Characterization of green coffee varieties according to their metal content

Eleven metals Zn, P, Mn, Fe, Mg, Ca, Na, K, Cu, Sr and Ba, chosen as chemical descriptors, have been analysed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The metal content was studied in 41 samples of green coffee belonging to the varieties arabica and robusta. Pattern recognition techniques such as principal component analysis and cluster analysis were applied in order to characterize the green coffee varieties.