Speciality coffee harvester Mercanta has partnered with scientific traceability company Oritain to further develop a technology that can verify origins of premium coffee beans using forensic science.
Mercanta aims to de-commoditise coffee through buying and distributing global green coffee at a fixed, premium price internationally.
The company also aims to educate speciality coffee producers of the true value of the beans produced through partnerships and providing education and training programs across 20 countries.
“True sustainability requires understanding fine coffee not as a generic commodity but, rather, as a unique agricultural product with distinctive flavours, varieties, profiles, and personality — many of which it inherits from its origin,” says Stephen Hurst, Mercanata Founder and Managing Director.
Using a combination of forensic science and statistics, Oritain uses raw data to create an “Origin Fingerprint” that represents each coffee origin. Produce can then be tested against this fingerprint to ensure authenticity.
This technology creates another level of assurance for the coffee bean’s origin and authenticity that are part of many sustainable and environmental claims.
Mercanta plans to work with Oritain to use this technology to build a global coffee database to improve traceability and transparency to the industry as a whole.
The company hopes this will increasing compliance with sourcing standards and promote high-level coffee origins.
“By working together, with Oritain, we hope to bring assurances of origin to coffee and, therefore, assurances of quality, flavour, and sustainability,” says Hurst.