There are serious economical reasons to pretend warranties in
coffee species and varieties authenticity. Arabica adulteration with Robusta
coffees, intentional or not, is carried out at different steps of the coffee chain,
from plantation to beverage. We present a method based on a real-time PCR
technique to perform: a) a qualitative analysis to evaluate the presence/
absence of a species in a sample; b) a quantitative analysis to amplify Robusta
samples only, making possible the detection of less than 5% of Robusta in
a mixture. Arabica cultivars sold as specialty coffees can be identified and
certified by fingerprinting using SSR markers.
