Quantitative Analysis of the Caffeine Content in Coffee Beans Grown at Different Altitudes in Nepal

Ria Aman, Madison Bastien, Narayan Sharma, Vijay Ramalingam

College of Arts & Sciences, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Utica, NY, USA

The caffeine content of four different samples of coffee beans grown at different altitudes was determined via high performance liquid chromatography and UV-visible spectroscopy. This research was based off a similar study based on Ethiopian coffee beans that did not observe a correlation between altitude and caffeine content. In this experiment, support for a positive correlation between altitude and caffeine content was established. This calls for further experimentation and has implications for the coffee industry.