Simultaneous Determination of Alkaloids in Green Coffee Beans from Ethiopia: Chemometric Evaluation of Geographical Origin

The alkaloid compositions of 99 green coffee (Coffea arabica L.) bean samples comprising eight varieties (Harar, Jimma, Kaffa, Wollega, Sidama, Yirgachefe, Benishangul and Finoteselam) from the major production regions of Ethiopia were investigated. High performance liquid chromatography was applied for the simultaneous determination of four coffee alkaloids in the aqueous extracts of the beans. The limits of detection for the method were established as 13 mg kg(-1) for trigonelline, 7 mg kg(-1) for theobromine, 8.5 mg kg(-1) for caffeine and 4 mg kg(-1) for theophylline in the dry coffee beans. Theophylline was not detected in any of the samples. The determined concentrations (% w/w dry coffee beans) ranged from 0.98 to 1.32 % for trigonelline, 0.0048 to 0.0094 % for theobromine and 0.87 to 1.38 % for caffeine. The concentrations of the alkaloids varied significantly, depending on the geographical origin of the beans. Theobromine was not detected in coffee beans from the East (Harar coffees), and its absence in samples can be used to ascertain whether the coffee originates from this region. Coffee beans from the Northwest were characterized by higher concentrations of caffeine. Application of linear discriminant analysis provided 75 % correct classification of samples into the respective production regions, with a 74 % prediction success rate. The moderate classification efficiency obtained when using alkaloid data demonstrates the potential of using this class of compounds in discriminant models for determination of the geographical origin of green coffee beans from Ethiopia.