Using the following 3rd party labs (independent ones that we don’t own ourselves), we send blind samples that are labeled with the year and a random 3-digit number:

• Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Laboratório de Química e Bioatividade de Alimentos & Núcleo de Pesquisa em Café -NUPECAFÉ, Instituto de Nutrição.
• Silliker-Merieux Nutrisciences in Crete, Illinois, USA: 3600 Eagle Nest Drive, North Building, Crete, IL 60417
• University of Porto, LAQV/Requimte-Faculty Pharmacy; Rua Jorge de Viterbo Ferreira, 218 4050-313 Porto, Portugal

The cupping, color range identification and acidity testing is done by Purity Coffee’s Director of Coffee, who is a Licensed Q Grader and Q Instructor and has 22 years in the specialty coffee industry. You can read more about what “specialty grade coffee” means in our journal. Tests are done at Ally Coffee’s SCA Certified Lab and Premier Training Campus in Greenville, South Carolina.

The testing information presented here took place from June 2016 to the present. We did some tests prior to this (cupping and analysis in December 2015), but June was when we began a formal program. We did not run all the coffees through all the tests for the following reasons:

1. Cost—We originally began by checking a few coffees in comparison to Purity. We did not do all coffees, and we did not do all tests, because we primarily wanted to know more about our coffee and how it compared to a handful of other coffees of varying quality and price. We tested green coffees prior to purchasing to measure cleanliness and, in a couple of cases, antioxidant activity.
2. Roast level—We checked the acrylamide levels of several coffees, but if a coffee was darker than Purity, we did not test for acrylamide.
3. Ochratoxin—This test is costly, so we only tested coffees that seemed competitive with Purity.
4. CGAs—Many of these are done; however, we did not test several coffees that were over 5 Agtron points lighter roasted than Purity. Also, we are switching to the Silliker lab in Illinois for testing, and those numbers will not be presented in the same detail as the University of Rio’s numbers (Rio tests for 11 isomers). For a definition of “Agtron” see the section called “THE TEST: HOW TO READ THE NUMBERS.”
5. We only tested Purity for pesticides, lead, cadmium, and copper at the request of several customers.
6. Acrylamide: We did not get as many numbers as we hoped because the University of Porto was unable to complete the additional 60 samples we sent. By the time we found out they could not test the samples, the coffee was too old, and the results would have been skewed.

Agtron

Coffee flavor and appearance are directly related to the degree of roasting, which allows us to use a scale with actual numbered rankings for product development and quality. The machine we use to measure color in coffee is an Agtron Spectrophotometer. It is designed specifically to analyze the degree of roasting and color/appearance variations. Agtron instruments use specific wavelengths of light to illuminate the sample surface and measure the reflected energy.

The results of the analysis are displayed as a single “Agtron” number from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the lighter the coffee. Most consumer “light roasts” are roughly around 65 and above. “Medium roasts” are roughly between 50 and 65 Agtron. “Dark roasts” are below 50 Agtrons

Agtron levels can be deceptive, though. The same coffee can be roasted many ways and end up at the same color level. Every choice in heat application over time impacts the way the hundreds of chemical compounds in a coffee bean are changed, and color can give us a general idea of the length of time the coffee was roasted.

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Acidity

Acidity is measured in pH. Most coffees have a pH between 4.7 and 5.3 pH. Purity Coffee tries to hit a 4.95-5.05 pH level for the balance we feel works best.

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Mold and Yeast

Yeasts and molds (fungi) can be found in soil and air, as well as on or in various foods and processing environments. Coffee is grown in environments that have ideal conditions for mold to thrive. Many things can go wrong during coffee production, and often the result is a mold of some sort. Yeast (and bacteria) are also used naturally to process the coffee after picking, and our test results show residues are often left on the green coffee (pre-roasted) beans and linger in processing equipment.

Because most yeasts are single-celled organisms that form compact colonies, and most molds are filamentous multicellular organisms that form colonies, mold and yeast test results are measured in “colonies”.

Yeasts and molds can grow over a wide pH range, from pH 2 to above pH 9. The temperature range is also broad, from 5°C to 35°C. However, the growth of some species can be above or below this range. Mold spores are almost certainly destroyed in coffee during the roasting process (over 400°F [204°C] and probably during hot brewing preparation). Food companies test for how many colony-forming mold spores are present for food safety reasons. There should be no mold in roasted coffee.

The reason Purity tests for mold and yeast are standard due diligence that food companies should perform. A few foodborne yeasts and molds may produce allergic reactions, and with many people experimenting with cold brew methods, especially ambient brew methods, any mold present in coffee could pose a health risk. (Side note: Please keep your coffee brewers—of any kind—clean!). We want our customers to have peace of mind when enjoying their cup of coffee.

The Center for Disease Control has a useful information page on mold and how it affects your health.

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Ochratoxin A

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a naturally occurring foodborne mycotoxin found in a wide variety of agricultural products. Some Aspergillus and Penicillium fungi produce ochratoxin A, which is a toxin. Mold and other fungi “eat” by releasing enzymes that break down their food into a form the fungi can absorb. Certain fungi produce toxic byproducts of this process called mycotoxins, and OTA is the one that is associated with coffee most often. In addition to coffee, OTA is known to occur in cereals, dried fruits and red wine. It can accumulate in animal tissue and may cause cancer in humans. Mammals who ingest OTA can be at a high risk for cancer, and it can lead to acute toxicity of the kidneys.

The FDA does not provide any action level for this toxin, meaning they don’t have any safeguards or controls against its presence in food items. The European Union Action Levels differ by food product, and the roasted coffee beans and ground coffee limit is 5.0 µg/kg (instant coffee is 10.0 µg/kg). (µg = microgram)

Purity will not buy green coffee that has any ochratoxin. See this article to learn more about Ochratoxin A and its associated health risks.

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Aflatoxin

Aflatoxin is a toxin produced as a by-product from the mold, Aspergillus flavus. It is one of the most potent carcinogens known. It has been linked to a wide variety of health problems in both humans and animals. Besides being proven to cause cancer in humans, aflatoxins also cause great loss of livestock due to diseases resulting in reduced efficiency of production. Results are calculated as parts per billion (ppb) total aflatoxin. (ppb= µg/kg)

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Bacillus cereus

Bacillus cereus is an emetic toxin that is in the environment, forms in food, is heat resistant, and causes vomiting and other digestive disorders through growth in the gut. B.cereus has been known to be found on green coffee after processing. It should be destroyed during roasting, however. That said, Purity will not purchase a green coffee that tests positive for B.cereus presumptive. The “presumptive” is a general test, because there are different bacilli that are closely related, and the test will give a positive result if any type is found, not just B.cereus. Results are given as a count of B.cereus (<10/g)

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Pesticides

Purity double checks for pesticides, even though we only buy certified organic coffees. The test is a composite of 310 chemicals (please see last page of this report for the list of chemicals).

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Lead, Cadmium and Copper

Metals and other elements can be naturally present in food or can enter food from industrial and agricultural processes. The toxicity is in part due to the fact that these metals accumulate in a living organism’s biological tissues over time because they’re exposed to these substances in food and the environment. Several customers asked Purity about the levels of these metals in our coffee, so we tested to find out. The FDA has information on these metals on its website. Results are measured in parts per million (ppm).

It is hard to estimate the amount of these substances in a cup of coffee, but here is a general calculation: Based on the test results, there MIGHT be as much as 0.23mg in an 8-ounce strong cup of coffee (strong, meaning a 1:15.5 ratio of grams of coffee to grams of water). HOWEVER, that is just based on the dry weight of the coffee. This would assume that all the copper in the dry coffee dissolves into the finished brew, which is unlikely since about 75% of the ground coffee is discarded after brewing has extracted the dissolvable compounds. The FDA says 0.9 mg of copper per serving of anything is the maximum recommended amount. Therefore, a cup of strong Purity dissolving all copper possible (again—unlikely) is still well below that limit.

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Acrylamide

Acrylamide is contained in many plant-based foods and nearly every food that is baked, roasted, or fried, including most nut butters, cereals, breads, and crackers. Coffee, too. Acrylamide is a human neurotoxicant and can impact the kidneys and reproductive organs. There is an explanation here of acrylamide by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Acrylamide is measured in micrograms per kilogram. Using a very general brewed coffee recipe, the maximum acrylamide in a cup of brewed Purity Coffee (not using a paper filter) might be 0.59 µg/kg, however, acrylamide is known to be even lower when coffee is brewed. By contrast, a 6-ounce serving of French fries (from a common fast food chain) has about 73µg/kg of acrylamide.

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Chlorogenic Acids (CGAs)

CGAs are Chlorogenic Acids, which are phenolic compounds linked to antioxidative activity. Our testing results score is a composite of nine tests done at the lab in Rio de Janeiro. The results here are measured in grams of CGAs per 100 grams of roasted, ground dry coffee (g/100g). Extraction differs so widely between brew methods, grind size, water temperature and ratio of coffee to water used that giving “cups of coffee” results would be too inaccurate to be acceptable.

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Trigonelline

Trigonelline (Trig), a niacin-related compound, is a natural component of roasted coffee and has been linked to antioxidant activity. Trigonelline corrects hyperglycemia, reduces oxidative stress and contributes to the therapeutic effect coffee has on non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases.

The Journal of Chromatography B demonstrated by molecular modeling that trigonelline showed similarities to that of an anti-Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate – cotinine. Known as a nicotine-related compound, trigonelline was taken into consideration for the study as an anti-Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate. Also, chlorogenic acid and trigonelline ingestion significantly reduced glucose and insulin concentrations.

Over-roasting coffee destroys CGAs and trigonelline, and Purity tests to make sure we are retaining as much as possible. Test results are measured the same as CGAs: 100 grams roasted, ground dry coffee (g/100g).

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Caffeine

People can have vastly different reactions to caffeine, and for people who react badly to caffeine it is important to know the amount of caffeine in their coffee. The caffeine content of the many non-decaffeinated coffees ranged from 0.74 to 2.09 g/100g in the dry weight (Purity was about 1.23g/100g)

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Cupping Scores

Coffee cupping is the practice of evaluating the different aroma, taste and body characteristics of a coffee to determine its quality. As an international commodity and globally appreciated food product, cupping is required for the coffee industry to communicate taste and quality to others all over the world. Companies and organizations have developed their own methods of cupping over time, which may work for them internally but can cause miscommunication between parties in the market.

There are commonalities in most methods of cupping, from roasting the samples through final numeric scoring of the coffee, but Purity uses a modified version of the Specialty Coffee Association cupping method and form. The method was modified because it was designed to evaluate green coffee quality, and most of the coffees Purity tested were roasted darker than the green coffee evaluation Agtron.

Cupping scores recorded here were done by a licensed Q Grader, cupping instructor and industry veteran of over 20 years. Scores can range from 0 to 100.