data from several instruments resulted in the accurate discrimination of coffee origins. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.