As a commodity, coffee’s value often depends on where it was grown. Our upper division analytical chemistry class uses wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) spectroscopy to collect trace element profiles for globally sourced coffee samples. The data collected is then used to demonstrate the power of multivariate data analysis, specifically principle component analysis (PCA). The 40-element WD-XRF data is information rich and provides an excellent opportunity for teaching and learning. Once PCA models are established, students analyze unknown coffees in an attempt to identify their geographic origins. Throughout the exercise, there are opportunities to discuss analytical data quality, detection limits and propose new experiments. These follow-up experiments may be used to fill in gaps in the original data or to attempt to explain some of the observed trends in the data.

Combining coffee bean trace element profiles and origins as sources of data for teaching principle component analysis

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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