How do we distinguish between real coffee and fake coffee?

[Mr.Peaberry]

The answer is pretty simple. Coffee has such a special type of bean which can be easily distinguish between the fake one and the pure, real one. To assure your healthiness and your taste buds.The freshly ground tastes good.

Not trying to be cute here, but did you read the entire thread? wscafe is a true coffee guy from Vietnam, and is frustrated by the abundance of "fake coffee". The average consumer in Vietnam does not recognize the difference between fake and real coffee, and don't really seem to care to be honest. In fact, many seem to enjoy the fake coffee, which is being marketed as real coffee with impunity. The situation is so ridiculous that people are knowingly buying fake coffee, and then gifting it as real coffee. Imagine giving a business client fake coffee, telling them it is real coffee, and then having them find out that in reality it was fake coffee. That could be enough to sour the best of business relationships. What I see here is not a very simple solution at all, but with something like the ice test mentioned in the article to which Mike (wscafe) linked, at least people can be "tamed" to learn how to distinguish between the two.

Peaberry

 

[wscafe]

I wish scientists invent smart coffee detectors to help coffee lovers not only recognize real coffee but also analyze its nutrition facts and automatically suggest proper advices. Is that day very far from now?

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

I wish scientists invent smart coffee detectors to help coffee lovers not only recognize real coffee but also analyze its nutrition facts and automatically suggest proper advices. Is that day very far from now?

My guess is that if people aren't easily persuaded to buy a coffee grinder, why would they have any use for a device that would authenticate real coffee? If you can get people to buy a grinder, they would then be buying whole bean coffee, which, as pointed out, would solve the problem of fake coffee. If folks don't want to buy a grinder, at least they can have access to a cafe which sells whole bean coffee, and grinds it for them while they wait. Again, awareness and access are the main keys to promoting real coffee in Vietnam.

 

[wscafe]

My guess is that if people aren't easily persuaded to buy a coffee grinder, why would they have any use for a device that would authenticate real coffee? If you can get people to buy a grinder, they would then be buying whole bean coffee, which, as pointed out, would solve the problem of fake coffee. If folks don't want to buy a grinder, at least they can have access to a cafe which sells whole bean coffee, and grinds it for them while they wait. Again, awareness and access are the main keys to promoting real coffee in Vietnam.

It sounds a very great idea, Mr.Peaberry. Our team also plans to offer a combo (10 kg of real coffee roasted wholebeans + Free [or 50% discount] Krups or Delonghi KG79 or a Taiwanese home grinder) for customer as trial. We are working on this and hope that works. Other idea is that we pack real coffee wholebeans in a small sachet and paste them out out the bag of ground coffee powder to compare. It is just like pasting a small sachet of chocolate powder (chocogranules) on a jar of instant coffee. I hope that they can work well.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Of course you wouldn't want to sell someone 10kg of roasted coffee all at once right? That's a half a year supply to most people, and the coffee would have staled before the end of the first month, even with the best storage methods except maybe for freezing. You could offer a free grinder with a coffee subscription, where the coffee is provided as needed until the full allotment has been reached. This has been done successfully with book clubs, video tape clubs and the like.

 

[wscafe]

Your idea on coffee subscriptions is really great. I indeed forgot it as we normally support local coffee shops in the same way. Something like this, if a shop can purchase 30kgs of coffee per month, we will give free stuffs (glasswares, umbrellas, etc.). Applying this to personal coffee drinkers might work well. They will have a strong motivation.

 

[Gregory1]

I think the subscriptions idea is good also

 

[Mikecolin]

It is really tough task to distinguish real and fake coffee, I agree with Mr. Peaberry.

 

[iamavapollard]

Real beans will have a leafy smell; fake beans will have a rice-like smell.

 

[joulz]

Hey guys,

This might come a few months late, but anyway I would like to share the following article that has an interesting way of distinguishing the real and fake coffee.

munchies.vice.com/en/articles/most-cambodian-coffee-is-actually-soybeans-and-scorched-corn

Btw, I'm a coffee lover from Cambodia. Had tried the fake coffee (probably from Vietnam), only found out it's fake after my kidneys suffer some damages.