What’s That Coffee? An Electronic Nose Might Have the Answer

by

Editorial Policy

Published on

✉️ This story was featured in this week’s Coffee News Club
👋 Get the Coffee News Club newsletter in your inbox weekly—sign up.

How can you tell where a coffee comes from? Traceability is an important and valued aspect of the industry. In most cases, a bag of coffee will include information about where it’s from, whether a 12 oz bag of roasted beans or a burlap sack of green coffee. 

However, there have been several recent high-profile examples of a coffee being marketed as being from one country when it was from another. Just last September, we brought you news of coffees being sold from the coveted Kona region of Hawaii when the bags contained less than 10% of beans from the region.

What if there was a way to know for sure? Maybe there is. 

A team of researchers from China and Singapore have developed a method that analyzes volatile compounds in roasted coffee to pinpoint exactly where the coffee was grown. 

Over 1000 volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, have been identified in coffee, created during roasting and belonging to different chemical classes like phenols, alcohols, esters, and furans. Together, they contribute to coffee’s flavor and aroma—basically, various combinations are part of what you identify when one cup of coffee tastes different.

For the study, published in Food Chemistry, the researchers used various gas chromatography devices to analyze the volatile compounds in eight roasted coffee samples. They also used something called an electronic nose, which is a fun-sounding sensory device used to accurately detect aromas or flavors. (Sadly, they don’t look like the humanoid robotic noses we pictured when researching this; they’re just metal boxes with a hose attached.)

The researchers identified 12 key markers from hundreds of possible VOCs that could be used to pinpoint a coffee’s origin. Using this data, the team built predictive models to accurately identify which country each of the eight coffees came from. 

The approach “provide[s] a foundation for the rapid identification of the origin of roasted coffee beans,” the authors wrote.

Their work builds on several recent studies using e-nose technology to assess coffee. In 2024, Taiwanese researchers developed an e-nose that also identified coffee by its aroma. Going back further, in 2009, Colombian researchers used an e-nose to detect defects in green coffee samples.

Read the full story from Sprudge here.

Share This Article
Avatar photo

Fionn Pooler

Fionn Pooler is a coffee roaster and freelance writer currently based in the Scottish Highlands who has worked in the specialty coffee industry for over a decade. Since 2016 he has written the Pourover, a newsletter and blog that uses interviews and critical analysis to explore coffee’s place in the wider, changing world (and also yell at corporations).

Join 7,000+ coffee pros and get top stories, deals, and other industry goodies in your inbox each week.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


Other Articles You May Like

As Heat Advisories are Issued Across US, Should You Skip Coffee?

Both the NWS and the Centers for Disease Control advise people to limit intake of caffeinated drinks—as well as alcoholic and sugary beverages—during heatwaves.
by Fionn Pooler | July 23, 2025

Who Will Grow Coffee in the Future? Industry Faces a ‘Demographic Cliff’

One issue that also poses an imminent threat to coffee is age: coffee farmers are getting older, and younger generations are not always interested in taking over.
by Fionn Pooler | July 22, 2025

Coffee News Club: Week of July 21st

Is it safe to drink coffee during a heatwave? Experts weigh in. Plus more tariff news and confronting the generational gap that threatens the future of coffee.
by Fionn Pooler | July 21, 2025

Coffee Traders Race to Bring Coffee to the US and Beat Tariff Deadline

Coffee traders are scrambling to import as much coffee as they can to the United States by August 1st to avoid a potential 50% tariff.
by Fionn Pooler | July 21, 2025