introduction for coffee research paper

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Publications
Account settings
My Bibliography
Collections
Citation manager

Save citation to file

Email citation, add to collections.

Create a new collection
Add to an existing collection

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.

Search in PubMed
Search in NLM Catalog
Add to Search

Coffee consumption, health benefits and side effects: a narrative review and update for dietitians and nutritionists

Affiliations.

1 Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, Università Telematica Pegaso, Via Porzio, Centro Direzionale, isola F2, 80143 Napoli, Italy.
2 Centro Italiano per la cura e il Benessere del paziente con Obesità (C.I.B.O), Endocrinology Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University Medical School of Naples, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
3 Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Chirurgia, Unit of Endocrinology, Federico II University Medical School of Naples, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
4 School of Medicine, Universidad Católica Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
5 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beirut Arab University, P.O. Box 11-5020 Riad El Solh, Beirut 11072809, Lebanon.
6 Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Bioquímica Humana, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
7 Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires, Departamento de Terapia Intensiva, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
8 Intensive Care Unit, Sanatorio Franchín, Bartolomé Mitre 3565, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
9 Cattedra Unesco "Educazione alla salute e allo sviluppo sostenibile", University Federico II, Naples, Italy.
PMID: 34455881
DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1963207

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide; however, its impact on health outcomes and adverse effects is not fully understood. The current review aims to establish an update about the benefits of coffee consumption on health outcomes highlighting its side effects, and finally coming up with an attempt to provide some recommendations on its doses. A literature review using the PubMed/Medline database was carried out and the data were summarized by applying a narrative approach using the available evidence based on the literature. The main findings were the following: first, coffee may contribute to the prevention of inflammatory and oxidative stress-related diseases, such as obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes; second, coffee consumption seems to be associated with a lower incidence of several types of cancer and with a reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality; finally, the consumption of up to 400 mg/day (1-4 cups per day) of caffeine is safe. However, the time gap between coffee consumption and some drugs should be taken into account in order to avoid interaction. However, most of the data were based on cross-sectional or/and observational studies highlighting an association of coffee intake and health outcomes; thus, randomized controlled studies are needed in order to identify a causality link.

Keywords: Coffee; caffeine; metabolic syndrome; nutritionist; obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

Search in MeSH

Related information

Linkout - more resources, full text sources.

Taylor & Francis
MedlinePlus Health Information

Miscellaneous

NCI CPTAC Assay Portal

Citation Manager

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Crop Biology and Sustainability
Research Topics

Coffee: From the Field to the Cup

Total Downloads

Total Views and Downloads

About this Research Topic

Coffee has been the only crop that definitively integrates people in every nation. History dictates that coffee shops were, and still are, essential places for the development of art, music, philosophy, and politics over the centuries. But perhaps the most important role has been merely to gather people. As a ...

Keywords : Crop management, crop physiology, soil health, post-harvest, beverage quality, physiology, coffee technology, climate change

Important Note : All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Topic Editors

Topic coordinators, recent articles, submission deadlines.

Submission closed.

Participating Journals

Total views.

Demographics

No records found

total views article views downloads topic views

Top countries

Top referring sites, about frontiers research topics.

With their unique mixes of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author.

Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. It’s based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new Open Access publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. How? By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers.

We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too.

Brief introduction to this section that descibes Open Access especially from an IntechOpen perspective

Want to get in touch? Contact our London head office or media team here

Our team is growing all the time, so we’re always on the lookout for smart people who want to help us reshape the world of scientific publishing.

Home > Books > Coffee - Production and Research

A Detail Chemistry of Coffee and Its Analysis

Submitted: 20 January 2020 Reviewed: 12 February 2020 Published: 20 March 2020

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.91725

Cite this chapter

There are two ways to cite this chapter:

From the Edited Volume

Coffee - Production and Research

Edited by Dalyse Toledo Castanheira

To purchase hard copies of this book, please contact the representative in India: CBS Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd. www.cbspd.com | [email protected]

Chapter metrics overview

4,759 Chapter Downloads

Impact of this chapter

Total Chapter Downloads on intechopen.com

Total Chapter Views on intechopen.com

Overall attention for this chapters

This review article highlights the detailed chemistry of coffee including its components; chemical constituents like carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and caffeine; aromatic principles; oil and waxes; and minerals and acids. The high extent of caffeine can be found in the coffee plants; hence, in the second part of the study, various analytical methods are designed for the proper identification, separation, optimization, purification, and determination of caffeine present in coffee, tea, and marketed coffee. These analytical methods are appropriated for the separation and quantification of caffeine. The various analytical methods include spectroscopy methods like UV, IR, and NMR spectroscopy; chromatographic methods like paper, TLC, column, HPLC, and gas chromatography; and hyphenated techniques like LC–MS, GC–MS, and GC–MS/MS. This article compares and contrasts the amount of caffeine by various analytical methods.

spectrophotometer
chromatography
hyphenated techniques
electrochemical methods

Author Information

Hemraj sharma *.

Department of Pharmacy, Shree Medical and Technical College, Bharatpur, Nepal

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Coffee consists of ripe seeds of Coffea arabica Linn., belonging to family Rubiaceae. Coffee extracted from coffee bean is also present in crimson fruits is completely removed, and the spermoderm is removed, occasionally. The seeds of botanical genus Coffea may be raw, roasted, whole, or ground. The prepared drink through such coffee seeds is also called as coffee. Among 70 species of coffee, only three are cultivated. 75% of the world’s production of coffee is provided by Coffea arabica , about 25% by Coffea canephora , and less than 1% by Coffea liberica and others. Generally, coffee is cultivated at the altitude of 1000–2000 [ 1 ]. It is indigenous to Ethiopia, Brazil, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Nepal Guatemala, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

2. Chemical constituents

The main constituents of coffee are caffeine, tannin, fixed oil, carbohydrates, and proteins. It contains 2–3% caffeine, 3–5% tannins, 13% proteins, and 10–15% fixed oils. In the seeds, caffeine is present as a salt of chlorogenic acid (CGA). Also it contains oil and wax [ 2 ].

This article will deal on the types of carbohydrate, protein, lipids, and other chemical constituents in detail.

This article will review on various analytical methods for the estimation of constituents present in coffee.

Coffee is often used as antioxidants, but more importantly coffee is a good source of chromium and magnesium that assist in controlling blood sugar by ensuring proper usage of insulin.

Citric acid

Chlorogenic acid

Acetaldehyde

The carbohydrate content of green and roasted coffee (Santos) was identified and measured. Green coffee contained about 6–7% of sucrose as soluble sugars and low amount of glucose. The soluble sugars of roasted coffee were sucrose, fructose, and glucose. The experiment was also carried out for the isolation of holocellulose fractions of green and roasted coffee.

The holocellulose of green coffee was hydrolyzed by a novel method consisting of anhydrous sulfuric acid and 10% potassium insoluble hydroxide, which was partially solubilized on roasting and results in the following ratio of sugars:

1 L-arabinose/2D-galactose/2D-glucose/6D-mannose. Out of these sugars, the arabinose was easily acid-hydrolyzed. Other coffee constituent analyzed and determined were caffeine, trigonelline, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid, and the 10 amino acids. The free amino acids disappeared in roasting. An analytical method was developed for evaluating caffeine on chromatograms [ 3 ].

In coffee pulp, condensed tannins are the major phenolic compounds, while in the seeds, phenolic compounds exist primarily as a family of esters formed between hydroxycinnamic acids and quinic acid, collectively recognized as chlorogenic acids (CGA). Green coffee seeds contain up to 14% CGA, which are present in high concentrations and have a greater influence for determining the quality of coffee and play a vital role in the formation of the coffee flavor. The various constituents along with components of coffee are shown in Table 1 .

Constituent	Components
Soluble carbohydrates	Monosaccharides Fructose, glucose, galactose, arabinose (traces)
Oligosaccharides	Sucrose, raffinose, stachyose
Polysaccharides	Polymers of galactose, mannose, arabinose, glucose Insoluble polysaccharides
Hemicelluloses	Polymers of galactose, arabinose, mannose Cellulose Acids and phenols Volatile acids
Nonvolatile aliphatic acids	Citric acid, malic acid, quinic acid
Chlorogenic acids	Mono-, dicaffeoyl- and feruloylquinic acid Lignin Lipids Wax
Oil	Main fatty acids: N Compounds
Free amino acids	Main amino acids: Glu, Asp, Asp-NH2 Proteins
Caffeine	Traces of theobromine and theophylline Trigonelline Minerals

Constituents along with components of coffee.

3. Carbohydrates

Most of the carbohydrates present, such as cellulose and polysaccharides consisting of mannose, galactose, and arabinose, are insoluble.

The lipid fraction appears to be very stable, and its composition is given below.

Linoleic acid is the predominant fatty acid, followed by palmitic acid.

Lipid composition.

Triacylglycerols.

Diterpene esters.

Diterpenes.

Triterpene esters.

Triterpenes (sterols).

Unidentified compounds.

The volatile acids include formic acids and acetic acids, while nonvolatile acids include lactic, tartaric, pyruvic, and citric acid. Minor constituents include higher fatty acids and malonic, succinic, glutaric, and malic acids. The degradation products of citric acid are itaconic (I), citraconic (II), and mesaconic acids (III), while fumaric and maleic acids are degraded products of malic acid:

Chlorogenic acids are the mainly rich acids of coffee.

6. Trigonelline and nicotinic acid

Green coffee contains trigonelline (N-methylnicotinic acid) up to 0.6% and is 50% decomposed during roasting. The degradants include nicotinic acid, pyridine, 3-methyl pyridine, nicotinic acid, methyl ester, and other compounds.

7. Aromatic principle

The aroma profile of coffee is composed of the following notes: sweet/caramel-like, earthy, sulfurous/roasty, and smoky/phenolic.

8. Minerals

Potassium is major in coffee ash (1.1%), calcium (0.2%), and magnesium (0.2%). The major anions includes phosphate (0.2%) and sulfate (0.1%), along with traces of other elements [ 4 ].

9. Caffeine

The best known N compound is caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) because of its physiological effects (stimulation of the central nervous system, increased blood circulation, and respiration). It is mildly bitter in taste. 10% of the caffeine and about 6% of the chlorogenic acid are present in a coffee drink. During roasting, the caffeine level in beans is decreased. Synthetic caffeine and caffeine obtained by the decaffeination process are used by the pharmaceutical and soft drink industries. By methylation of xanthine, synthetic caffeine is obtained which is obtained from uric acid and formamide. Medicinally, caffeine is used as a CNS stimulant, usually combined with another therapeutic agent and in analgesic preparations.

Theobromine acts as diuretic and smooth muscle relaxant, but not routinely used. Theophylline is used as smooth muscle relaxant and is frequently dispensed in sustainable formulations to lower the side effects. It is also available as aminophylline (a more soluble preparation containing theophylline with ethylenediamine) and choline theophyllinate (theophylline and choline). The alkaloids may be isolated from natural sources or obtained by total or partial synthesis [ 5 ].

The purine alkaloids include caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline as shown in Figure 1 . They have a limited distribution as alkaloids, but the origins are very close with those of the purine bases like adenine and guanine, fundamental components of nucleosides, nucleotides, and the nucleic acids. Caffeine is mainly consumed in the form of beverages like tea, coffee, and cola and is most widely consumed and socially accepted natural stimulants. Theophylline is much more important as a drug compound because of its muscle relaxant properties, utilized in the relief of bronchial asthma when compared to caffeine, medicinally. The major constituent of cocoa and related chocolate products is theobromine.

Chemistry of the purine derivatives.

Out of four nitrogen atoms, two are supplied by glutamine and a third by aspartic acid. The synthesis of the nucleotides AMP and GMP is by way of IMP and XMP, and the purine alkaloids then branch away via XMP. The loss of phosphate via methylation generates the nucleoside 7-methylxanthosine, which is then released from the sugar moiety. Furthermore, successive methylation on the nitrogen gives caffeine through theobromine, while a different methylation sequence can result in the formation of theophylline ( Table 2 ) [ 6 ].

S.N.	Method	Experiment	Detection	Linearity range	Application	Scientific outcome	Ref.no.
1	UV spectroscopy	Caffeine separated from coffee using paper and TLC and was estimated using spectroscopy	Detection was done at 272 nm	NA	Caffeine from coffee	Good separation	[ ]
2.	UV spectroscopy	Caffeine separated from coffee using TLC and was estimated using spectroscopy	Absorbance measured at 274 nm	2–120 μg/ml	Caffeine from tea powder	Good separation	[ ]
3.	UV spectroscopy	Method A: simultaneous equation method Method B: isosbestic point method	For method A: absorbance measured at 273 nm For method B: absorbance measured at 259.5 nm	2–32 μg/ml	Tablet containing caffeine and paracetamol	Determination of caffeine in mixture of tablets	[ ]
4.	UV spectroscopy	Dual wavelength method	Two wavelengths of 249 and 234 nm were selected for analysis LOD = 0.286 LOQ = 0.863	3–18 μg/ml	Tablet containing caffeine and paracetamol	A new method of determination of caffeine	[ ]
5.	HPLC	RP-HPLC comprising C18 column and 24% methanol as mobile phase	UV detector at 272 nm	1–40 ppm	Unroasted coffee and roasted coffee	Unroasted coffee contained 0.89–2.10 (8 samples) Roasted coffee contained 1.03–4.21 (11 samples)	[ ]
6.	HPTLC-UV	Silica gel 60F254 as stationary phase and ethyl acetate/methanol (27:3) as mobile phase	UV densitometric remission at 274 nm LOD = 40 ng/zone LOQ = 120 ng/zone	2–14 μg/zone	Caffeine in marketed tea granules	Caffeine in tea samples was found to be 2.145%	[ ]
7	HPLC	Zorbax eclipse XDB comprising C8 column as stationary phase and water-tetrahydrofuran-acetonitrile as mobile phase	UV detector at 273 nm LOD = 0.07 LOQ = 0.20	0.2–100 mg/l	Caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline in food, drinks, and herbal products	The recoveries range from 92.00 to 96.8%	[ ]
8	HPLC and biosensor method	For HPLC: Shimadzu LC10A fitted with a C18 column as stationary phase and acetonitrile and water (10:90%) as mobile phase set at a flow rate of 1 ml min For biosensor: amperometricbiosensor comprising the biological sensing element, transducer, amplification, and detector systems	UV detector set at 273 nm	0.01–0.1%w/v 0.01–0.1%w/v	Commercial coffee samples and cola drinks	0.033–0.072%w/v 0.030–0.076%w/v	[ ]
9	HPLC	HPLC with solid phase extraction (SPE) HPLC model: Waters 515, with UV detector (REX, Model pHS-25), Visi TM-1 SPE single-sample processor (Supelco) 50 mM KH2PO4 (pH = 2) Acetonitrile and methanol (40:8:2) was used as solvent as well as mobile phase	Caffeine was extracted from green tea, black tea, and coffee and then characterized by melting point, λ max (UV/vis), IR absorption bands, Rf (TLC), and RT (HPLC) Crude caffeine was purified by solid phase extraction	10–60 ppm	Caffeine in tea, coffee, and soft drinks	Crude black tea, green tea, and coffee contained 7.04%, 4.88%, and 13.7% caffeine, respectively, whereas after purification black tea, green tea, and coffee contained 3.34%, 2.24%, and 5.20% pure caffeine	[ ]
10.	HPLC and UV	UV/vis spectrophotometer The molar decadic absorption (MDA) coefficients and transitional dipole moment of pure caffeine in water and dichloromethane (DCM) were obtained at 272 and 274.7 nm	MDA was found to be 1115 and 1010 m mol , respectively, in water and DCM Transitional dipole moments of caffeine in water and in dichloromethane are 10.40 × 10 and 10.80 × 10 C m, respectively	0.90–1.10% for five samples by HPLC	Caffeine in coffee beans	UV/vis spectrophotometer: five independent measurements were 1.1 ± 0.01% for Bench Maji, 1.01 ± 0.04% for Gediyo Yirga Chefe, 1.07 ± 0.02% for Tepi, and 1.19 ± 0.02% for Godere, respectively HPLC: measurements were 1.10% for Bench Maji, 1.10% for Gediyo Yirga Chefe, 1.00% for Gomma Limu, and 0.90% for Besema	[ ]
11	HPLC with DAD	Stationary phase: RP-HPLC (Spherisorb ODS2 column) Mobile phase: 0.01 M phosphate buffer of pH 4	DAD detector at 265 nm LOD = 0.05 μg/ml	0.05–500 μg/ml	Thermal degradation of caffeine in coffee of Brazil and Ivory Coast	For Brazil: green coffee (g/kg of caffeine), 12.36 ± 0.10; roasted coffee, 16.12 ± 0.05 For Ivory Coast: green coffee (g/kg of caffeine), 20.83 ± 0.22; roasted coffee, 25.55 ± 0.185	[ ]
12	HPLC	Stationary phase: RP-HPLC C18 Mobile phase: acetonitrile/water (8:92%)	Detection at wavelength of 245 nm.	Varies with each sample	Caffeine and theobromine in coffee, tea, and instant hot cocoa mixes	Instant tea: 32.4–35.0 mg/cup of caffeine Tea bag: 30.2–67.4 mg/cup, 1.0–7.8 mg/cup of caffeine Instant hot cocoa:46.7–67.6 mg/cup of caffeine Ground coffee: 93.0–163.5 mg/cup of caffeine	[ ]
13	LC–MS	For LC stationary phase: Spherisorb S5ODS2, 5 μm Mobile phase: formic acid/methanol For MS: ESI source with +ve mode	LOD = 11.9 ng/ml LOQ = 39.6 ng/ml	0.05–25.00 μg/mL	Caffeine, trigonelline, nicotinic acid, and sucrose in coffee	Caffeine values ranged from 843.3 to 930.9 mg/100 g coffee in green and roasted Arabica coffee samples	[ ]
14	Electrochemical method	Voltammetric method with CH1760D electrochemical working standard Working electrode: lignin modified glassy carbon electrode Auxiliary electrode: platinum coil Reference electrode: Ag/Agcl	LOD = 8.37 × 10 LOQ = 2.79 × 10	6–100 × 10 mol/L	Caffeine content in Ethiopian coffee samples	10.78, 8.78, 6.35, 5.85 mg/g caffeine in coffee	[ ]
15	Electrochemical method	Voltammetric method Working electrode: pencil type graphite carbon electrode Auxiliary electrode: platinum coil Reference electrode: Ag/Agcl electrode	LOD = 9.2 mg/L	0–500 mg/L	Caffeine levels in several tea samples	Caffeine levels in several tea samples yield relative error of 1% in the concentrations	[ ]
16	LC–MS/MS	For LC, stationary phase: RP-HPLC C18 Mobile phase: isocratic mobile phase consisting of 0.2% formic acid in distilled water and methanol (80:20, v/v) For MS: spectrometer equipped with an electrospray Ionization mode used to generate positive [M + H] + ions	LLOQ = 5 ng/ml	5–5000 ng/ml	Caffeine and its three primary metabolites in rat plasma		[ ]
17	GC-NPD	Stationary phase: capillary fused silica column Mobile phase: carrier gas, helium (1 ml min )	Detection was made by using nitrogen phosphorus detector LOD = 0.02 μg/ml LOQ = 0.05 μg/ml	0.05–500 μg/ml	Caffeine in teas, coffees, and eight beverages	Caffeine in: Nescafe coffee = 246.8 μg/ml Coffee seed = 267.5 μg/ml Red Bull = 297.9 μg/ml, while other samples contained less caffeine	[ ]
18	Infrared spectroscopy	Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) method	The measurement was done at 1659 cm using a baseline established between 1900 and 830 cm LOD = 3 mg L	NA	Caffeine in roasted coffee samples	Recovery of all samples ranges from 94.4 to 100.1%	[ ]

The various analytical methods for the determination of caffeine present in coffee.

AMP = adenosine-5′-monophosphate.

GMP = guanosine-5′-monophosphate.

IMP = inosine-5′-monophosphate.

XMP = xanthosine-5′-monophosphate.

1. Shah, Seth Spiller MA. Textbook of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 1st Ed. New Delhi: Elsevier, Reed Elsevier India Private Limited; 2010
2. Spiller MA. The chemical components of coffee. Caffeine. 1998; 1998 :97-161
3. Wolfrom ML, Plunkett RA, Laver ML. Coffee constituents, carbohydrates of the coffee bean. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. January 1960; 8 (1):58-65
4. Belitz HD, Grosch W, Schieberle P. Coffee, tea, cocoa. Food Chemistry. 4th ed. 2009:938-970
5. Heckman MA, Weil J, De Mejia EG. Caffeine (1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine) in foods: A comprehensive review on consumption, functionality, safety, and regulatory matters. Journal of Food Science. 2010; 75 (3):R77-R87
6. Dewick PM. Medicinal Natural Products: A Biosynthetic Approach, 3rd Edition. Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2009. ISBN: 978-0-470-74168-9
7. Jalal MA, Collin HA. Estimation of caffeine, theophylline and theobromine in plant material. The New Phytologist. 1976; 76 (2):277-281
8. Sharma H, Sapkota HP, Khan S, Bogati SB, Sapkota B. Estimation of caffeine content on various Brands of tea of Nepal. India and China Consumed in Local Market of Nepal. 2019; 2019 :1-4
9. Vichare V, Mujgond P, Tambe V, Dhole SN. Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of paracetamol and caffeine in tablet formulation. International Journal of PharmTech Research. 2010; 2 (4):2512-2516
10. Sharma H, Reddy MA, Babu CN, Bhatta HP, Wagle N, Sapkota HP, et al. Method development and validation of dual wavelength UV spectrophotometric method for simultaneous estimation of Paracetamol and caffeine in combined dosage form by internal standard method. Asian Journal of Chemistry. 2015 Jun 15; 27 (12):4666
11. Gopinandhan TN, Banakar M, Ashwini MS, Basavaraj K. A comparative study on caffeine estimation in coffee samples by different methods. International Journal of Current Research in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2014; 1 :4-8
12. Misra H, Mehta D, Mehta BK, Soni M, Jain DC. Study of extraction and HPTLC-UV method for estimation of caffeine in marketed tea (Camellia sinensis) granules. International Journal of Green Pharmacy (IJGP). 2009; 3 (1):47-51
13. Srdjenovic B, Djordjevic-Milic V, Grujic N, Injac R, Lepojevic Z. Simultaneous HPLC determination of caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline in food, drinks, and herbal products. Journal of Chromatographic Science. 2008; 46 (2):144-149
14. Babu VS, Patra S, Karanth NG, Kumar MA, Thakur MS. Development of a biosensor for caffeine. Analytica Chimica Acta. 2007; 582 (2):329-334
15. Mumin A, Akhter KF, Abedin Z, Hossain Z. Determination and characterization of caffeine in tea, coffee and soft drinks by solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography (SPE–HPLC). Malaysian Journal of Chemistry. 2006; 8 (1):045-051
16. Belay A, Ture K, Redi M, Asfaw A. Measurement of caffeine in coffee beans with UV/Vis spectrometer. Food Chemistry. 2008; 108 (1):310-315
17. Casal S, Oliveira MB, Ferreira MA. HPLC/diode-array applied to the thermal degradation of trigonelline, nicotinic acid and caffeine in coffee. Food Chemistry. 2000; 68 (4):481-485
18. Jl B, Tarka S Jr. HPLC determination of caffeine and theobromine in coffee, tea, and instant hot cocoa mixes. Journal of Food Science. 1983; 48 (3):745-747
19. Perrone D, Donangelo CM, Farah A. Fast simultaneous analysis of caffeine, trigonelline, nicotinic acid and sucrose in coffee by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Food Chemistry. 2008; 110 (4):1030-1035
20. Amare M, Aklog S. Electrochemical determination of caffeine content in Ethiopian coffee samples using lignin modified glassy carbon electrode. Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry. 2017; 2017 :1-8
21. Ly SY, Jung YS, Kim MH. Kwon Han I, Jung WW, Kim HS. Determination of caffeine using a simple graphite pencil electrode with square-wave anodic stripping voltammetry. Microchimica Acta. 2004; 146 (3–4):207-213
22. Choi EJ, Bae SH, Park JB, Kwon MJ, Jang SM, Zheng YF, et al. Simultaneous quantification of caffeine and its three primary metabolites in rat plasma by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Food Chemistry. 2013; 141 (3):2735-2742
23. Sereshti H, Samadi S. A rapid and simple determination of caffeine in teas, coffees and eight beverages. Food Chemistry. 2014; 158 :8-13
24. Garrigues JM, Bouhsain Z, Garrigues S, de la Guardia M. Fourier transform infrared determination of caffeine in roasted coffee samples. Fresenius’ Journal of Analytical Chemistry. 2000; 366 (3):319-322

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Continue reading from the same book

Published: 10 June 2020

By Saithong Phommavong, Maliphone Douangphachanh and ...

1083 downloads

By Laura Sofía Torres-Valenzuela, Johanna Andrea Sern...

1725 downloads

By Felipe J. Cerino-Córdova, Nancy E. Dávila-Guzmán, ...

1640 downloads

IntechOpen Author/Editor? To get your discount, log in .

Discounts available on purchase of multiple copies. View rates

Local taxes (VAT) are calculated in later steps, if applicable.

Support: [email protected]

Tools and Resources
Customer Services
Agriculture and the Environment
Case Studies
Chemistry and Toxicology
Environment and Human Health
Environmental Biology
Environmental Economics
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
Environmental History
Environmental Issues and Problems
Environmental Processes and Systems
Environmental Sociology and Psychology
Environments
Framing Concepts in Environmental Science
Management and Planning
Policy, Governance, and Law
Quantitative Analysis and Tools
Sustainability and Solutions
Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Article contents

Sustainable coffee production.

Sarada Krishnan Sarada Krishnan Denver Botanic Gardens
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.224
Published online: 28 June 2017

Coffee is an extremely important agricultural commodity, produced in about 80 tropical countries, with an estimated 125 million people depending on it for their livelihoods in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, with an annual production of about nine million tons of green beans. Consisting of at least 125 species, the genus Coffea L. (Rubiaceae, Ixoroideae, Coffeeae) is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, the Comoros Islands, the Mascarene Islands (La Réunion and Mauritius), tropical Asia, and Australia. Two species are economically important for the production of the beverage coffee, C. arabica L. (Arabica coffee) and C. canephora A. Froehner (robusta coffee). Higher beverage quality is associated with C. arabica . Coffea arabic a is a self-fertile tetraploid, which has resulted in very low genetic diversity of this significant crop. Coffee genetic resources are being lost at a rapid pace due to varied threats, such as human population pressures, leading to conversion of land to agriculture, deforestation, and land degradation; low coffee prices, leading to abandoning of coffee trees in forests and gardens and shifting of cultivation to other more remunerative crops; and climate change, leading to increased incidence of pests and diseases, higher incidence of drought, and unpredictable rainfall patterns. All these factors threaten livelihoods in many coffee-growing countries.

The economics of coffee production has changed in recent years, with prices on the international market declining and the cost of inputs increasing. At the same time, the demand for specialty coffee is at an all-time high. In order to make coffee production sustainable, attention should be paid to improving the quality of coffee by engaging in sustainable, environmentally friendly cultivation practices, which ultimately can claim higher net returns.

coffee berry borer
coffee leaf rust
coffee berry disease
sustainability
coffee value chain
coffee genetic resources
climate change

Introduction

Botany and origin.

The first botanical description of the coffee tree was in 1713 , under the name of Jasminum arabicanum , by Antoine de Jussieu, who studied a single plant grown at the botanic garden of Amsterdam. The species was later classified under the genus Coffea as Coffea arabica by Linnaeus in 1737 (Charrier & Berthaud, 1985 ). Since then, many other Coffea species have been discovered and described through extensive taxonomic work; more recently, through molecular studies, the genus Psilanthus has been subsumed into Coffea (Charrier & Berthaud, 1985 ; Davis et al., 2011 ; Wintgens, 2009 ).

A tropical woody genus, Coffea belongs to the Rubiaceae family. The primary center of origin of C. arabica is the highlands of southwestern Ethiopia and the Boma plateau of South Sudan, with wild populations also reported in Mount Marsabit in Kenya (Meyer, 1965 ; Thomas, 1942 ). C. canephora has a much wider distribution, from West to East Africa in Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Cabinda, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda and to the south to Angola (Davis et al., 2006 ).

Coffea arabica is an allotetraploid (2 n = 4x = 44) that originated from two different diploid (2 n = 2x = 22) wild ancestors, C. canephora and C. eugenioides S. Moore or ecotypes related to these two species (Lashermes et al., 1999 ). Due to the nature of its origin, reproductive biology, and evolution, and due to the narrow gene pool from which it spread around the world, Arabica coffee has very low genetic diversity (Anthony et al., 2002 ; Lashermes et al., 1999 ; Vega et al., 2008 ). It is self-compatible and mostly reproduces by self-fertilization, which occurs in about 90% of the flowers (Fazuoli et al., 2000 ).

The Arabica coffee tree is a small tree with the potential in the wild to reach 9 to 12 meters in height, growing at an altitude of 1,300 to 2,000 meters above sea level. From seed germination to first fruit production, the coffee plant takes about three years, when it reaches full maturity. The fruit of coffee is known as a cherry and the seed inside is known as the bean. The fruit is comprised of the epicarp (skin), mesocarp (pulp), endocarp (parchment), integument (silverskin), endosperm (bean), and embryo. The tree has an open branching system with a main vertical (orthotropic) stem from which arise primary plagiotropic branches from “head of series” buds. From primary branches arise secondary branches, followed by tertiary and quaternary branches. The four to six serial buds generate either flowers or orthotropic suckers. The leaves are opposite, dark green, shiny, and waxed. The flower consists of white, five-lobed corolla, a calyx, five stamens, and the pistil. The ovary at the base of the corolla consists of two ovules, which when fertilized become two coffee beans (Wintgens, 2009 ).

The history of coffee consumption begins in Ethiopia, where the local people have been drinking coffee for many centuries. From its center of origin in Ethiopia, coffee made its way to Yemen, possibly around the 6th century , with the first record of consumption as a beverage by practitioners of Sufism around 1450 . From Yemen, coffee spread to Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul, leading to the birth of the coffeehouse. Following this, coffeehouses opened in Europe, the first one in Venice in 1645 and in Oxford in 1650 . The first coffeehouse in the United States opened in Boston in 1689 . The tradition of coffeehouses as meeting places where news, political debate, and ideas are exchanged still continues (Vega, 2008 ). The opening of the first “Peet’s Coffee & Tea” shop in San Francisco in 1966 was probably one of the significant changes in coffee consumption, causing the expansion of the specialty coffee industry in the United States. This was followed by the opening of the first Starbucks store in Pike’s Place in Seattle in 1971 . In 1974 , Erna Knutsen coined the phrase “specialty coffee” to describe the high-end, green coffees of limited quantities she sold to small roasters; the coffees were sourced from specific geographic microclimates and had unique flavor profiles. The growth of the specialty coffee industry led to the formation of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) in 1982 . Today, SCAA is the largest coffee trade organization, with nearly 2,500 company members (SCAA, 2016 ). In the early stages of the specialty coffee industry development, there was a lack of definition of what specialty coffee was and how to quantify it. In 2009 , the SCAA published revised quality standards for specialty coffee. To qualify as specialty, the coffee had to meet a minimum cupping score of 80 out of a 100-point scoring system (Steiman, 2013 ).

Cultivation of coffee was started by the Dutch East India Company in Java using seeds obtained from Mocha in Yemen in the 1690s. From Java, plants were taken to the Amsterdam Botanical Garden in 1706 , from which a plant was taken to France in 1713 ; this plant was used by Antoine de Jussieu in first describing coffee. In 1720 , one plant made its way from France to the French colony of Martinique in the Caribbean. From Martinique, coffee spread throughout the Caribbean islands: Haiti ( 1725 ), Guadeloupe ( 1726 ), Jamaica ( 1730 ), Cuba ( 1748 ), and Puerto Rico ( 1755 ). Around the same time, the Dutch introduced plants from Amsterdam to their South American colony in Suriname (in 1718 ); from there, coffee was introduced to French Guiana in 1719 and Brazil in 1727 . This was the basis of the “Typica” genetic line of coffee. The “Bourbon” genetic line originated from coffee trees introduced from Mocha in Yemen to Bourbon (Reunion) Islands in 1715 and 1718 (Anthony et al., 2002 ; Vega, 2008 ). The French later introduced coffee cultivation in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1740 and Ceylon become a major producer of coffee. In 1869 , Ceylon’s thriving coffee industry was devastated by a fungal disease, the coffee leaf rust ( Hemileia vastatrix ), leading to the replacement of coffee by tea in Ceylon by the 1900s (Damania, 2003 ).

In an effort to prevent the loss of coffee genetic resources and to enlarge the genetic base of coffee for future crop improvement, several international institutions, such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and others, have initiated many collecting missions to various African countries since the 1960s. The emphasis has been on collecting C. arabica germplasm because of its economic importance, but a number of noncultivated species were also collected (as cited in Engelmann et al., 2007 ; Krishnan, 2013 ; Vega et al., 2008 ). In addition to these international collecting missions, local researchers within origin countries have performed their own collecting missions, such as in Ethiopia (Labouisse et al., 2008 ), Madagascar, and Cote d’Ivoire. Coffea field gene banks were established in several countries as a result of the collecting missions; the gene banks hold accessions from the collecting missions as well as cultivated plants selected in plantations and breeding centers. The 1998 FAO report, State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources , documented 21,087 coffee accessions conserved worldwide (Anthony et al., 2007 ). The FAO World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) Coffea Germplasm Report ( 2009–2011 ) is the most comprehensive inventory of coffee germplasm held in living collections. In 2009 , Dulloo et al. did an inventory of limited gene banks, reporting 41,915 accessions in field gene bank collections worldwide. In 2016 , the Global Crop Diversity Trust, in partnership with World Coffee Research, led the development of the Global Conservation Strategy for Coffee Genetic Resources, which was scheduled for completion in early 2017 .

Worldwide, an estimated 125 million people are dependent on coffee for their livelihoods (Osorio, 2002 ), with more than 50 countries producing and exporting coffee, almost all in the developing world (Lewin et al., 2004 ; NCA, 2017 ). Like any commodity trade, the coffee trade has been characterized by boom and bust cycles since the 1880s, mainly due to an imbalance of supply and demand. In the early 20th century , attempts to stabilize coffee prices rested on efforts of individual countries, especially Brazil. Through the “valorization” scheme of 1905–1908 , Brazil bought and stored large amounts of coffee and administered a tax policy imposing new levies on coffee hectarage that was aimed at driving production down and prices up (Thurston, 2013a ). In the 1930s, when the coffee market collapsed, Brazil, the largest producer, responded by burning coffee or dumping it into the ocean. In the following decades, the price of coffee has alternately soared and dived, with the market hitting the lowest at 40 cents per pound in New York, while farmers’ production costs amounted to about 70 cents a pound. This has led to poverty and food insecurity in countries where the majority of coffee producers are subsistence farmers (Osorio, 2002 ; Thurston, 2013b ).

Significant transformation of the world coffee market occurred since the latter half of the 20th century . During the period between 1965 and 1989 , the coffee market was regulated, with relatively high price levels, because upward and downward trends were corrected through the implementation of export quotas. The free-market period, which began in 1990 , had two subperiods of significantly low price levels, 1989 to 1993 and 1999 to 2004 , the latter being the longest period of low prices ever recorded (ICO, 2014 ). Coffee production is generally characterized by considerable instability, with a large crop one year followed by a smaller crop the next. In the world coffee market, as is the case for many commodities, price volatility is a major concern for all stakeholders. In exporting countries, price volatility leads to instability in producer incomes and uncertainty of export earnings and tax revenues. In importing countries, price volatility affects profit margins for roasters, traders, and stockholders (ICO, 2014 ). All these factors make the coffee crop less attractive throughout the supply chain, especially to growers, who will seek other, more remunerative crops to replace coffee. Despite these challenges, world coffee production has grown steadily since the 1960s, although it will be difficult to maintain this trend due to the continued rise in production costs, problems related to climate change, and the higher incidence of pests and diseases (ICO, 2014 ).

To illustrate the global scale of coffee production and consumption, Tables 1 and 2 give the figures for the total world coffee production, export, and consumption from 2006 to 2015 and the statistics for the top ten coffee producers of the world for 2015 , respectively. Coffee production, export, and consumption have steadily increased since 2006 (Table 1 ). The top ten producers account for about 88% of total global coffee production and exports. Among the top ten producers, Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia together produce and export almost 60% of the global total (Table 2 ).

Table 1. Total World Coffee Production, Export, and Consumption from 2006 to 2015

Crop Year	Quantity (in 1,000 60-kg bags)
Crop Year	Production	Export	Consumption (Importing Countries)
2006	128,728	91,745	75,093
2007	119,996	96,302	75,964
2008	129,566	97,599	75,715
2009	123,276	96,242	74,211
2010	134,246	97,067	76,552
2011	140,617	104,435	76,447
2012	144,960	110,914	76,949
2013	146,506	110,501	79,467
2014	142,278	114,766	80,627
2015	143,306	112,722	81,188

Note : *Production statistics for 2006/07–2015/16.

Source : ICO ( 2016 ).

Table 2. World’s Top Ten Coffee Producers—Production, Export and Proportions of World Production and Export During 2015

Country	Production (1,000 60-kg bags)	Percent of World Production	Exports (1,000 60-kg bags)	Percent of World Exports
Brazil	43,235	30.17	28,478	30.53
Vietnam	27,500	19.19	19,125	20.50
Colombia	13,500	9.42	10,031	10.75
Indonesia	12,317	8.60	4,847	5.20
Ethiopia	6,700	4.68	2,514	2.70
India	5,833	4.07	5,006	5.37
Honduras	5,750	4.01	4,746	5.09
Uganda	4,755	3.32	2,817	3.02
Guatemala	3,400	2.37	2,432	2.61
Peru	3,300	2.30	2,280	2.44
Total World Production & Export	143,306	88.17	93,275	88.21

Note : *Export statistics are for the period October 2015 to July 2016.

Sixty-five percent of the world’s coffee is consumed by just 17% of the world’s population (Lewin et al., 2004 ). This provides tremendous opportunity for market expansion through promotion of coffee consumption in both producing and consuming countries. Table 3 provides statistics on imports by the top ten leading importing countries. The top ten countries account for about 81% of total imports, with the United States importing almost a quarter of the total imports, followed by Germany at 18%.

Table 3. World’s Top Ten Coffee Importers During 2013, the Latest Year with Complete Statistics

Country	Imports (1,000 60-kg bags)	Percent of Global Imports
United States	27,016	23.14
Germany	21,174	18.13
Italy	8,823	7.56
Japan	8,381	7.18
France	6,713	5.75
Belgium	5,502	4.71
Spain	5,137	4.40
Russian Federation	4,410	3.78
United Kingdom	4,206	3.60
Netherlands	3,407	2.92
Total World Imports	116,773	81.17

Brazil continues to be the world’s largest coffee producer, and due to use of mechanized harvesting, it has achieved much higher productivity than with hand-picking (Thurston, 2013a ). Colombia, which used to be the second largest producer, has been replaced by Vietnam, a producer of robusta coffee, and Ethiopia’s production has been surpassed by Indonesia’s (Table 2 ). In nearly all coffee-exporting countries, dependence on coffee as the main foreign export earner has fallen, although coffee is still extremely important in the economy of many countries. A major concern throughout the coffee industry is the small percentage of the total value of coffee realized by the producers and producing countries. A 2006 report estimated that exporting countries earned only 7% of the total market value of coffee. In addition to the cost of production incurred by the producing countries, which include cost of fertilizers, pesticides, transportation, etc., the increase in the value of coffee also comes from costs incurred by the consuming countries, such as advertising, wages, rents, insurance, utilities, transportation, etc. (Thurston, 2013a ). Like all other agricultural commodities, coffee has an uncertain market future. Price volatility, dictated by supply and demand, and climate events affect the economics of the coffee trade.

Crop Production

Coffee-producing areas are located in latitudes between 22º N and 26º S. The environmental factors affecting coffee growth and productivity are temperature, water availability, intensity of sunshine, wind, soil type, and land topography (Descroix & Snoeck, 2009 ). Optimal temperatures for growing Arabica coffee are 18ºC during the night and 22ºC during the day, although tolerated extremes extend from 15ºC up to 30º C. Robusta coffee can tolerate slightly higher temperatures, with optimal temperatures between 22 and 28ºC (Descroix & Snoeck, 2009 ). Water availability, in the form of rainfall and atmospheric humidity, affects growth of coffee. Most coffee-growing regions are typically rain-fed, since land topography is not conducive to installation of irrigation systems. For Arabica growth, annual rainfall of 1,400 to 2,000 mm is favorable, and for robusta, it is 2,000 to 2,500 mm. Rainfall below 800 to 1,000 mm for Arabica and 1,200 mm for robusta can result in poor productivity (Descroix & Snoeck, 2009 ). The best relative humidity for robusta is 70% to 75% and for Arabica it is around 60%. Natural or artificial shade is provided to coffee plants in cultivation to recreate their original forest environment, although sunlight-tolerant varieties have been developed for increased productivity. However, shade still remains useful, especially to mitigate the effects of extreme high and low temperatures (Descroix & Snoeck, 2009 ). Strong winds affect the growth of coffee, with significant damage caused by cyclones. Regions frequently impacted by cyclones include Madagascar, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Vietnam, and Hawai’i. The best soils for coffee growing include alluvial and colluvial soils with texture, as in volcanic formations, and good drainage. Soil depth of at least 2 m is required for taproot growth and development (Descroix & Snoeck, 2009 ). Although flat lands or slightly rolling hills are best suited for coffee growing, they are not always available in many coffee-growing regions due to the natural topography of the land. Flat areas allow for mechanization. On steep slopes, mechanization is difficult and production becomes costlier since conservation measures need to be implemented to prevent soil erosion (Descroix & Snoeck, 2009 ).

A coffee plant starts producing flowers 3 to 4 years after planting, with full productivity achieved in 5 to 7 years. Productivity starts diminishing after about 20 years, although with proper handling, the trees can bear fruit for about 50 years or so. The time elapse between flowering and maturation of coffee berries varies depending on variety, climatic conditions, agricultural practices, etc. Typically, Arabica coffee takes about 6 to 9 months and robusta coffee takes about 9 to 11 months (Wintgens, 2009 ). Inputs like fertilizer and pesticides maximize coffee productivity.

A characteristic of coffee production is the biennial pattern of fruit bearing by the trees, with high yield in alternate years. In high-bearing years, in order to support their heavy fruit production, the trees sacrifice new growth production. The following year this is compensated for by reduced fruit bearing. The biennial bearing phenomenon is more common in unshaded production systems with deficient management. In well-managed systems with adequate fertilization and proper pruning, biennial bearing is less pronounced (Wintgens, 2009 ).

Once coffee berries are harvested, they are processed by one of two methods: the wet method or the dry method. Processing converts the coffee cherries to green beans, which is what is ultimately roasted, ground, and consumed. The wet process is more time, resource, and labor intensive. The cherries are sorted by immersion in water. The bad cherries float to the top and are discarded. Those that sink are the good, ripe cherries, which are further processed by pulping (removal of pulp) and drying. In the dry method, the cherries are directly dried, either naturally in sunshine or using mechanical dryers. Once the coffee is dried, through a process called hulling, the outer parchment layer (and the dried pulp in the case of dry-processed coffee) is removed. Polishing, which is an optional processing method, removes the silverskin, the layer beneath the parchment layer. The green beans are then color sorted and graded for size. The ideal moisture content of dried green beans is about 12%. Drying to below a 9% moisture content can result in shrunken, distorted beans.

Major Pests and Diseases

Coffee berry borer— hypothenemus hampei (ferrari).

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), an insect endemic to Africa, is the most serious pest of coffee in many of the major coffee-producing countries in the world (Vega et al., 2009 , 2012 ). It was accidentally introduced into Brazil in 1913 , after which it invaded coffee plantations throughout South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean (Infante et al., 2012 ). The coffee berry borer has been transported around the world, most probably through seeds containing the borer. Very few coffee-producing countries are still free of it. Its presence in Hawai’i was confirmed in 2010 ; Papua New Guinea and Nepal still remain free of the pest (CABI, 2016 ).

The adult female borers cut a characteristic hole (Figure 1 ) at the blossom end of large green berries about eight weeks after flowering, and then they deposit their eggs in internal galleries. The larvae, upon hatching, feed on the seed. A single berry may be infested with up to 20 larvae. Many infested immature berries fall off the trees. Yield and quality of marketable product are significantly reduced; in heavy infestations, borers have been known to attack 100% of berries. The insect remains inside the berry most of its life, making it difficult to control (CABI, 2016 ; Crowe, 2009 ; Vega et al., 2009 , 2012 ).

Figure 1. Coffee berries infested by coffee berry borer with visible entry holes.

There is no simple and cheap method of controlling this insect. Cultural control measures are recommended, with chemical control used as a supplement to cultural measures. Cultural measures that can be adopted to reduce infestations include: reducing heavy shade, keeping the coffee bush open by pruning, picking coffee at least once a week during the main harvest season, stripping the trees of any remnant berries once harvesting is done, ensuring that no berries are left on the ground, and destroying all infested berries by burning (Crowe, 2009 ).

Coffee Leaf Miner— Leucoptera coffeella Guérin-Meneville

The coffee leaf miner, Leucoptera coffeella (Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae), is a moth whose larvae feed inside the leaf tissue and consume the palisade parenchyma. In Brazil, the leaf miner is one of the most serious pests on Coffea arabica . It is an introduced pest from Africa, and crop losses of up to 50% are possible. Twenty species of leaf miners of the genus Leucoptera have been described, and they infest 65 host species. Four species of Leucoptera are known to infest Coffea species: L. coffeella, L. meyricki Ghesq. , L. coma Ghesq., and L. caffeina Wash. (Filho, 2006 ; Filho et al., 1999 ). In eastern Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa, L. caffeina and L. meyricki are major pests of Arabica coffee. Both these species have also been recorded as attacking the indigenous wild coffee, C. eugenioides and other shrubs in the Rubiaceae family (Crowe, 2009 ).

The coffee leaf miner, L. coffeella , was first introduced to Brazil around 1851 , probably on nursery stock imported from the Antilles and Bourbon Island. It is a monophagous pest that attacks only coffee plants (as cited in Filho, 2006 ). Infested coffee has large, irregular, brown spots on the upper surface of the leaf, which reduces the leaf’s photosynthetic area. Rubbing or exposing the spots reveals fresh mines and small whitish caterpillars (Figure 2 ). Mined leaves shed prematurely. Loss in productivity is mainly due to leaf loss. Chemical control of the pest, although effective, increases cost of production and has associated environmental risks. Coffee cultivars with resistance to the pest have been and continue to be developed through classic breeding and molecular selection techniques. In Brazil, varieties resistant to L. coffeella have been developed using genes from C. racemosa (Filho, 2006 ; Filho et al., 1999 ).

Figure 2. Coffee leaf miner larvae on Coffea arabica in South Sudan.

Root-knot Nematodes— Meloidogyne spp.

Root-knot nematodes ( Meloidogyne spp.) have become a major threat in all C. arabica -growing regions of the world (Noir et al., 2003 ). They are sedentary nematodes; the females settle into the rootlets of the coffee trees, causing distorted knots known as galls. Infected coffee trees do not necessarily die, but they are debilitated under normal growing conditions (Castillo et al., 2009 ). More than 15 species of Meloidogyne have been reported as pathogens of coffee, with different species causing different forms of damage to roots based on their respective interactions and associations with fungi. The most damaging species reported in Central America is M. exigua Goeldi (Bertrand et al., 2001 , Castillo et al., 2009 ; Noir et al., 2003 ). In Guatemala, the most common species is M. incognita (Kofoid and White) Chitwood, which causes severe damage, often resulting in death of trees (Anzueto et al., 2001 ). In Central America, all cultivated varieties (such as Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Costa Rica 95, and IHCAFE90) are susceptible, with Costa Rica reporting an estimated drop in yield of 10% to 20% due to general weakening of the trees (Bertrand et al., 2001 ). In addition to their presence in South and Central American countries, various Meloidogyne spp. have also been documented in Africa and India, and two specifically in Kenya (Castillo et al., 2009 ).

From an economic viewpoint, nematodes are significant in Latin America because they limit coffee production. In many regions, the nematode problem is amplified by their association with fungi, leading to fungal infections of the plants, causing physiological alterations. The most common fungi are Fusarium spp. and Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn, both pathogenic in coffee during early stages of planting. Methods of control include disinfecting soil as a preventative measure, control of weedy hosts, pruning to strengthen root system, removal of dead plants, organic fertilization to stimulate root growth and improve nutrition, genetic resistance through breeding, grafting on resistant root stocks, chemical control, biological control, and use of antagonistic plants (Castillo et al., 2009 ). While standard Arabica cultivars are highly susceptible to M exigua , several accessions of C. canephora have exhibited a high level of resistance, including the interspecific hybrid—Timor Hybrid (as cited in Bertrand et al., 2001 ; Noir et al., 2003 ).

Coffee Leaf Rust— Hemileia vastatrix Berkeley and Broome

Coffee leaf rust caused by the obligate parasitic fungus Hemileia vastatrix causes considerable economic losses to coffee producers (Diola et al., 2011 ), especially with C. arabica , and is currently found in all coffee-growing regions of the world. First observed in 1861 near Lake Victoria, the fungus has now spread throughout coffee-growing countries, and it led to significant economic impact in Sri Lanka in 1868 (Silva et al., 2006 ). In India, coffee rust in susceptible C. arabica cultivars accounts for about 70% of crop losses (Prakash et al., 2004 ). The 2012 / 2013 outbreak of coffee rust in Central America resulted in more than 60% of the trees’ exhibiting 80% defoliation in Mexico (Cressey, 2013 ). Crop devastation in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and Honduras was also reported, impacting over 1.08 million hectares (Cressey, 2013 ; ICO, 2013 ). According to the International Coffee Organization, the 2012 / 2013 outbreak of coffee rust in Central America was expected to cause crop losses of $500 million and to cost 374,000 jobs (ICO, 2013 ).

The first observable symptoms occur on the upper surface of the leaves as small, pale yellow spots. The spots gradually increase in diameter, and masses of orange uredospores are seen on the undersurfaces of the leaves (Figures 3 and 4 ). The centers of the spots eventually turn brown and dry, while the margins continue to produce uredospores and to expand. They eventually cover significant areas of the limb. The leaf rust results in loss of physiological activity, which causes the leaves to fall. Severe infection can cause branches to wither completely. Uredospores can be spread by both wind and rain, with splashing rain serving as an important means of local dispersal. Long-range dispersal is primarily by wind. Good cultural management is key in achieving control of the disease, although many factors dictate cultural methods, such as varieties grown, soil characteristics, amount and distribution of rainfall, etc. Chemical control using copper-based products is effective if applied at regular intervals as a preventative measure. A disadvantage of copper-based fungicide, in addition to cost, is that it accumulates in the soil and can reach levels toxic to plants and other organisms (Amerson, 2000 ; Muller et al., 2009 ).

Taking economics and minimization of chemical input for disease management into consideration, the most viable and effective option is the development and cultivation of tolerant coffee varieties. Hence, breeding for varieties resistant to coffee leaf rust has been one of the highest priorities in many countries (Prakash et al., 2004 ). Prakash et al. ( 2011 ) have successfully applied marker-assisted selection (MAS) to achieve durable leaf rust resistance. Using two sequence-characterized amplified regions (SCAR) markers closely linked to the rust-resistant SH3 gene (Sat244 and BA-124-12K-f), they were able to distinguish the presence or absence of the SH3 gene using the C. arabica cultivar S.795, a cultivar derived from S.26, a spontaneous hybrid of C. arabica and C. liberica . The marker Sat244 was more efficient in distinguishing the homozygous and heterozygous status of the SH3 gene. This study was the first report of the successful use of MAS for breeding for coffee leaf rust resistance.

Figure 3. Underside of Coffea arabica leaves infected with coffee leaf rust.

Figure 4. Upper side of Coffea arabica leaves affected by coffee leaf rust.

Coffee Berry Disease— Colletotrichum kahawae Bridge and Waller

Coffee berry disease (CBD) caused by the fungus Colletotrichum kahawae was first detected in Kenya in 1922 around Mt. Elgon, west of the Rift Valley. From Kenya, the disease spread rapidly, first to the Kivu district in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then on to Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Angola (Muller et al., 2009 ). Currently, the disease has been restricted to East, Central, and South African coffee growing countries (as cited in Hindorf & Omondi, 2011 ). It infects all stages of the crop, from flowers to ripe fruits and occasionally leaves, and may cause up to 70% or 80% crop losses if no control measures are adopted, with maximum crop losses occurring following infection of green berries, leading to formation of dark, sunken lesions (Figure 5 ) and premature dropping and mummification of the fruits (as cited in Silva et al., 2006 ). The annual economic impact of CBD to Arabica coffee production in Africa is estimated to be $300–$500 million, due to crop losses and cost of chemical control (van der Vossen & Walyaro, 2009 ). Although CBD is currently restricted to Africa, precautions to prevent introduction of the disease should be taken in other coffee-producing countries (Silva et al., 2006 ).

Control of the disease can be achieved through an integrated cultivation approach, with chemical control linked to improved cultivation practices and genetic control (Muller et al., 2009 ). It is reported that CBD resistance appears to be complete in C. canephora and partial in C. arabica (Silva et al., 2006 ). Breeding for CBD resistance in C. arabica was initiated in response to severe disease epidemics about 35 to 40 years ago in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, with release of resistant cultivars to coffee growers since 1985 (van der Vossen & Walyaro, 2009 ). Under field and laboratory conditions, differences in resistance of coffee trees to CBD have been observed, with higher resistance in Geisha 10, Blue Mountain, K7, Rume Sudan, and progenies of Hibrido de Timor than in Harar and Bourbon in Kenya (Silva et al., 2006 ).

Figure 5. Coffee fruits affected by coffee berry disease in Kenya.

American Leaf Spot— Mycena citricolor (Berkeley and Curtis) Saccardo

American leaf spot, caused by the fungus Mycena citricolor , is predominantly prevalent in Latin America, specifically in Costa Rica and in the Caribbean. The disease also attacks a number of other plants in addition to coffee. In coffee, it affects all plant parts: stems, branches, leaves, and fruits (Muller et al., 2009 ). On coffee, subcircular brown spots are formed on leaves, which turn pale brown to straw-colored (Figure 6 ). The spots have a distinct margin, but with no halo. Mature spots become lighter and develop minute, yellow, hairlike gemmifers, mostly on the upper surface of the spots. The centers of older leaf spots may disintegrate, giving a shothole appearance. Similar spots may be produced on stalks and berries. The main effect is to cause leaf fall, with a consequent reduction in growth and yield of the coffee tree (Plantwise Technical Factsheet, 2015 ).

Control measures include use of copper-based fungicides alternating with use of modern triazoles with systemic effect. Practicing good cultural methods, such as weed control, pruning, and shade control, is necessary to prevent the disease and to reduce disease intensity. The economic impact of the disease has been relatively low, and hence very limited research has been done on developing resistance varieties (Muller et al., 2009 ).

Figure 6. Coffea arabica leaves infected by American leaf spot in Jamaica.

Coffee Wilt Disease— Gibberella xylarioides R. Heim and Saccas

Coffee wilt disease is a vascular fungal disease first detected in 1927 in the Central African Republic, where the disease spread and developed drastically over the next decade (Muller et al., 2009 ). The disease resulted in significant loss in production of robusta coffee in the 1990s in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, killing hundreds of trees (Hindorf & Omondi, 2011 ). First documentation of infection of C. arabica was in Ethiopia in 1958 (as cited in Hindorf & Omondi, 2011 ).

Symptoms include yellowing of leaves, which dry and fall, then branches die, which finally leads to withering and death of the entire tree within a few months. Plant death is caused by blockage of water and sap circulation due to colonization of the sap vessels by the fungal mycelium. Infection can set in any time from the cotyledon stage to maturity. Control of the disease through chemical treatment is not efficiently possible. Spread and contamination can be limited by applying a suitable antiseptic paste to cuts or wounds resulting from pruning, use of cultivation tools, and insect infestation, preventing entry of disease pathogen into sap vessels beneath the bark (Muller et al., 2009 ).

Sustainability and the Future

Environmental sustainability.

Due to increasing population pressures and accompanying deforestation and land degradation, natural forest ecosystems housing high levels of biodiversity are under serious threat in the centers of origin of various Coffea spp. in Africa (Kufa, 2010 ). In addition to being centers of origin, most African countries are also coffee producers (such as Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and others), and coffee has a central role in their national economies. Despite coffee’s importance, coffee exports from Africa have steadily declined, leading to food insecurity among resource-poor, small-scale farmers. The reasons for the decline include market volatility, inadequate market access, inefficient policy frameworks, inadequate access to improved technologies and services, lack of incentives, and climate-associated risks. All of these factors have led to neglect of coffee farms or switching to subsistence farming to tackle food insecurity. Although coffee is predominantly grown in mixed-crop, agroforestry systems promoting conservation and organic farming, the demand for high-quality coffees resulted in increased costs of production and processing that are beyond the capacity of most coffee farmers in Africa. In addition, the coffee marketing system and sharing of benefits has to pass through a complex value chain, with the benefits rarely reaching poor communities in developing countries. Hence the practical contributions of fair trade and other sustainability initiatives have become questionable (Kufa, 2010 ).

Coffee production in an agroforestry system, a system involving production of coffee under the shade of diverse canopy species, has great conservation potential. Various coffee areas display a broad array of shade-management systems, ranging from no shade to intense shade. In the 1970s, there was a tremendous push in Central American countries toward less shaded or open-sun production systems, with the objective of increasing yields. The reduction or elimination of shade trees was accompanied by the introduction of agrochemical inputs, a campaign to combat the coffee leaf rust. This intensification system was promoted more in countries with strong governmental ministries and research institutions advocating modern practices for higher yields and reduction in complexity of traditionally managed systems, such as Costa Rica, Colombia, and Kenya. In countries where less technical assistance prevailed, growers continued to grow coffee in traditional systems utilizing shade. A consequence of intensification is the decline in biodiversity, whereas a coffee landscape managed with a diverse shade cover that mimics a natural forest will harbor birds and other wildlife. Advantages of utilizing a shaded system include providing viable habitat, enhancing biodiversity, sustaining biological control agents, such as birds and bats, and enhancing pollinators of the coffee itself (Rice, 2013 ).

Coffee as an agroforestry system providing ecosystem services for maintaining and restoring resilient biological and social systems is a very feasible option. Kufa ( 2010 ) recommended a call to action for embedding the agroforestry system of coffee production into climate agreements by providing compensation for the multiple ecological services yielded by adopting such a system in each country. Rice ( 2013 ) also recommended advocating shade-grown coffee to agricultural planners and policymakers in developing countries as an option for a positive correlation between conservation and the marketplace. There is an urgent need to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on coffee production by maintaining quality environments through minimization of deforestation and forest degradation. Immediate measures are needed to identify, design, and implement conservation strategies to counter the threats arising from climate change to coffee ecology and production. To ensure success of environmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation, measures delivering incentives and equitable benefit sharing from the use of forest genetic resources and the ecosystem services, such as premium prices for quality coffees, should be addressed. This will lead to sustainable development of the coffee sector and enhance the well-being of resource-poor farmers in developing countries (Kufa, 2010 ). This process will require strong partnerships along the entire coffee value chain in both producing and consuming countries for coordination of sustainability initiatives for the future of the global coffee economy.

Coltro et al. ( 2006 ) conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the environmental profile of green coffee production in Brazil. The study was done to understand detailed production inventory data (life cycle inventory—LCI) and to identify potential environmental impacts of tillage in order to generate ways to reduce impacts and to improve environmental sustainability. Results of the study showed that, for production of 1,000 kg of green coffee in Brazil, the inputs required were 11,400 kg of water, 94 kg of diesel, 270 kg of fertilizers and NPK, 900 kg of total fertilizers, 620 kg of correctives (such as limestone to correct soil acidity), and 10 kg of pesticides. The study provided important results for better correlation of agricultural practices and potential environmental impacts of coffee. Another LCA, conducted on a farm in Guatemala, showed that the bulk of the environmental impact of producing coffee was in transportation. When impacts due to other coffee processes, such as roasting and brewing, were compared, the farming of coffee was a small percentage of the overall impact (Salinas, 2008 ). Understanding the LCI of agricultural products is a fundamental step in understanding potential environmental impacts in order to establish the basis for product sustainability (Coltro et al., 2006 ). Environmental profiles differ with different agricultural practices, and they should not be generalized for different coffee-growing regions.

Sustainability of the Coffee Value Chain

Coffee is a truly global commodity, with the coffee value chain comprising a host of participants, from the producers to intermediary players to the final consumer. The breadth and intimacy among the various actors of the coffee supply chain make the sector one of critical importance for sustainable development at the local, regional, and global levels (IISD, 2003 ). The global coffee value chain has been transformed dramatically since the 1990s due to deregulation, evolving corporate strategies, and new consumption patterns (Ponte, 2004 ). Consumers are more discerning about the coffee products they choose for consumption, and they have numerous combinations to choose from with respect to sustainability (such as fair trade, organic, and shade grown) and specialty types (such as coffee variety, origin, brewing and grinding methods, packaging, and flavoring).

In the coffee industry, sustainability has become a hot topic. Sustainability developed within the North American specialty coffee industry, although Europe developed the first forms of sustainable coffee through the fair-trade movement (Ponte, 2004 ). Several initiatives have been created to address specific aspects of sustainability related to the coffee sector, addressing issues related to social, economic, and environmental problems. Several of the initiatives focus on providing a structure for implementing, administering, and monitoring social and environmental standards throughout the product chain, particularly at the production level (IISD, 2003 ). This has led to conferring of certification and labeling for easy identification and product choice by the consumer. Table 4 lists the different types of sustainability initiatives that have been implemented in the coffee sector (although the table is not all-inclusive).

Table 4. Description of Select Coffee Sustainability Systems

Initiative	Initiator	Key Characteristics	Geographic Coverage & Target Groups	Level of Stringency
Fair trade	Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) and associated fair trade guarantee organizations	Focus on poverty alleviation; guaranteed minimum price paid to registered small-farmer organizations	Global; narrow target groups covering only small-scale producers	High; premium for social and economic aspects; third-party certification and monitoring of standards
Bird friendly	Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC)	Preserve habitats of migratory songbirds, with minimum standards for vegetation cover and species diversity to obtain use of label; emphasis on songbirds and organic shade-grown coffee	Standards applied only to Latin American countries so far; targets are narrow, addressing only organic and shade-grown coffee producers	High; premium for environmental aspects; third-party certification
Organic	International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and affiliated associations	Focus on environmental aspects and social justice; no synthetic chemicals, soil conservation, no GMOs, etc.	Global, but most organic coffee comes from Latin America, especially Mexico; all farms	High; accredited certification agencies monitor organic standards for production, processing, and handling
Eco-OK	Rainforest Alliance	Focus on biodiversity conservation, improving environmental and social conditions in tropical agriculture; emphasis on environmental protection, shade, basic labor and living conditions, and community relations	Latin American countries only; midrange, with big and medium-size estates of shade-grown coffee producers only, as well as some cooperatives	High; premium for environmental aspects; third-party certification
Utz Kapeh	Utz Kapeh Foundation (Ahold Coffee Company in cooperation with Guatemalan coffee suppliers)	Emphasis on creating transparency along the supply chain and rewarding responsible coffee producers using good agricultural practices; standards on environmental protection and management, and labor and living conditions	Mainly in Latin America, but growing in Asia and Africa; producers of all sizes and production types	Medium across all pillars of sustainability; third-party certification
Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality	Nestle	Focus on sourcing high-quality sustainable coffee in a way that is respectful of the environment and farming communities	Narrow; high-quality Nespresso-only coffee growers	Medium across all pillars of sustainability; third-party verification
Starbucks C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices	Starbucks	Emphasis on high-quality coffee that is sustainably grown, with good social and environmental performance minimizing negative environmental impact	Narrow; high-quality Starbucks-only coffee growers	Medium across all pillars of sustainability; third-party verification
The Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C)	Multistakeholder (government/industry): Kraft Foods, Jacobs Kaffee, Nestle, German Development Agency (GTZ)	Provide a baseline standard, with opportunities for stepping up from the sustainability baseline to more demanding standards	Broad; producers of all sizes and production types	Low; baseline across all pillars of sustainability; third-party verification

Source : IISD ( 2003 ), Ponte ( 2004 ), and Reinecke et al. ( 2012 ).

Although these initiatives have the objective of being transparent and verifiable, the biggest challenges have been the growth in the number of initiatives and the lack of cooperation between initiatives, which pose a threat to their ability to meet standards on a broad scale (IISD, 2003 ) and create confusion among consumers. In addition, institutional and project-based initiatives launched by industry, NGOs, and governments add to the confusion and are limited in their ability to address macroeconomic problems and lack consistency across initiatives. Hence, clear, transparent, and flexible sustainability criteria need to be established with a multistakeholder mechanism for establishing and administering the implementation at the international level. This will ensure a trade-neutral path toward sustainable development within the coffee sector and better collaboration and coordination between existing initiatives, thereby improving the adoption rate of sustainable practices throughout the sector. Through integration of economic sustainability with social and environmental sustainability, there is a need and an opportunity to improve coffee-sector sustainability through the adoption of multilateral, multistakeholder, market-based approaches (IISD, 2003 ).

Drawing from the existing initiatives, the International Institute for Sustainable Development has identified five principles for sustainable development, providing a broad foundation for an integrated approach within the coffee sector (IISD, 2003 ):

Principle 1: Fair price/wage to producers that covers production, living, and environmental costs within a competitive framework with a measured degree of stability.

Principle 2: Maintain employment relationships in accordance with core International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions and local law.

Principle 3: Implement environmentally sustainable production practices.

Principle 4: Enhanced access to credit and opportunities for diversification for producers.

Principle 5: Enhanced access to trade information and trade channels for producers.

Coffee genetic resources are under threat due to loss of the forest ecosystems housing these valuable gene pools (Gole et al., 2002 ). Some of the threats contributing to the erosion of coffee genetic diversity include human population pressures, volatile coffee markets, and global climate change. Conservation of coffee germplasm as seeds is not a viable option due to the recalcitrant/intermediate storage behavior of seeds (Dulloo et al., 1998 ; Ellis et al., 1990 ). Hence, coffee is conserved in field gene banks (Engelmann et al., 2007 ). Conservation of coffee genetic resources should take into account complementary methods of in situ (in their natural habitat) and other ex situ (outside their natural habitat) conservation methods. Krishnan ( 2013 ) articulated the urgent need to develop a comprehensive strategy for the conservation of coffee genetic resources through a thorough evaluation of existing germplasm.

In the coming decades, climate change will have a huge impact on coffee production, especially C. arabica , which is a climate-sensitive species. Noticeable effects of climate change, such as a hotter climate and less and more erratic precipitation, have already been documented in coffee-producing regions. In recent years, droughts have become more frequent in coffee regions and they are expected to increase in severity during the 21st century . The changes in temperature and rainfall will lead to a decrease in areas suitable for coffee cultivation, moving the crop up the altitudinal gradient, and will lead to increased incidences of pests and diseases, expanding the altitudinal range in which pests and diseases can survive. Direct impacts of climate change will result in stressed growth of coffee trees, limited flowering and berry development, poor yield, and poor quality of the coffee beans. Severe outbreaks and spread of diseases (such as leaf rust, coffee berry disease, wilt, leaf blight), insects (coffee berry borer, leaf miners, scales), and nematodes will be experienced—the coffee leaf rust epidemic of Central America in 2012 / 2013 being an example.

The imminent danger of the effects of climate change warrants the conservation of coffee ecosystems through reduction of deforestation and forest degradation (Kufa, 2010 ). Using locality analysis and bioclimatic modeling of indigenous Arabica coffee via distribution data, Davis et al. ( 2012 ) predicted a 65% to almost 100% reduction in the number of bioclimatically suitable localities by the year 2080 . When an area analysis was used, the reduction in suitable bioclimatic space ranged from 38% to 90% by 2080 .

In Central America, since 2000 , the area affected by coffee berry borer has gradually increased (Laderach et al., 2010 ). In certain areas, in addition to drought, severe hurricanes will most likely become more frequent (Schroth et al., 2009 ). Schroth et al. ( 2009 ) identified a comprehensive strategy that will sustain biodiversity, ecosystem services, and livelihoods in the face of climate change. The strategy includes promotion of biodiversity-friendly coffee-growing and coffee-processing practices, incentives for forest conservation and restoration, diversification of revenue sources, integrated fire management, market expansion to develop a demand for sustainably produced coffee, crop insurance programs for smallholder farmers, and strengthening capacity for adaptive resource management. Developing adaptation strategies will be critical in sustaining the coffee economy and livelihoods in many countries. The key to this lies in utilizing the varied coffee genetic resources in order to develop varieties with drought stress tolerances and pest and disease resistances.

In 2016 , World Coffee Research and the Global Crop Diversity Trust spearheaded the development of the Global Conservation Strategy for Coffee Genetic Resources. World Coffee Research (WCR) is a collaborative, not-for-profit 501(c)5 research organization with the mission to grow, protect, and enhance supplies of quality coffee while improving the livelihoods of the families who produce it. The program is funded and driven by the global coffee industry, guided by producers, and executed by coffee scientists around the world. The Global Crop Diversity Trust (The Crop Trust) is an international organization working to safeguard crop diversity, forever. The Crop Trust is an essential funding element of the United Nations International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), an agreement that includes 135 countries.

Through engagement of multinational stakeholders engaged in various aspects of coffee production, processing, breeding, conservation, and research, the global strategy aims to ensure the conservation and use of coffee genetic resources for a positive, sustainable future of the crop and for those dependent on coffee for a livelihood. The strategy will act as a framework for bringing together stakeholders at all levels—local, regional, national, and global—in building awareness, capacity, and engagement in conserving the genetic diversity and use of coffee genetic resources for the long term.

Philippine E-Journals

vol. 1, no. 1 (2020) Philippine Coffee Journal

Description.

A first of its kind, the Philippine Coffee Journal (PCJ) is a double-blind and peerreviewed academic journal that focuses on the key results and relevant progress in coffee research and development (R&D) activities. Published annually, PCJ features original research papers, research notes, reviews and case reports on coffee in diverse field of specializations. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission from the editorial board of the journal

Publisher: Cavite State University

Potential citation/s: 30, issn 2815-147x (online), issn 2719-0366 (print), share issue :.

Other Issue

vol. 2, no. 1 (2021)

Table of contents.

Front Matter

Editorial board, table of contents, comparative analysis of the antioxidant activities of leaf extracts from two varieties of coffea liberica bull. ex hiern.

Ernelea Cao | Alysa Estopace | Clarence Aira Diaz | Ruel Mojica

Nectar Biology and its Influence on the Pollination of Coffea liberica W. Bull ex Hiern var. liberica

Analinda Manila-Fajardo | Cleofas R. Cervancia

Community Communication and Coffee Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Variability in Amadeo, Cavite, Philippines

Bettina Joyce Ilagan | Cleofe Torres | Rowena Dt. Baconguis | Ma. Theresa Velasco | Serlie Jamias

Exportable Production Forecast of Southeast Asian Coffee Exporting Countries

Zandro Catacutan | Mailah Ulep

Digital Coffeetelling: Brewing Storytelling Strategies to Deliver Coffee Lessons to Agriculture Students through eLearning System

Crina Tañongon | Emely Amoloza | Anna Roffel Lozada

Back Matter

Guidelines for authors, authors index.

Researching the Coffee and Coffee Shop Industries

Coventry University

Abstract and Figures

Discover the world's research

25+ million members
160+ million publication pages
2.3+ billion citations
R R Maulana
U J Cahyono

Recruit researchers
Join for free
Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser .

We're Hiring!
Help Center

Coffee Industry Research

Most Cited Papers
Most Downloaded Papers
Newest Papers
Last »
Coffee Market Analysis Follow Following
Sport (History) Follow Following
Coffeehouse Follow Following
Retail History Follow Following
Coffee Culture Follow Following
Economic and Business History of Contemporary Italy Follow Following
Research Report Coffee Industry 2013 Follow Following
Coffee Follow Following
Commodity Chains Follow Following
Cafes Follow Following

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

Academia.edu Journals
We're Hiring!
Help Center
Find new research papers in:
Health Sciences
Earth Sciences
Cognitive Science
Mathematics
Computer Science
Academia ©2024

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Publications
Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

Advanced Search
Journal List
Int J Environ Res Public Health

Consumer Choices and Habits Related to Coffee Consumption by Poles

Ewa czarniecka-skubina.

1 Department of Food Gastronomy and Food Hygiene, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS), Str. Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland; lp.ude.wggs@kaleip_anelram (M.P.); lp.ude.wggs@kelas_rtoip (P.S.)

Marlena Pielak

Piotr sałek, renata korzeniowska-ginter.

2 Department of Quality Management, Gdynia Maritime University, Str. Morska 81-87, 81-225 Gdynia, Poland; [email protected]

Tomasz Owczarek

3 Department of Management and Economics, Gdynia Maritime University, Str. Morska 81-87, 81-225 Gdynia, Poland; [email protected]

Associated Data

The data presented in this article is available on reasonable request, from the corresponding author.

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks consumed in the world, also in Poland. In the literature, much attention is paid to the influence of coffee on human health, especially daily intake of caffeine, and also purchasing consumer behavior. There is a lack of research devoted to consumer choices and habits in relation to coffee consumption and brewing method. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of coffee consumers and present their segmentation based on consumer choices and habits towards coffee consumption. The study was performed using the computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) method on a group of 1500 adults respondents in Poland reporting the consumption of coffee. We collected information about consumer choices and habits related to coffee consumption, including brewing method, place of consuming coffee, and factors determining coffee choices. Using cluster analysis, we identified three main groups of coffee consumers. There are “Neutral coffee drinkers”, “Ad hoc coffee drinkers”, and “Non-specific coffee drinkers”. The respondents in the study are not coffee gourmets; they like and consume coffee, but these are often changing choices. To conclude, it can be stated that the Polish coffee consumer prefers conventional methods of brewing coffee (like a “traditionalist”) but is open to novelties and new sensory experiences. Based on study results it is possible to know the coffee drinking habits in Poland.

1. Introduction

Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world. In 2017–2018, the global production of coffee beans from around 60 countries reached approximately 9513 million tones, and achieved USD 200 billion annually [ 1 , 2 ]. In 2018–2019, the consumption of coffee beans was over 165 million 60-kg packages [ 3 ]. It is estimated that 500 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day [ 4 ]. According to available sources, the highest coffee consumption in Europe is in Scandinavia at approximately 10 kg of coffee per capita per year. In Finland is 12 kg per capita per year; in Norway, 9.9 kg; in Iceland, 9 kg; in Denmark, 8.7 kg, and in Sweden, 8.2 kg. In other European countries, coffee consumption is lower, in Netherlands—8.4 kg, Switzerland—7.9 kg, Belgium—6.8 kg, and Luxembourg—6.5 kg [ 1 ]. In Poland, coffee consumption is an average of 2.2–3 kg per capita per year [ 5 ].

Many studies [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] concentrate on the effects of coffee on the body and health, especially disease risk, and daily intake of caffeine with coffee [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Coffee, apart from the unique, characteristic taste and aroma, contains caffeine, and several antioxidants, including chlorogenic acid, lignan, melanoids, cafestrol, trigonelline, and kahweol, which may show a protective effect at the cellular level. The ingredients contained in the coffee infusion are responsible for many beneficial processes that take place in the human body [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Excessive, long-term consumption of caffeine (above 500–600 mg daily) may lead to addiction and many negative symptoms from the body but also show that coffee becomes a risk factor for various diseases while consume above five number of cups per day [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ].

Many studies [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ] focus on the coffee markets, including purchasing consumer behavior and quantified consumption, as well as sustainable development and ethical consumption in line with the principles of fair trade. Few data [ 47 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ] concern consumption motives, consumer behavior, and preferences as to the method of coffee brewing or aspects related to the proper preparation of the infusion. Coffee is considered a high-quality food. In the minds of consumers, consumption of coffee is more and more often equated with pleasure and positive experiences and is related to lifestyle and social status. Various studies confirm that drinking a cup of coffee is associated with a personal moment of pleasure for the consumer [ 56 , 57 , 58 ], and characterize coffee as: pleasure, health, and sustainable development [ 59 ].

The mentioned previous studies concern on habits, changes in consumer behavior and preferences related to coffee, marketing aspects, and also related to the impact on health, without addressing “technological” issues connected with preparing and consume coffee infusions. The topic of coffee research is related to the cultural and geographic context in which it is conducted [ 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 60 ]. In Western economies, a lot of emphasis is placed on issues of sustainable development, including fair trade. In Asia, an important aspect is mainly the behavior and preferences of consumers in relation to café brands or consumption of coffee products [ 61 ]. Consumer habits related to choose the coffee brew methods are also changing with technological development. Studies among European consumers [ 62 ] indicate that they use different coffee preparation methods. Italians, Swiss, and Portuguese use espresso machines: fully automated, capsule, and drip coffee maker. While Germans mainly use a filter coffee makers to brew coffee. In turn, in the South Africa foodservice market espresso based coffee dominate [ 63 ].

Coffee drinking habits, methods of coffee infusion, coffee amount consumed, and additive use in coffee are differentiated between countries and population [ 57 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Although much research on coffee has been published, there is still a lack of research related to the technological practices of coffee preparation. The available results do not cover the topic in such a comprehensive way as our research, and they refer to the topic in a different context. This study fills this research gap. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in Poland. Over 80% of adult Poles consume coffee regularly and 60% of adult Poles drink it every day [ 70 , 71 ]. Its price is relatively low, from USD 1.65 (PLN 6.09) per 250 g in 2010, rising to about USD 1.86 (PLN 7.54) for 250 g in 2019 [ 72 ]. Drinking coffee is becoming a lifestyle. It is also encouraged by the changing coffee market in Poland, where there is an increasing prevalence of cafe chains. The largest coffee shop chains, such as Tchibo, McCafé, Starbucks, and Costa Coffee, are increasing the number of their outlets all over Europe, including in Poland [ 1 ].

The Polish coffee market is worth about PLN 6 billion per year, of which about half is household expenditure [ 73 ], which indicates buying coffee by consumers for home preparation. Polish consumers buy coffee beans more often (30% of households). At the same time, their interest in instant coffee is decreasing—in 2014–2019 by 13% in terms of value and by 14% in terms of quantity. This is likely due to the increase in the purchasing of domestic coffee machines. In terms of the sale of coffee machines in the first half of 2020, Poles became the fourth market in Europe in terms of value, after Germany, France, and the Netherlands. A significant proportion (60.8%) of the coffee machines purchased in Poland are automatic machines, which in 2020 accounted for 92% of the value of the whole coffee machine market [ 74 ]. The consequence of this was an increase in the coffee bean segment by 28.4% [ 75 ]. The market for coffee capsule machines, and thus the demand for coffee capsules, is also growing [ 76 ]. The COVID-19 pandemic may also have contributed to the increase in the sales of automatic coffee machines, and thus the increase of demand for coffee beans in 2020.

Therefore, this research aimed to analyze Polish consumer habits towards coffee consumption and their choices connected with coffee, as well as factors influence on choose kind, brand, and method of preparation of the coffee infusion. The second aim of this study was to identify, describe, and compare consumer segments based on differences in individual choices and habits related to coffee consumption.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. questionnaire.

The questionnaire structure is presented in Table 1 . The questionnaire consists of two parts, of which the first part consists of 14 questions relating to coffee consumption and consumer habits with coffee. The questions concern consumer preferences, decisive factors for purchasing, the frequency of coffee consumption, and the method of preparing coffee infusions. The second part of the questionnaire relates to the respondent’s sociodemographic details—gender, age, education, dwelling place. The questionnaire was designed based on the literature. Questions in questionnaire were based on previous studies: Q1, Q2, Q4, Q12, Q13, Q14 [ 50 ]; Q1, Q3, Q5, Q6, Q14 [ 51 ]; Q6, Q11, Q12, Q13 [ 77 ]; Q2, Q11 [ 78 ]; Q1, Q13 [ 79 ]; and Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10 [ 80 , 81 ].

Questionnaire structure.

Question	Answer Options
Q1. How often do you drink coffee (one cup of coffee)? Choose the answer that suits you the best (only one option).	(1) once a day; (2) twice a day; (3) three or four times a day; (4) three or four times a week; (5) once a week; (6) three times a month; (7) once a month; (8) never (if respondents choose this answer, they end the questionnaire)
Q2. What kind of coffee do you like usually drink?	(1) roasted coffee beans; (2) grain coffee (from cereals); (3) decaffeinated coffee; (4) ground roasted coffee (coffee powder); (5) flavored coffee; (6) instant coffee; (7) low-acid coffee; (8) coffee beverages
Q3. What brands of coffee do you choose most often?	Please list: Nescafe, Tchibo, Jacobs, Segafredo, Lavazza, MK Café, Maxwell House, Pedros, Woseba, Astra, other (please specify)
Q4. How do you drink your coffee?	(1) black, unsweetened; (2) with sugar; (3) with sugar substitutes (sweetener); (4) with milk; (5) with cream; (6) other (please specify)
Q5. Is the method of preparation of the coffee infusion important to you?	(1) yes; (2) no; (3) sometimes
Q6. How do you brew your coffee?	(1) in a drip coffee maker; (2) flooded with boiling water in a cup or glass; (3) in a French press coffee maker; (4) cold brew method; (5) in a pressure coffee machine; (6) in a moka pot; (7) percolator coffee maker; (8) AeroPress coffee maker; (9) I don’t brew coffee
Q7. How long do you brew your coffee?	(1) <3 min; (2) 3 min; (3) 4 min; (4) 5 min; (5) 6 min; (6) I do not pay attention to the brewing time
Q8. What type of water do you use to prepare the infusion?	(1) tap water from the mains water supply; (2) filtered water; (3) oligocene water; (4) mineral water still
Q9. How many spoons of coffee do you use for brewing (per cup)?	(1) “more or less”; (2) according to the recommendations on the coffee package; (3) other; (4) 1–1.5 teaspoons; (5) 2–2.5 teaspoons; (6) 3–4 teaspoons; (7) 5 teaspoons or more; (8) a measuring cup for a coffee machine, capsules.
Q10. At what temperature do you brew your coffee?	(1) 100 °C; (2) 93 °C; (3) 98 °C; (4) I don’t pay attention to it
Q11. What kind of coffee drink do you prefer?	(1) Americano—a type of coffee drink prepared by diluting an espresso with hot water; (2) espresso—strong coffee brewed in an espresso machine, served in a small cup; (3) cappuccino—espresso with hot, strongly frothed milk (with a fluffy foam); (4) iced coffee; (5) latte—espresso with a lot of hot, gently frothed milk or latte macchiato—hot milk, espresso, and a fluffy foam; (6) caffé mocha—espresso served with hot milk and dark or milk chocolate;(7) other (please specify)
Q12. What do you appreciate the most about the quality of coffee you drink?	(1) color; (2) flavor; (3) aroma; (4) appearance; (5) coffee strength
Q13. When I buy coffee, I usually take into consideration: 13.1: Price; 13.2: Quality; 13.3: Brand; 13.4: Packaging (attractiveness, information); 13.5: Friends’ opinions; 13.6: Presentation on a shelf in a store; 13.7: Promotion; 13.8: Habits; 13.9: Advertisement; 13.10: Flavor (taste and aroma); 13.11: Convenience; 13.12: Health reasons; 13.13: Others (please specify)	Choose a comment for each statement (Likert scale): (1) Definitely do not agree; (2) Do not agree; (3) I tend to disagree; (4) Undecided; (5) I tend to agree; (6) Agree; (7) Definitely agree
Q14. Where do you drink your coffee? Choose the answers that suits you the best.	(1) at home; (2) in canteens; (3) in a café; (4) at friends’, family members’ homes; (5) at work
Sociodemographic data: Gender:	Choose the right answer: (1): women; (2): men;
Age:	(1): 18–25 years old; (2): 26–30 years old; (3): 31–40 years old;(4): 41–50 years old; (5): 51–65 years old
Education:	(1): vocational or primary school; (2): secondary school; (3): higher education (university);
Dwelling place:	(1): city over 100,000 inhabitants; (2): city between 50,000–100,000 inhabitants; (3): city between 10,000–50,000 inhabitants; (4): city below 10,000 inhabitants and village;

The questionnaire was assessed by determining its repeatability. The reliability of the questionnaire was validated using its internal consistency. Cronbach’s alpha test was used to measure internal consistency and reliability. Cronbach alpha coefficient was above 0.74, which indicated acceptable internal consistency. Therefore, the questionnaire and scale used is valid.

2.2. Data Collection

The Computer-Assisted Web-based Interviewing (CAWI) method was used to collect all data. The survey was conducted on a group of 1500 adult respondents in Poland that reported the consumption of coffee.

Inclusion criteria of respondents for study were as follows:

Each respondent in age between 18 to 65 years old of who agreed to participate in the survey was invited to complete the questionnaire.
Everyone consuming the coffee.

The exclusion criterion of respondents was people who do not consume coffee.

This paper were designed as a study with a convenience sampling.

The respondents completed an online questionnaire. A link to the questionnaire in Polish language Google Forms format was sent via Facebook, WhatsApp ® , e-mail, and students forum. A questionnaire provided on a webpage increases the sense of anonymity and gives an opportunity to participate in the study at a time convenient for the respondent, and in time of pandemic COVID-19 was very useful.

The questionnaire was validated by means of a pilot study with 20 people. All problems were identified, for example, unintelligible questions and questionnaire construction, as well as the lack of response request, which can lead to omitted answer for some questions. Then the questionnaire was completed and amended.

It was estimated on a pilot test that it would take each participant around 10–12 min to complete the form. Each adult respondent who agreed to take part in the study was invited to fill in the questionnaire. The respondents were free to participate in the research. Because the research was non-invasive and the details of the participants remained undisclosed, the research does not fall within the remit of the Helsinki Declaration.

2.3. Characteristics of Respondents

The characteristics of the respondents are presented in Table 2 . The study involved mainly women, with secondary or higher education, living in different types of dwelling places. The respondents were in the range of 18–65 years old, who had access to a computer, the Internet, and had computer literacy skills.

Characteristics of the surveyed sample of respondents.

Population Features	Group	Number of Respondents ( )	Percentage of Respondents (%)
Total	--	1500	100.0
Gender	women	1049	69.9
Gender	men	451	30.1
Age	18–25 years old	435	29.0
	26–30 years old	239	15.9
	31–40 years old	258	17.2
	41–50 years old	312	20.8
	51–65 years old	256	17.1
Education	vocational or primary school	165	11.0
	secondary school	605	40.3
	higher education (university)	730	48.7
Dwelling place	city over 100,000 inhabitants	646	43.1
	city between 50,000–100,000 inhabitants)	212	14.1
	city between 10,000–50,000 inhabitants	396	26.4
	city below 10,000 inhabitants and village	246	16.4

2.4. Data Analysis

The statistical analysis of the results was performed using Statistica software (version 13.3 PL; StatSoft Inc., StatSoft, Krakow, Poland). The ANOVA test was used. Significance of differences between the values was determined at a significance level of p < 0.05.

A multi-dimensional cluster analysis calculation was performed to coffee consumer classifications. Segmentation was performed using the hierarchical (connectivity-based) clustering. Specifically, the agglomeration clustering method and k -means clustering method were used. The analysis was aimed at creating groups of respondents with a homogeneous approach to the purchase and consumption of coffee.

The measure of similarity used in cluster analysis is the distance in a multidimensional coordinate system. This distance can be defined in many different ways. All the variables are therefore categorical, most on the nominal scale and some on the ordinal scale. For this reason, the analysis uses a measure called percent discrepancy, which is the quotient of the number of dimensions with inconsistent values and the number of all dimensions. When studying distances between clusters of multiple elements, it is also necessary to establish a method for calculating the distances of clusters. The analysis used the complete linkage method, also known as the farthest neighborhood method. The distance between clusters is the distance of the farthest elements of both clusters. After separating the clusters, it was examined whether they really differentiate the studied group. For this purpose, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test with the significance level p < 0.05 was used. For all clusters, the means and medians were calculated for all variables [ 82 , 83 ].

The analysis consisted of three stages. In the first stage, the system of variables (questions) was reduced. Using the agglomeration method, variables with similar values were combined into clusters, and then all questions were removed from this cluster, leaving one representative. This allows to eliminate from the study questions that are highly correlated and carry the same information, without losing overall information. In the second stage, clusters of cases (respondents) were built using the agglomeration method. The purpose of this stage is to determine the optimal number of clusters. Due to the extremely difficult interpretation of the obtained results, it was decided to create as few reasonable clusters as possible. In the third stage, the elements were finally assigned to clusters using the k -means clustering method and the properties of the obtained communities were analyzed. Due to the large number of numerical values, the article does not present detailed values of the measures and test statistics used, but only the conclusions obtained from them, confirmed by graphs.

3.1. Type of Coffee Consumed by Respondents

Respondents primarily choose instant coffee (50.9% of respondents), ground roasted coffee (45.9%), and roasted coffee beans (37%). A significant percentage of respondents also choose grain coffee (17.7%), coffee beverages (13.1%), and flavored coffee (11.5%). Few people reported a consumption of decaffeinated coffee (7.7%) or low-acid coffee (1.3%).

The choice of the type of coffee correlated with age, education, and dwelling place ( p < 0.05). Roasted coffee beans were significantly more often chosen by people aged 18–25 years, with higher education, and living in cities with above 100,000 inhabitants, while ground roasted coffee was chosen by people aged 31–40 years. Young people (18–25 years of age) significantly more often drink flavored coffee and coffee beverages than others group of consumer. People aged 25–30 years and inhabitants of rural areas consumed grain coffee significantly more often. In turn off, people aged 51–65, with secondary education, and living in cities up to 100,000 inhabitants more often drink instant coffee.

Among the coffee brands, the respondents most often chose Jacobs (44% of indications), Nescafe (36.8%), Tchibo (30.9%), MKCafe (34.9%), and Lavazza (28.4%). Less frequently mentioned were Maxwell House (8.7%), Prima (8.1%), Segafredo (6.8%), and Pedro’s (6.1%). Other brands were mentioned by less than 1% of the respondents. The large variety of coffee brands on the market means that everyone will find something for themselves, and the choice of the brand depends on consumer preferences.

3.2. The Frequency and Place of Coffee Consumption

All the participants in the study reported drinking coffee. The majority of respondents (76.8%) consume coffee daily, either once, twice, or several times a day ( Figure 1 ). A smaller percentage of respondents drink coffee once or three or four times a week or less. The frequency of coffee consumption was associated with age ( p = 0.000) and education ( p = 0.000). However, it did not correlate to gender ( p = 0.517) or type of dwelling place ( p = 0.151). People aged 26–50 and people with higher education consume coffee significantly more often—twice to three or more times a day. People aged 51–65 years significantly more often reported coffee consumption once a day, and people aged 18–25 years significantly more often declared coffee consumption once a week or rarely.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is ijerph-18-03948-g001.jpg

Frequency of consumption coffee by respondents.

The respondents most often drink coffee at home (95.5%) and at work (79.7%), Table 3 . The choice of place to drink coffee mainly correlated with gender, age, and dwelling place. In the canteen, coffee was consumed significantly more often by people aged 18–30 years old and living in large cities above 100,000 inhabitants. Women, people aged 18–30 years, with higher education, living in big cities, significantly more often chosen other catering establishments (cafés) to consume coffee. Young people up to 30 years, women and people with higher education significantly more often drink coffee at work and with friends.

Places of respondents drink coffee.

Place	Response		-Value *
Place	Number	Percentage	Gender	Age	Education	Dwelling Place
at home	1432	95.5	NS	NS	NS	0.024
in canteens	687	45.8	NS	0.000	NS	0.000
in a café	922	61.5	0.006	0.000	0.0006	0.000
at friends’, family members’ homes	994	66.3	0.039	0.000	NS	NS
at work	1196	79.7	NS	0.002	0.000	NS

* NS—no significant, p < 0.05

3.3. Factors Affecting Coffee Purchasing

The most important factors ( Table 4 ) affecting the purchasing of coffee included quality and flavor (taste and aroma) of the coffee, as well as habits of consumers (median 5.5–6). Less important factors for the respondents are coffee price, brand, friends’ opinions, and the features of coffee such as origin, acidity, strength, or degree of roasted (median 5). The least important factors for the respondents were packaging, presentation on the shelf in the store, promotion, advertising, convenience, and coffee health aspects (median 4). The smallest differentiation of respondents’ assessments was obtained in the Convenience and Promotion factors. These factors were assessed as insignificant. Respondents do not pay attention to these factors. While the greatest differentiation of ratings was obtained for the Flavor (taste and aroma) factor. Respondents also assessed this factor as important from the point of view of purchasing coffee. For many people, this factor is extremely important, but some respondents do not pay much attention to it.

Factors affecting coffee purchasing.

Factors	The Importance of the Factor *
Factors	Median Me	Quartile Deviation Q	Q25	Q75
Price	5	±1	4	6
Quality	6	±1	5	7
Brand	5	±1	4	6
Packaging (attractiveness, information)	4	±1	3	5
Friends’ opinion	5	±1	4	6
Presentation on a shelf in a store	4	±1	2	4
Promotion	4	±0.5	4	5
Habits	5.5	±1	4	6
Advertisement	4	±1	2	4
Flavor (taste and aroma)	6	±1.5	4	7
Convenience	4	±0.5	4	5
Health reasons	4	±1	3	5
Others (origin, acidity, strength, degree of roasted)	5	±1	4	6

* Likert scale: (1): Definitely do not agree; (2): Do not agree; (3): I tend to disagree; (4): Undecided; (5): I tend to agree; (6): Agree; (7): Definitely agree; Q25—lower quartile, Q75—upper quartile; Q = (Q75−Q25)/2.

3.4. Preparation Methods and Types of Coffee Drunk by Respondents

Almost half of the respondents ( n = 666, 44.4%) reported that the way of coffee prepare is important for them, while a significant percentage of the respondents ( n = 391, 26.1%) only sometimes paid attention on brewing methods. For others ( n = 443, 29.5%), is the preparation method was not important.

The respondents like different methods of brewing and different of coffee beverages ( Table 5 ). The most frequent method of brewing coffee stated was coffee made with boiling water in a cup or glass (89.7%), followed by preparing in a pressure coffee machine (77.7%) and in a drip coffee maker (61.5%). The most popular types of coffee were espresso (90.6% of indications) and cappuccino (84.1%), latte or latte macchiato, and frozen coffee (approximately 75% respectively). Americano was reported by 51.4% of the respondents. Other methods, such as lungo, flat white, frappé, with alcohol, doppio, café au lait, frappuccino, café Corto, brewing methods without an espresso machine, and Viennese coffee, were mentioned by less than 10% of respondents.

Preparation methods and types of coffee beverages by respondents.

Brewing Method	Respondents		Type of Coffee Beverages	Respondents
Brewing Method		%	Type of Coffee Beverages		%
in a drip coffee maker	922	61.5	Americano	771	51.4
flooded with boiling water in a cup or glass	1345	89.7	espresso/double espresso	1359	90.6
in French press coffee maker	231	15.4	cappuccino	1262	84.1
cold brew method	193	12.9	iced coffee	1140	76.0
in a pressure coffee machine	1165	77.7	latte/latte macchiato	1119	74.6
in a moka pot	183	12.2	caffé mocha	779	51.9
percolator coffee maker	98	6.5	other	140	9.3
AeroPress coffee maker	186	12.4	-	-	-

Multiple choice question.

As an addition to their coffee infusion, most respondents choose milk (69.6%), while fewer choose cream (17.7%). A significant percentage (43.7%) of the respondents sweeten their coffee with sugar. Few of the respondents (7.7%) use sugar substitutes (sweeteners). Almost 40% of respondents drink coffee without additions. Other additions such as cinnamon, cocoa, chocolate, cardamom, syrup, or ice cream were used by 8.8% of respondents.

People aged 31–40 years, with higher education, living in large cities (>100,000 inhabitants) drink coffee without any additions significantly more often ( p < 0.05). Coffee is more likely to be drunk with sugar by men ( p = 0.0025), people aged up to 25–30 or 51–65 years, people with vocational education, and people living in cities with less than 10,000 inhabitants. Coffee with milk is more likely to be drunk by women ( p = 0.00001), people aged 31–40 years ( p = 0.00001), people with higher education ( p = 0.005), and people living in both small and large cities. Cream is mostly added by people aged 51–65 years, and people living in cities with 50,000–100,000 inhabitants ( p < 0.05).

According to the respondents, the most important factors in a coffee infusion are flavor ( n = 1358, 90.5%) and aroma ( n = 1086, 72.4%). Coffee appearance ( n = 254, 16.9%) and color ( n = 264, 17.6%) are less important.

For the preparation of coffee, the respondents mainly use tap water (64.7%), using 1–2.5 teaspoons of ground coffee (54.3%) or using a coffee machine measuring cup or capsules (13.8%) to measure the amount of coffee. The majority of respondents (80%) did not know the coffee brewing temperature, which should be lower than 98 °C, although this information is given on every coffee package. Over 50% of the respondents did not pay attention to the brewing time ( Table 6 ). Thus, the study participants were not “experts” in the field of coffee brewing.

Respondents’ preferences for the preparation of coffee infusion.

Preferences	Respondents		Preferences	Respondents
Preferences		%	Preferences		%
Water Used to Brewing			Brewing Water Temperature
tap water from the mains water supply	971	64.7	100 °C	748	49.9
Oligocene water	78	5.2	93 °C	269	17.9
mineral water still	169	11.3	98 °C	453	30.2
filtered water	654	43.6	I don’t pay attention to it	30	2.0
The amount of coffee for 1 cup			Preferred coffee brewing time
“more or less”	312	20.8	<3 min	226	15.1
acc. to the recommendations on the coffee package	85	5.7	3 min	267	17.8
1–1.5 teaspoons	360	24.0	4 min	114	7.6
2–2.5 teaspoons	455	30.3	5 min	82	5.5
3–4 teaspoons	59	3.9	6 min	30	2.0
5 teaspoons or more	14	0.9	I don’t pay attention to the brewing time	781	52.1
a measuring cup for a coffee machine, capsules	172	13.8	I don’t pay attention to the brewing time	781	52.1
other	43	2.9	-	-	-

3.5. Characteristics of the Respondents in Terms of Choices and Habits Related to Coffee Consumption

In order to reduce the number of variables present in the study, the agglomeration method of cluster analysis was used. The role of this method is to create groups of questions with very similar answers. This eliminates the variables which carry the same information, and thus attempts to simplify and facilitate inference. The removal of these variables from the study at the same time does not cause a significant loss of the information that was obtained as a result of the survey. In the agglomeration method, percent discrepancy and full bond were used as the distance measure.

The agglomeration of variables for a bond distance smaller than 0.2 was adopted as the limit (over 80% of concordant responses). As a result, the variables in seven branches were reduced ( Figure 2 ). The variables in each branch are very closely related, and you can replace them with one variable that represents them. The result of this operation was the reduction of the number of variables by 18, with no significant loss of information carried by them. Fifty-one variables were left for further analysis.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is ijerph-18-03948-g002.jpg

Chart agglomeration of variables.

In the second stage of the analysis, the aim was to create the smallest possible number of groups of cases (respondents) behaving in a similar way to each other. For this purpose, the agglomeration method was used in the cluster analysis with the same assumptions as for the reduction of variables. The agglomeration results are presented in Figure 3 .

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is ijerph-18-03948-g003.jpg

Chart agglomeration of cases.

In the agglomeration, the binding distance of 0.86 was assumed as the cut-off level (the red line in the diagram). The adopted cut-off value made it possible to distinguish three groups of respondents. The confirmation of the validity of the selection of such a cut-off level is the bond distance diagram. The distance of the mates for which the plot becomes the most vertical is taken as the cut-off level. This indicates large distances between successive agglomerations and suggests the emergence of natural case groups.

The agglomeration method made it possible to determine the optimal number of respondent groups. However, for the precise assignment of individual cases to each of the three groups, further analysis of these groups was performed using the k-means method of cluster analysis. The clusters of the following numbers were obtained: clusters of 1–295 cases, clusters of 2–709 cases, and clusters of 3–496 cases. The results of the analysis of variance performed for all the variables confirm the validity of the division performed. For almost all variables (except two), the proposed division significantly differentiates the community in a statistically significant manner. In other words, the mean values of almost all variables are significantly different in the three proposed groups of respondents. The values of these averages and the relations between them are shown in Figure 4 .

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is ijerph-18-03948-g004.jpg

Average values for all variables in three clusters.

Due to the fact that the variables are not quantitative, the obtained mean results cannot be interpreted in terms of their value, but are only an indication of the relationship between the mean values. They make it possible to assess how often the values of variables appear in one cluster compared to another cluster.

On the basis of the diagram of means, it can be concluded that for Questions 1 to 12.4, the respondents in all groups gave similar, but statistically significantly different, answers. It can be seen that the means for Cluster 2 usually have the highest values, and the means for Cluster 3 have the lowest values. Much larger differences are visible in the case of the answers to Questions 13 and 14.

Based on the cluster analysis, the profiles of preferences of coffee consumers were determined. Three profiles were identified:

“Neutral coffee drinkers”—Cluster 1,
“Ad hoc coffee drinkers”—Cluster 2,
“Non-specific coffee drinkers”—Cluster 3.

When buying coffee, the respondents belonging to Cluster 1 ( n = 295) were clearly less influenced than others by the factors indicated in Question 13. Taking into account that in the case of the remaining questions their average answers were usually between the answers of the other respondents, they can be characterized as people with a neutral or even indifferent attitude towards coffee. They can be characterized as “coffee drinkers” of habit: they like to drink coffee, but they do not mind what type. Representatives of this group are women, people aged 31–40 years, people with higher education, and people living in cities of 50,000–100,000 inhabitants. When buying coffee, these consumers do not pay attention to the information on the packaging, the opinions of friends, presentation on the shelf, or advertising. They drink the strongest coffee and often drink coffee from an espresso machine; quite often they drink coffee outside the home, with friends, and in canteens.

The respondents from Cluster 2 ( n = 709) behaved differently. Their answers to questions from the group of 14 questions indicate a much lower frequency of coffee consumption than others. Coffee is drunk outside the home much more often than other people. Most of the questions (except Question 13) were answered on average with the highest value. It can be stated that they drink coffee sporadically and at the same time are more likely to consume different types of coffee and prepared in more different ways than others. This would indicate a randomness in coffee consumption: they drink coffee, but without preferences to brewing method and type of coffee. They are young consumers, not connoisseurs, who drink coffee as part of their lifestyle. This group is mainly represented by women, people aged 25–30 years, people with higher education, and people living in large cities (over 100,000 inhabitants).

Cluster 3 ( n = 496) respondents constitute the rest of the respondents and cannot be characterized in any unequivocal way. The average representative of Cluster 3 are women, people aged 41–50, people with secondary education, and people living in cities with an average size of 10–50,000 inhabitants. When buying coffee, they take into account factors similar to the ones considered by Cluster 2 consumers, and they take them into account to an average extent. However, these consumers rarely drink coffee outside their homes.

Concluding, Polish consumers do not show clear preferences as to the choice of coffee and are not yet “specialists” in the field of coffee brewing, as evidenced by the answers to individual questions, especially when it comes to brewing methods. It seems that they are experimenting in this regard for the time being, choosing a considerable variety of coffees. However, coffee is becoming an integral part of social life, especially among young people.

4. Discussion

4.1. consumer coffee choices.

The respondents indicated quality, flavor, habits, brand, and price as the most important factors affecting the purchase of coffee. Other authors also highlighted these factors [ 51 , 84 , 85 ]. Numerous studies confirm that the main motive for drinking coffee, and thus the main factor for the purchase of coffee by consumers, is its flavor and aroma, and the feeling of pleasure when consuming it [ 50 , 52 , 57 , 68 , 77 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 ], as well as the atmosphere in which coffee is consumed and the emotions that accompany the consumer while drinking it [ 77 ]. Other factors include social recognition of the value of coffee and its stimulating “magic effect”, as well as its physical impact on the body, e.g., the ability to aid digestion or increase blood pressure. The direct factors affecting the purchase of coffee are the price and the quality/price ratio, reported flavor and aroma, infusion intensity, and, above all, buying habits [ 77 , 91 ]. It is worth mentioning that consumers are also interested in buying coffee with “health claims” [ 77 ].

Other studies, such as this, confirm that one of the factors in consumers purchasing is coffee habits, and family traditions, which can then influence the place of consumption and the type of coffee consumed. Coffee consumption behavior depends on culture and traditions, especially coffee drunk at home. Culture and traditions are also a source of knowledge and information, and creates behavior related to coffee consumption [ 56 , 57 , 60 , 64 , 77 ]. Samoggia and Riedel [ 77 ] report that consumers for whom flavor, pleasure, tradition, and habits are the main factor in purchasing and reason for drinking coffee do not consider its beneficial effects on health. On the other hand, if they make a purchase without accompanying emotions, they are more likely to discover new product [ 77 ].

In the selection of coffee brands available on the market, the respondents in this study chose typical brands known on the European market—Tchibo, Jacobs, Lavazza, Nescafe, MKCafe, and Maxwell House—which is probably related to their greater promotion and advertising, which affects customers, although respondents did not indicate this factor as decisive for the purchase of coffee. This confirms the results obtained by other authors [ 51 ].

The results imply that young respondents significantly more often choose speciality coffee. Similar results indicate Lewin et al. [ 92 ], but van der Merwe and Maree [ 63 ] found that is no significant relationship between age and speciality coffee consumption. Only a few respondents in this study choose decaffeinated coffee, similar like other authors [ 60 ].

4.2. Respondents’ Habits Related to Coffee Consumption

The results we obtained regarding the place of coffee consumption from the respondents are consistent with other data from Poland [ 51 , 74 ], and in other countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, UK, France, Greece, Spain, and Italy [ 60 ]. Home and work are the most popular places to drink coffee. A significant percentage of people participating in this study also mentioned cafés (61.5%) and canteens (45.8%). Such a high proportion of coffee consumption in catering establishments is probably related to the specifics of our research group, which included people aged 18–65 years who were professionally active or studying. Such people are associated with a more mobile lifestyle, possibility of drinking coffee in a café or for a social occasion, and also are more likely to drink their first coffee at home and another one at the workplace. The data from the “Poland on a plate” report [ 93 ] confirm this findings, while other data indicates that only 5–6% of Poles drink coffee in catering establishments [ 51 , 74 ]. According to Euromonitor International Coffee [ 61 ], the leading factors driving the growth of the coffee market are innovation in the field of consumption outside the home. The other authors [ 56 ] report that consumers who drink coffee in cafés associate coffee with the attributes of happiness and joy, as well as companionship and stable interpersonal relationships.

Coffee drinking at home is an intimate, private activity, ensuring personal comfort and the opportunity enjoy the experience [ 56 ]. The preferences of coffee consumption, both at home and outside, being related to age and social status, are also indicated by other authors [ 66 , 67 , 94 , 95 ]. People under 35 years of age are more likely to drink coffee in a café, while middle-aged and older people (>65 years old) drink coffee at home [ 94 , 95 ] or at work [ 67 ]. The reason for drinking coffee during a break at work may be the desire to improve mental and physical fitness (functional benefits of drinking coffee), as well as establishing social contacts with colleagues from work (consumption behavior facilitating social integration) [ 68 ].

Findings reveal that, 76.8% of respondents drink coffee every day: once, twice, or several times a day. People aged 51–65 years consume coffee once a day. Other authors [ 51 , 63 ] point to a similar relationship. Elderly people usually limit daily coffee consumption probably due to their health [ 94 , 95 , 96 ].

4.3. Methods of Preparing and Serving Coffee Chosen by Respondents

Finding a relationship between the preferred types of coffee or preparation methods is difficult as they may be dependent on the traditions, culture, and customs of each country [ 57 ].

More than half (50.9%) of the respondents choose easy-to-prepare instant coffee. Most people (90.6%) reported drinking espresso. Consumers also willingly to choose cappuccino (84.1%) and iced coffee (76%). This is related to the way coffee is prepared by the respondents. Results reveal that, the respondents choose coffee made with hot water in a cup (89%), coffee from an espresso machine (77%), and coffee from a drip coffee maker (61%). The popularity of pressure brewing method [ 97 ], and methods without the use of an espresso machine, i.e., alternative brewing methods are also indicated by other authors [ 98 ]. Consumers choose the easy, quick way of preparing coffee, as evidenced by the increase in sales of capsule coffee machines, which can also be observed in Poland. They have attracted the interest of consumers thanks to ease of use and convenience, including easy dosing, as well as the low prices of the coffee machine [ 66 , 99 ].

In Poland, new trends have also been identified in the preparation of cold brew coffee, which is drunk by nearly 13% of respondents. The trend is becoming popular worldwide, as is the interest in consuming coffee outside the home and reducing caffè mocha consumption [ 94 , 95 ].

Findings reveal that, for over half of the respondents (55.6%), the method of brewing is not important, although this is an important stage in the preparation of coffee. Pre-infusion, also known as “blooming”, takes place within the first 30 s after pouring a small amount of water onto the ground coffee beans [ 80 ]. The duration of coffee brewing and the ratio of coffee to water depend on the brewing method and machine [ 100 ].

The sensory quality of coffee infusions, especially creating aroma, is influenced by many factors, the time passed since roasting of the beans [ 80 , 101 ]. An important aspect in the coffee preparation process is brewing, including use the water, which has an optimum pH of 7.0 (the acceptable range of pH is 6.5–7.5). In this study, 64% of respondents use tap water to make coffee. It is worth mentioning that the water pH value affects the coffee taste [ 80 ]. In order to improve water quality, filters can be used to reduce water hardness and remove chlorine and organic pollutants, but only 43% of our respondents use filtered water for brewing coffee.

In order to obtain a high sensory quality in coffee, the water temperature for brewing should be 91–96 °C [ 81 ]. Immersing coffee in boiling water may lead to bitter infusions [ 80 ]. Almost half (49%) of our study participants prepare coffee in this way, and 2% do not pay attention to water temperature, which may also be associated with irregularities in this regard. Coffee infusions prepared in the temperature range of 88–93 °C are characterized by a balanced astringency and bitter taste, appropriate “crema” color, and well-balanced aroma intensity. The infusion that is prepared is also characterized by appropriate density and taste, as well as a sufficiently high concentration of caffeine [ 102 ]. A temperature of water below or above than mentioned, effect on coffee infusion quality [ 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 ]. Some of the new methods of brewing coffee are performed at temperatures below 25 °C and this methods require a longer extraction time [ 108 ].

Coffee can be drunk on its own or with milk, sugar, condensed milk, and others additives. The preparation method and additives affect consumer coffee choices [ 109 ]. Respondents added different additives to coffee. Almost half of respondents drunk coffee with sugar, and about 70% drunk coffee with milk. According to Landais et al. [ 60 ] coffee and tea have a high contribution to sugar daily intake.

4.4. Characteristic of Coffee Consumers Based on This Study

Based on the results, it can be concluded that Polish consumers do not display the characteristics of coffee connoisseurs, but are rather experimenting with coffee. They do not have clear preferences regarding the choice of coffee or specialist knowledge of coffee preparation. It should be emphasized that greater knowledge leads to preferences for different types of coffee [ 110 ].

Polish consumers consume coffee more often at work than in other places outside home, driven by the stimulating benefits of drinking coffee—improving mental and physical fitness, the opportunity to take a break, and the social aspect. Interestingly, habits can be the key factors influencing coffee consumption—where it is consumed, types of coffee, preparation methods, which is related to the cultural context and traditions of consumers. A country’s traditions and culture can influence both the occasion and the location of coffee drinking. In countries where a tradition of coffee consumption has developed, such as Italy, Brazil, or the USA, the habits of coffee consumption will be different than in Poland.

Limitations

There are some study limitations. The results come from a convenient sample, focused on Poles. The study did not include the group of people over 65 years of age, who in Poland usually do not have computer access or Internet access, or have low computer literacy skills. For this group, access via the Internet is more difficult and it is harder to collect data. At the same time, coffee consumption in Poland is the greatest in the over-65 age group. Another limitation is that the consumers of coffee were from only one country.

5. Conclusions

The results of the conducted study suggest that the main factors influencing coffee consumption are sensory quality (flavor and aroma), functional (stimulating) motives, habit factors, and socialization motives.

Polish consumers choose coffee because they like its flavor and the pleasure they experience while consuming it. They also drink coffee because of its functional benefits, wanting to enjoy the energizing effects. The least important factors influencing the choice of coffee by consumers are packaging, in-store displays, advertising, and health aspects. Failure by consumers to pay attention to the information on the packaging may result in a lack of knowledge about the origin of the coffee and the use of fair trade practices by the producer. This failure is also associated with improper preparation of coffee, with particular emphasis on the correct water temperature and the right dose of coffee.

The respondents mainly choose instant coffee, ground roasted coffee, and roasted coffee beans. Few people choose low-acid or decaffeinated coffee, which may indicate that consumers drink coffee for its flavor and also for the stimulating effect of caffeine, and also that health aspects are not important to them.

The conducted cluster analysis allowed for the identification of three groups (clusters) of respondents drinking coffee. They were classified as “Neutral coffee drinkers” (1), “Ad hoc coffee drinkers” (2), and “Non-specific coffee drinkers” (3). Cluster 1 were people drinking coffee mainly out of habit, not overly concerned with the type or method of preparation. They were mainly women aged 31–40, living in medium-sized cities, and drinking coffee from an espresso machine, which may indicate a preference for the stimulating properties of coffee. Consumers representing the second cluster drink coffee occasionally and, at the same time, are more likely to consume different types of coffee, and prepare it with different methods. They were young people with higher education, living in large cities, treating coffee as a lifestyle, consuming it mainly outside the home, but with little frequency. The third cluster includes the remaining respondents who cannot be characterized clearly.

To conclude, it can be stated that the Polish coffee consumer prefers conventional methods of brewing coffee (he/she is a “traditionalist”), but is also open to novelties and the search for new sensory experiences.

The results of the study can be helpful for coffee cafe owners, retailers, and suppliers of coffee, as well as coffee makers sellers, all of whom aim to adapt to changing consumer habits. Identified factors that influence consumers’ coffee choices and methods of coffee preparation, and pointed consumer habits related to coffee consumption may allow to understand the consumer-making process. A consumer segmentation could be helpful to provide marketing activity among proper consumer group, and can be interesting for other populations to cross-cultural comparison.

It would certainly be worth repeating our study after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. It may be an interesting idea to study the impact of remote working mode on the purchase and use of home coffee machines, as well as evaluation the behavior of consumers consuming coffee in cafes. Further research directions may concern coffee cold brewing, especially among consumers who are open to innovation. It would be interesting to investigate the multisensory perception and cross modal relationships of potential coffee consumers.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, E.C.-S.; methodology, E.C.-S., M.P., and P.S.; investigation, E.C.-S., M.P., P.S., and R.K.-G.; data curation, E.C.-S. and T.O.; writing—original draft preparation, E.C.-S., M.P., P.S., and R.K.-G.; writing—review and editing, E.C.-S.; visualization, T.O.; supervision, E.C.-S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research was financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within funds of Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS) for scientific research.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The respondents were free to participate in the research. Ethical review and approval were waived for this study, due to the research was non-invasive (survey on internet panel) and details the participants remained undisclosed, the research does not fall within the remit of the Helsinki Declaration. The data were collected by CAWI method.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Library of Congress
Research Guides
Science & Technology

Technical Reports & Standards Collection Guide

Introduction.

Technical Reports Collections
Standards Collection
American Documentation Institute (ADI)
Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) Collection
Synthetic Rubber Project
Technical Translations (TT) Series
Locating Technical Reports and Standards
Research Assistance and Reproductions
Online Resources and Databases
Using the Library of Congress
Jennifer Harbster, Head, Science Section, Researcher Engagement & General Collections Division
Sean Bryant, Reference Librarian, Researcher Engagement & General Collections Division
Ashley Fielder, Librarian for Medicine and Life Science. Science Section, Researcher Engagement & General Collections
Created: September 22, 2023

Last Updated: May 7, 2024

Science & Technical Reports : Ask a Librarian

Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.

Owl above door to center reading room on fifth floor. Library of Congress John Adams Building, Washington, D.C.

Get connected to the Library’s large and diverse collections related to science, technology, and business through our Inside Adams Blog. This blog also features upcoming events and collection displays, classes and orientations, new research guides, and more.

The Library of Congress is completing a project to update and modernize Library reading room websites. As a part of the process, “The Technical Reports and Standards Collection” is in the process of being updated and migrated to this new platform. The process has not yet been completed and the guide remains subject to change.

Researchers with questions about the collection are encouraged to contact a science or business librarian using the Ask-a-Librarian: Science and Technical Reports or Ask a Librarian: Business online form, by phone, at (202) 707-5639, or in person, at the reference desk, in the Science and Business Reading Room, on the fifth floor of the Library's John Adams Building.

Technical Reports

Technical reports are designed to quickly alert researchers to recent findings and developments in scientific and technical research. These reports are issued for a variety of purposes:

to communicate results or describe progress of a research project
to convey background information on an emerging or critical research topic
to provide lists of instructions or procedures for current practices
to determine the feasibility of a technology and recommend if research should be continued (and how to evaluate any further progress made)
to detail technical specifications (materials, functions, features, operation, market potential, etc.)

Technical reports first appeared in the early part of the 20th century. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published a series of professional papers beginning in 1902, and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) issued its first report in 1915. But, the format gained importance during World War II, emerged in the postwar era, and remains, to this day, a major tool for reporting progress in science and technology, as well as in education, business, and social sciences research. The names given to series of these publications vary, but are often such generic terms as "technical reports," "working papers," "research memoranda," "internal notes," "occasional papers," "discussion papers" or "gray (or grey) literature." In the physical and natural sciences, "technical report" seems to be the preferred designation. For reports dealing with business, education, and the social sciences, on the other hand, the terms "working paper," "occasional paper," and "memorandum" are often the designations of choice. Other, more specific types of technical reports include "preprints" and "reprints." Preprints generally are versions of papers issued by researchers before their final papers are published by commercial publishers. Preprints allow researchers to communicate their findings quickly, but usually have not been peer reviewed. Reprints are typically released to heighten awareness of the research being conducted in a particular field or at a single institution. The term, "technical report" encompasses all of these designations.

Since many of these publications are intended to provide just a temporary snapshot of current research in a particular field or topic, they may contain the some of following distinctions:

Rapid communication of new research results
Dissemination to a targeted audience.
Detailed methodologies, in order to facilitate review of research results by others
No peer review, though there is often another selection process for publication (grant, contract, or institutional affiliation)
Not published by typical commercial publishers (instead reports are issued or sponsored by government agencies, professional associations, societies, councils, foundations, laboratories, universities, etc.)
Corporate authorship, where present, is typically emphasized

Unfortunately, uncertain availability, limited print runs, and decentralized distribution patterns with little bibliographic information are also often characteristics of this literature.

The Federal Government issues many different types of technical reports. An overview of some of these can be found in a May 2001 GAO report, " Information Management: Dissemination of Technical Reports ." Government issued or sponsored reports contain an additional characteristic - they may be subject to distribution restrictions linked to their classification status. Although references to classified reports may be found in technical reports literature, the security status or limited distribution of reports may make them unavailable to the general public and to the Library as well, as the Library holds only titles in the public domain. Those interested in locating such materials can consult the U.S. Department of Justice's Freedom of Information Act site for guidance in obtaining these reports.

To enable them to be identified and located, technical reports are assigned report codes by agencies or organizations involved in their production or distribution. These codes may be referred to as "accession numbers," "agency report series numbers," "contract numbers," "grant numbers" or by other names, and include dates and individual report numbers. Typically, reports are assigned multiple codes and these codes help to identify the sponsoring agency, the organization performing the research or the organization disseminating the report. Most technical reports held by the Library of Congress are not cataloged, and, for these reports, one or more report codes is required for Library staff to check the collections for a report or to locate and retrieve it. For more information about the current Standard Technical Report Number format (STRN) see ANSI/NISO Z39.23- 1997 (S2015) Standard Technical Reports Number Format and Creation .

Standards are specifications which define products, methods, processes or practices, and are known to have existed as early as 7000 B.C., when cylindrical stones were used as units of weight in Egypt. According to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-119 , as revised in 2016, the term "standard" or "technical standard" refers to:

common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, and related management systems practices;
the definition of terms; classification of components; delineation of procedures; specification of dimensions, materials, performance, designs, or operations; measurement of quality and quantity in describing materials, processes, products, systems, services, or practices; test methods and sampling procedures; or descriptions of fit and measurements of size or strength; and
terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labeling requirements as they apply to a product, process, or production method.

Technical standards are not "professional standards of personal conduct; or institutional codes of ethics." (p. 15).

Standards are typically generated by governments or by professional associations and organizations interested in or affected by the subject matter of particular standards. For example, U.S. government standards mandated by the Fair Packaging & Labeling Act (FPLA) have standardized the labeling required for packaging in which consumer commodities is sold. Standards set the basis for determining consistent and acceptable minimum levels of reliability and safety, and are adhered to either voluntarily or as mandated by law. For a more complete overview, see the NIST report " The ABC's of Standards Activities " by Maureen A. Breitenberg (2009).

The Library of Congress standards collection includes military and other federal standards, industry standards, and a few older international standards from Russia, China, and South Africa. Material from the collection is available in various formats, including digital, print, and microform materials. The majority of the Library's standards collection held in the Science Section's Technical Reports and Standards Collection. The collection remains largely uncatalogued, and as a result, most items from this collection are not discoverable in the Library's online catalog. Inquires on Library holdings can be sent to the Science Section using the Science and Technical Reports Ask-a-Librarian form . Some standards, however, are housed in the Library's general collections and discoverable by searching the online catalog -- the ASTM standards are one example. Other standards are in custody of appropriate specialized research centers, such as the Law Library , which maintains OSHA standards and some building codes.

About the Science Section

Part of the Science & Business Reading Room at the Library of Congress, the Science Section is the starting point for conducting research at the Library of Congress in the subject areas of science, medicine and engineering. Here, reference specialists in specific subject areas of science and engineering assist patrons in formulating search strategies and gaining access to the information and materials contained in the Library's rich collections of science, medicine, and engineering materials.

Next: Technical Reports Collections >>
Last Updated: Jul 3, 2024 11:51 AM
URL: https://guides.loc.gov/technical-reports

IMAGES

Research Paper about Coffee Shops
research on coffee
Example Of An Introduction For A Research Paper : How To Write A
Research-Based Facts About Coffee and Health
(PDF) The contribution of coffee research for coffee seed development
Research Proposal ENG

COMMENTS

Consumers' Perceptions of Coffee Health Benefits and Motives for Coffee Consumption and Purchasing
Finally, the paper provides a discussion and conclusions on consumers' perceptions of coffee's health effects, profiling consumers according to their attitudes towards health coffee benefits.
Coffee: A comprehensive overview of origin, market, and the quality
Context Coffee is a culture of great economic importance on the global stage. In the international market, the term "specialty coffee" describes a beverage of exceptional quality, distinguished by its unique flavors and characteristics.
Introduction to Coffee Plant and Genetics
11. Introduction to Coﬀee Plant and Genetics. solutes from cell to cell and organ to organ; is a reactant in important pro-. cesses such as photosynthesis; and maintains turgor, which is ...
Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of
Studies of genetic polymorphisms for coffee metabolism were excluded. Results The umbrella review identified 201 meta-analyses of observational research with 67 unique health outcomes and 17 meta-analyses of interventional research with nine unique outcomes.
Coffee consumption, health benefits and side effects: a narrative
Coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide; however, its impact on health outcomes and adverse effects is not fully understood. The current review aims to establish an update about the benefits of coffee consumption on health outcomes highlighting its side effects, and finally coming up w …
The Impact of Caffeine and Coffee on Human Health
This collection of original and review papers provides a useful summary of the progress on the topic of caffeine, coffee, and human health. It also points to the research needs and limitations of the study design, which should be considered going forward and when critically evaluating the research findings.
Coffee and Health: A Review of Recent Human Research
INTRODUCTION Coffee, an infusion of ground, roasted coffee beans, is reported to be among the most widely consumed beverages in the world. Although coffee is lauded for its aroma and flavor, its caffeine content likely plays a role in its popularity. In fact, coffee is a complex chemical mixture reported to contain more than a thousand different chemicals, including carbohydrates, lipids ...
Coffee consumption and purchasing behavior review: Insights for further
This paper presents a systematic literature review of consumer research towards coffee with the objective to identify and categorize motives, preferences and attributes of coffee consumption and purchasing behavior. Research papers were analyzed in terms of main characteristics and components (study type, research methodology, sampling, and ...
Nutritional and health effects of coffee
This chapter reviews the literature on the nutritional and health-related aspects of regular coffee consumption, then examines the potential side effects, and looks ahead to future research in ...
Coffee and Health: A Review of Recent Human Research
Coffee is a complex mixture of chemicals that provides significant amounts of chlorogenic acid and caffeine. Unfiltered coffee is a significant source of cafestol and kahweol, which are diterpenes that have been implicated in the cholesterol-raising effects of coffee. The results of epidemiological research suggest that coffee consumption may help prevent several chronic diseases, including ...
Coffee
Coffee - Production and Research presents a diversity of important issues related to coffee, with an emphasis on the science of coffee growing. Coffee is one of the highest value commodities traded worldwide. Cultivated and consumed widely, it generates progress for both the economy and society.
Coffee: From the Field to the Cup
This Research Topic aims to understand and collate knowledge on sustainability in the coffee supply chain to ensure that future generations will be able to produce and consume coffee. We will consider manuscripts on any element from the field to the cup, including agricultural practices, botany and physiology, processing, chemistry, quality ...
A Detail Chemistry of Coffee and Its Analysis
This review article highlights the detailed chemistry of coffee including its components; chemical constituents like carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and caffeine; aromatic principles; oil and waxes; and minerals and acids. The high extent of caffeine can be found in the coffee plants; hence, in the second part of the study, various analytical methods are designed for the proper identification ...
Introduction
This chapter contains sections titled: Coffee—a popular beverage. Coffee from a nutritional perspective. Potential beneficial effects of coffee. Limitations to the beneficial effects. History. Coffee production worldwide. Coffee processing: formation and fate of bioactive compounds. New processes to optimize the health benefits of coffee.
Dietary Research on Coffee: Improving Adjustment for Confounding
Introduction Coffee is a popular beverage consumed regularly in many countries. A national survey in the United States reported that ∼75% of adults drink coffee and 49% drink ≥1 cup daily ( 1 ). Despite several hundred research studies evaluating the health effects of coffee, including many that associate coffee with beneficial health outcomes, coffee has been largely overlooked as a ...
Sustainable Coffee Production
The economics of coffee production has changed in recent years, with prices on the international market declining and the cost of inputs increasing. At the same time, the demand for specialty coffee is at an all-time high. In order to make coffee production sustainable, attention should be paid to improving the quality of coffee by engaging in sustainable, environmentally friendly cultivation ...
A Detail Chemistry of Coffee and Its Analysis
A Detail Chemistry of Coffee and Its Analysis March 2020 DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.91725 License CC BY 3.0 In book: Coffee [Working Title] Authors: Hemraj Sharma Shree Medical and Technical College ...
Coffee consumption and purchasing behavior review: Insights for further
This paper presents a systematic literature review of consumer research towards coffee with the objective to identify and categorize motives, preferences and attributes of coffee consumption and purchasing behavior. Research papers were analyzed in terms of main characteristics and components (study type, research methodology, sampling, and ...
PDF Coffee: Botany, Distribution, Diversity, Chemical Composition and Its
Coffee and shade interaction over wider ecologies at varied shading intensities is a necessary research investigation; as such information is critical for coffee establishment and productivity.
E-Journal
A first of its kind, the Philippine Coffee Journal (PCJ) is a double-blind and peerreviewed academic journal that focuses on the key results and relevant progress in coffee research and development (R&D) activities. Published annually, PCJ features original research papers, research notes, reviews and case reports on coffee in diverse field of specializations. No part of this publication may ...
(PDF) Researching the Coffee and Coffee Shop Industries
coffee shop sector, to certification and standards sc hemes on coffee farms. The global nature of the coffee and coffee sh op industries make them ideal for geographers to explore;
Coffee Industry Research Research Papers
MKT 470 Research Paper "Factors Influencing Loyalty Intentions of Customer in Preferring Coffee Shops". Research paper indicating interesting insight of customer demography of Dhaka's Coffee Shop. Participants are mostly youth lived in Dhaka. Sample Size 200 people both male and female.
Consumer Choices and Habits Related to Coffee Consumption by Poles
There is a lack of research devoted to consumer choices and habits in relation to coffee consumption and brewing method. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of coffee consumers and present their segmentation based on consumer choices and habits towards coffee consumption.
Introduction
The names given to series of these publications vary, but are often such generic terms as "technical reports," "working papers," "research memoranda," "internal notes," "occasional papers," "discussion papers" or "gray (or grey) literature." In the physical and natural sciences, "technical report" seems to be the preferred designation.

Save citation to file

Add to My Bibliography

Coffee consumption, health benefits and side effects: a narrative review and update for dietitians and nutritionists

Similar articles

Publication types

Related information

Miscellaneous

Coffee: From the Field to the Cup

About this Research Topic

Topic Editors

Participating Journals

Top countries

A Detail Chemistry of Coffee and Its Analysis

Coffee - Production and Research

Author Information

1. Introduction

2. Chemical constituents

3. Carbohydrates

6. Trigonelline and nicotinic acid

7. Aromatic principle

8. Minerals

9. Caffeine

Continue reading from the same book

Article contents

Introduction

Table 1. Total World Coffee Production, Export, and Consumption from 2006 to 2015

Table 2. World’s Top Ten Coffee Producers—Production, Export and Proportions of World Production and Export During 2015

Table 3. World’s Top Ten Coffee Importers During 2013, the Latest Year with Complete Statistics

Crop Production

Major Pests and Diseases

Coffee Leaf Miner— Leucoptera coffeella Guérin-Meneville

Root-knot Nematodes— Meloidogyne spp.

Coffee Leaf Rust— Hemileia vastatrix Berkeley and Broome

Coffee Berry Disease— Colletotrichum kahawae Bridge and Waller

American Leaf Spot— Mycena citricolor (Berkeley and Curtis) Saccardo

Coffee Wilt Disease— Gibberella xylarioides R. Heim and Saccas

Sustainability and the Future

Sustainability of the Coffee Value Chain

Table 4. Description of Select Coffee Sustainability Systems

Further Reading

Philippine E-Journals

vol. 1, no. 1 (2020) Philippine Coffee Journal

Publisher: Cavite State University

Other Issue

vol. 2, no. 1 (2021)

Front Matter

Nectar Biology and its Influence on the Pollination of Coffea liberica W. Bull ex Hiern var. liberica

Community Communication and Coffee Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Variability in Amadeo, Cavite, Philippines

Exportable Production Forecast of Southeast Asian Coffee Exporting Countries

Digital Coffeetelling: Brewing Storytelling Strategies to Deliver Coffee Lessons to Agriculture Students through eLearning System

Back Matter

Researching the Coffee and Coffee Shop Industries

Abstract and Figures

Coffee Industry Research

Consumer Choices and Habits Related to Coffee Consumption by Poles

Marlena Pielak

Tomasz Owczarek

Associated Data

1. Introduction

2. Materials and Methods

2.2. Data Collection

2.3. Characteristics of Respondents

2.4. Data Analysis

3.1. Type of Coffee Consumed by Respondents

3.2. The Frequency and Place of Coffee Consumption

3.3. Factors Affecting Coffee Purchasing

3.4. Preparation Methods and Types of Coffee Drunk by Respondents

3.5. Characteristics of the Respondents in Terms of Choices and Habits Related to Coffee Consumption

4. Discussion

4.2. Respondents’ Habits Related to Coffee Consumption

4.3. Methods of Preparing and Serving Coffee Chosen by Respondents

4.4. Characteristic of Coffee Consumers Based on This Study

Limitations

5. Conclusions

Author Contributions

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed Consent Statement

Data Availability Statement

Technical Reports & Standards Collection Guide

Science & Technical Reports : Ask a Librarian