The researchers found a way to easily measure the proportion of mixed coffee beans.

According to foreign media reports, the saying of "coffee apocalypse" has been circulating for many years because of the shortage of coffee bean production. Now it seems that there are other negative elements in this "doomsday"-fake coffee beans, which has become a major problem for coffee lovers around the world. Like fake olive oil, fake coffee beans do not mean that beans are artificial, but that their quality does not match what consumers think. The problem mainly revolves around two kinds of coffee beans, one is Arabica coffee, which tastes good, and the other is Robusta coffee, which costs much less and tastes inferior to the former.

It is understood that Arabica coffee beans are harsh on planting conditions, they need to grow at higher elevations, fertile soil, sufficient moisture, moderate sunshine and shade conditions, and their ability to resist diseases and insect pests is poor; while Robusta, this kind of coffee beans, known as stout beans, can be grown at low elevations, and it is more resistant to diseases and insect pests. Coffee lovers may be able to tell the difference between the coffee made by two kinds of beans, but if they are mixed in a certain proportion, the taste becomes much more difficult. So most of the time, people will buy some "fake" coffee.

Now, some researchers have found a way to calculate the proportion of mixed beans. This method is very simple-the buyer grinds the beans into powder, then adds an acid solution to it and shakes it, and then puts it into a high performance liquid chromatography device for testing. If the final result is 100%, then it is pure Arabica coffee beans, if it is 60%, then only 60% of the beans are Arabica.