How to distinguish real coffee from a fake. Coffee "Lavazza" how to distinguish the original from the fake

Did you know that coffee is the second most traded legal commodity in the world after oil? Approximately 6.5 million tons of this drink are produced annually in the world, which equates to 500 billion cups of coffee. The numbers are simply staggering, especially when you consider that the statistics deal with data obtained from legal producers and do not take into account the turnover of the smuggling market. In the meantime, according to the most conservative estimates, every 5 can of coffee in Russia is a fake. How to protect yourself from counterfeiting and choose a quality product, we will tell in today's article, prepared jointly with the well-known brand Melitta.

Taste and color: how to choose high-quality coffee beans?

To begin with, it is better to buy coffee in specialized stores, where purchases are made from trusted suppliers, and the product itself is properly stored. For example, the shelf life of coffee beans after roasting is only 12-18 months, and this is provided that it is stored in sealed packaging. For this reason, it is preferable to buy a packaged product, rather than taking grains by weight. True, packaged coffee beans cannot be visually assessed when buying, which is often used by counterfeit manufacturers. Remember: if the beans are oily and shiny, then the coffee has already begun to deteriorate and it is highly undesirable to use it. At quality product all grains are approximately the same size and color. By "appearance" you can determine which variety is in front of you - Arabica or Robusta. The first is more different exquisite taste and mild impact, and the second - cheaper, stronger and more sour. Arabica beans elongated and after heat treatment get an even "tan" with a light strip in the middle. Robusta beans are round and small with an uneven color and a dark stripe.

On a note! The easiest way to buy quality coffee beans is to choose products from trusted brands. For example, Melitta produces refined coffee beans in convenient packaging with a valve, which reliably protects the beans from the aggressive effects of external factors.

Home experiments: how to distinguish real ground coffee?

But most of all fakes fall to the share of ground and instant coffee. So, unscrupulous manufacturers, in order to increase the volume, mix foreign impurities into the ground powder: chicory, barley, nutshell, clay. In addition, in the manufacture of such coffee, cheap raw materials are often used. For example, instead of the arabica stated on the package, they take robusta, and even spoiled. And so that such a mixture even remotely resembles good coffee, added flavors and artificial caffeine. Fortunately, you can distinguish such a fake at home. To begin, pour a little of the contents of the package onto White list paper and look closely at the powder. It should be dry, evenly colored and of the same consistency. If you notice small blotches of a different color or white crystals, then feel free to throw away this “coffee”. The former indicate the presence of impurities, and the latter indicate the addition of synthetic caffeine. Another way to identify a fake is to pour 1-2 teaspoons of the powder into a glass of cold water and wait 10 minutes. During this time, all impurities will settle to the bottom or color the water, and the coffee itself will remain on the surface.

On a note! You can avoid such surprises by choosing ground coffee from a well-known trademark. For example, excellent products from 100% Arabica are produced by the German brand Melitta.

As for instant coffee, it is almost impossible to find a fake only among freeze-dried drinks. Sublimated coffee is produced using the Freeze-dry technology (freeze drying), which perfectly preserves not only taste, but also beneficial features coffee beans. And since freeze-dry is a very expensive technology, it is simply unprofitable for counterfeiters to use it. By the way, the Melitta brand also has amazing freeze-dried coffee, natural taste which will be appreciated even by sophisticated coffee gourmets.

There are so many fakes in the world that coffee is no exception. And although many, buying expensive coffee, are absolutely sure that they have purchased real product- this may be misleading.

How to choose quality coffee

Most manufacturers use Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties. One Arabica tree can produce approximately 5 kg coffee beans per year, and if you fry them, you get only 1 kg. That is why coffee of this variety is so expensive. The highlight of Arabica is that it has a pronounced aroma and slightly sour taste. The grains of this type of coffee, unlike the other, have an oblong shape. The Robusta tree produces more coffee berries per year, so the cost of such coffee is about 10 times cheaper than Arabica. Its grains are smaller and more rounded, the taste is less intense, with slight bitterness, and caffeine is 2 times more than in Arabica. Therefore, real coffee lovers who want to make coffee tasty and strong combine Arabica with Robusta and bring out for themselves the taste that they like.

Fake coffee

Today it is very difficult to buy a truly high-quality grain coffee. A rare gourmet living in Russia will be able to distinguish the taste of real coffee from that to which, for example, 10% fake is added. It would seem that coffee beans are almost impossible to fake. But there are craftsmen who, with the help of flour, starch, water, dye and coffee flavoring, can make coffee beans that, after roasting, visually do not differ from real ones. Some "advanced" counterfeiters make fake grains out of plastic. After all, no one will consider the sediment at the bottom of the cup, which remained after the brewed coffee.

An inexperienced coffee lover will be able to catch a fake if he throws the grain into cold water. Due to the dye, the water will turn a light brown color, and real coffee will not color the water. In addition, fake coffee sinks, while real coffee remains on the surface of the water.

What is attractive about Thailand

It is much easier to fake ground coffee. According to statistics, ground coffee can be added roasted chestnuts, acorns, chicory, barley and millet. Theoretically, half of coffee lovers will not distinguish such a fake from natural product. The only consolation is that these additives are not harmful to health. You can identify a fake in the same way as in the case of coffee beans.

The most common coffee is instant coffee. It is made from Robusta, as it is cheap coffee and contains more caffeine than other varieties of this plant. Instant coffee with additives is gaining more and more popularity. To distract a person from low-quality coffee, various flavors are used, which very often have no analogues in nature.

The most advertised coffee is "three in one", which is also called "coffee for the lazy". It can include coffee of any quality, as well as sugar and powdered milk, often with expired validity. It is because of this that the coffee can be slightly sour, and the consumer will think that the sourness is felt from the fact that the coffee was made from a mixture of Robusta and Arabica. For good foaming, flour is necessarily added to such coffee, and stabilizers, starch and thickeners are added for thickness and richness of taste. To determine the presence of starch in such coffee, you need to dissolve it in water and drop a drop of iodine. If the water turns blue, starch is present.

Let these tips help you choose quality coffee and make it magic drink which will give vivacity and pleasant taste sensations.

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The most popular drinks in Russia are tea and coffee. In stores you can buy a variety of their types: green coffee and decaffeinated coffee granulated tea… Just buy with great care, food safety experts warn.

Coffee today can be considered a truly national Russian drink: coffee houses are everywhere in any major city. Coffee vending machines can be found in any institution, on railway platforms, in shopping malls and airports. And, of course, it's one thing - a bag of "three-in-one", and quite another - is prepared according to all the rules of the art of coffee brewing.

According to the Federal Customs Service (FCS), in 2017 coffee was imported to Russia by almost 11% more than in 2016 - 190 against 172 million tons. For comparison: over the same year, imports of cocoa beans grew by 12%, while tea - by only 2%. Well, over the past five years, coffee imports to Russia have grown by a third.

It turns out that even the economic crisis did not hit the demand for expensive varieties coffee. After all, most of those who are used to drinking a good and high-quality drink are no longer ready to switch to cheaper coffee.

Although today on the shelves you can find huge variety this product. For example, there is an opinion that instant coffee is made almost from the waste of “normal” production. Experts from the Roskontrol consumer union conducted a large study to determine what kind of coffee is really natural, which means healthy and tasty.

The most commonly used process for making instant coffee is sublimation. Wherein coffee beans fried, and then ground into flour and evaporated for several hours. Naturally, essential oils leave the coffee beans, which give the coffee a unique aroma!

The boiled mass is subjected to "shock" (instantaneous) freezing in a vacuum, and then crushed into granules. After that, they are artificially "impregnated" essential oils coffee or flavorings.

Naturally, sublimation technology opens up wide opportunities for falsification: for example, to increase the weight yield finished product, coffee "flour" can be mixed with real (from barley, rye or wheat). Fortunately, as established by Roskontrol, large manufacturers do not sin with this.

Another kind of falsification is a mixture of two main varieties of coffee, Robusta and Arabica (the latter is more expensive, but less strong and invigorating due to a lower concentration of caffeine). Often, by the way, manufacturers “forget” to indicate on the label whether their coffee was produced according to state standards or technical specifications.

In addition to instant coffee, you can easily find ground coffee in stores - although true connoisseurs Of course, he will never be given preference. According to the study of Roskontrol, a strange aftertaste may appear in ground coffee ... vegetables, rancid seeds, tobacco ... As a rule, this is due to the fact that coffee was incorrectly stored during processing or after processing in bags.

That is why coffee experts (barista) still recommend buying coffee beans and grinding it before brewing. As experts from the Roskontrol agency advise, it is better to buy coffee directly from roasters - in coffee shops or coffee shops. It is optimal if the coffee was roasted in the city where you buy it. It will be fresher and prepared for local water, which will affect the correctness of its brewing. Moreover, coffee after roasting is considered fresh for only a month.

The second most popular drink in Russia is tea. For its lovers, civilization has created truly limitless possibilities in the form of tea bags. It is made from powder - the smallest fraction of tea leaves. And such tea is brewed stronger than leaf tea, but tea bags are less fragrant than leaf tea.

True, there is an opinion that the entire periodic table is certainly present in the bags. Roskontrol's experts did not confirm this sad conclusion: in the studied samples of tea bags, they did not find either the deadly mold aflatoxin or foreign impurities (in particular, metal magnetic particles). Heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) are contained in each serving of tea, but in doses much less than the maximum allowable.

But the popular manufacturers Maitre and Greenfield, which are produced in bags green tea, found very high content mold fungi. By the way, there will always be fungi in any tea - after all, it is subjected to fermentation processes, during which the twisted and crushed tea leaf is inevitably populated by various microorganisms.

It is sad that even respected experts from Roskontrol did not check the quality of the bags themselves. It was at the dawn of the industrial revolution in 1903 that the first bags were made from natural silk. Now, as a rule, the lowest-grade filter paper made of chlorine-bleached pulp is used. Chlorine residues pass into brewed tea, as does low-grade glue. And this not only spoils the taste of the drink, but can also be harmful to health.

Professor Edelev: fakes have reached the industrial level

How to choose the right coffee and tea so as not to fear for your own health? Free Press talked about this with our permanent expert, Professor Dmitry Edelev, one of the leaders of the Center for Applied Medicine and Food Safety of Moscow State University.

Dmitry Arkadyevich, you have extensive experience in combating food counterfeit. According to your observations, how often do they counterfeit coffee in Russia, which is now so popular?

It is known that coffee in moderation prolongs life, but only if it is good coffee, and good coffee is expensive. exotic product. Therefore, unscrupulous suppliers of coffee and tea have always falsified!

Fake grain and ground coffee often. It is more difficult to counterfeit coffee grains, but counterfeiters most often add cheap ones to expensive varieties of coffee and sell them at prices of an expensive elite variety.

Recently, I was amused by the counterfeiting of Kopi Luwak coffee by a Moscow coffee shop. Few in our country have tried this rare and expensive coffee, but many have heard of it. I’ll tell you a secret: if you add cheap palm oil cybeton to a banal robusta, then the coffee will acquire a musk aroma, vaguely reminiscent of the aroma of Kopi Luwak coffee (but much harder and more perfumey). And then this "product" can be sold in a cheap coffee shop, like a rare coffee.

- Aren't falsifiers afraid of exposure?

I studied the specialized literature and I can tell you that absolutely egregious cases have been documented: when even olive pits, balls of dough or clay covered with a caramelized sugar solution were mixed into coffee ...

To counterfeit ground coffee, natural coffee substitutes are used, which are mixed with it or completely replace it. This, let's say burnt sugar with chicory, rye, barley, acorns, chestnuts, carrots, dandelions, common peas and coffee peas, Chinese beans, nuts.

They are ground and "created" coffee, or added to ground coffee to increase the weight. As a rule, these coffee substitutes are designed for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases. But they are much cheaper than coffee, which is what counterfeiters use to replace an expensive drink with them.

— How often is tea counterfeited?

With tea, everything is much more complicated. There are four types of fakes, which differ significantly in price. The first and most frequent falsification is the substitution of one variety for another.

The second is the addition of tea imitators to tea: leaves of fireweed, bergenia, camellia, laurel cherry, etc. Often such tea is flavored. With artificial aromatization, even dry tea acquires a pronounced aroma, the intensity of which increases during brewing. Often, an unscrupulous manufacturer distorts information about tea, falsifies geographical origin, replaces large leaf tea small, uses opaque packaging materials, imitates the corporate style of packaging of popular tea brands.

I won’t even talk about underweight and hydration.

- How to distinguish a fake?

Outwardly, it can be difficult to distinguish a fake from the original. Packages and jars of tea and coffee often have signs of original products. Let me remind you that during the liquidation in the Moscow region of two large underground factories engaged in the production of counterfeit coffee and tea, five robotic production lines for the production and packaging of coffee and tea.

There were almost a million elite packages of world brands in the factories, filled with fake cheap Polish coffee and a mixture of low-grade Georgian tea with non-tea raw materials. And all this went to a small retail chain and markets!

That is, the scale of falsifications is huge! Therefore, the main advice is to refrain, if possible, from buying tea and coffee from dubious sellers and obscure outlets, and then these products are unlikely to disappoint you.

Counterfeit coffee was found in seven outlets in the markets of the Minsk region and the capital itself well-known brand. This is the first case of falsification in Belarus Jacobs coffee

They traded counterfeit products masquerading as a product of a popular brand in the markets of the Minsk region and the capital itself. It looks like a completely ordinary package of the favorite coffee of many Belarusians. Even with a detailed study, it’s not immediately clear that you have a fake in front of you. Only experts, after numerous checks, make their verdict - the product is really counterfeit. This is evidenced by the packaging, which differs from the original. It is difficult for an ordinary consumer to imagine how such “clothes” will be filled. But definitely clearly not high-quality content.

I go to the market early on Saturday morning. I even buy groceries there. There are hundreds or even thousands of such buyers on weekends. Products, one after another, fly into the bags of buyers. They are usually in a hurry - there is a crowd in the markets, you want to buy everything and leave quickly. Who will look closely there, what is on the package? Famous brand? Okay, let's take it. And so - from one counter to another. It never occurs to anyone that cunning scammers have thought of falsifying popular brands. In the minds of the consumer, the very name is already a guarantee and a sign of quality. And how to determine for yourself that it is a fake in front of him?

Usually I buy coffee of only one brand, - the customer Elena Andreevna from Vileyka admits to the correspondent. - I usually come to the capital for it - the price is not so frightening. But in fact, sometimes you compare the taste of a product from different packs- is different. And the foam on brewed coffee is not so thick. Involuntarily you ask yourself - why? But I don’t even think that I bought a fake. I usually argue like this - probably, the storage conditions were different or the features of production have changed. There is nothing left but to trust the sellers.

The goods were confiscated, and then?

Fraudsters rely on inattentive buyers when creating fake goods. The proof of this is the verification of compliance with all requirements when selling tea and coffee by the State Control Committee and the inspectorate of the Ministry of Taxes and Dues of Belarus in the Minsk region. Only in the markets of the metropolitan area, violations were found in all 9 checked outlets. Tea and coffee were sold illegally at all - without documents that confirm the purchase and receipt of goods. As a result, products worth 120 million rubles were confiscated. Among it - mainly coffee, including a well-known brand. It was possible to buy an invigorating drink from seven sellers at once in 200-gram counterfeit packages.

In Belarus, this is the first case of counterfeit coffee of our brand, - confirmed the representative of the official supplier of Jacobs coffee in Belarus, marketing manager Sergei Kalinovsky. - It was not difficult to determine that the packaging was really fake. The fact is that the company simply does not produce coffee with a volume of 200 grams. Most often, it is the “soft” packaging that is faked. Its manufacture does not require large material costs, and this is what scammers use.

Now the specialists of the State Control Committee are investigating where the illegal goods got into the trade network. The "fate" of the confiscated products will soon be decided by the court. One thing - such fakes can be found in other markets that have not yet been checked.

It is better to buy such products of critical import in large chain and state-owned stores or supermarkets, - they advise in the department of control of the consumer market and the service sector of KGC in the Minsk region. – From 70 to 80 percent of detected violations are in the market.

What to choose - a store or a market?

In fact, both there and there, the products must have the same documents. Another thing is how responsible sellers and attentive buyers are.

Any product must be accompanied by quality documents, and the invoice will indicate who the supplier is. In stores, they take this issue more seriously - they simply do not accept goods without documents. But in the market, individual entrepreneurs, as they say, work for themselves and some can trade without having such documents. Of course, this is a violation, - explained the deputy head of the consumer market organization food products Ministry of Trade of Belarus Natalya Melnikova.

With rare exceptions, someone requires the seller to show a certificate of quality or any other document, although every buyer has the right.

I have never been asked to show any documents, although I have been trading on the market for the third year, - says the seller Ekatarina. - Basically, they are simply interested in where the goods were brought from, when the expiration date expires, and they take their word for it.

Falsification - a trend?

Literally at the beginning of the year, there was already a hype around this drink in Belarus. Then, counterfeit Nescafe instant coffee was found in many markets and small shops in the country. A large batch was seized from the sale - almost 5 thousand fake packages worth 60 million rubles. Coffee was packaged in packs of 2, 75, 150, 320 and 750 grams.

An examination of a dubious drink showed that they were sold in fake packages coffee drink with oil content of barley and rye grains. The control identification mark on the packages was either fake or simply missing. The date of manufacture with the expiration date is not stamped in the factory, as it should be in reality, but simply printed along with the image. Will any of the buyers pay attention to such trifles? Hardly.

By the way, a batch of fake Nescafe was supplied from Russia. Not so long ago, a shop for the production of fake coffee was liquidated in Moscow. On the site of the demolished residential buildings, "businessmen" built a kind of workshop, warehouse and barracks for illegal workers. Here in such a production, in conditions of complete unsanitary conditions, the “best” coffee was produced, and then distributed to many Russian regions.

Carry the packaging with you or trust the seller?

It is certainly easier to distinguish fake coffee from the real one if you have already made a purchase. Due to structure, foreign odors or palatability many will doubt the authenticity of the product. You can identify falsification without leaving the counter.

Alternatively, you can buy coffee, for example, in the official store of the manufacturer. There will definitely be no fakes. Then - take the packaging with you to the market, do not be shy and just compare. Without an analogy, few buyers will immediately understand that they are facing a fake, - said Sergey Kozenko, head of the consumer market and service sector control department. – But do not forget that in recent years, manufacturers, trying to get away from fakes, often change the design of the package.

Next, you should pay attention to the control identification mark. There are two options - a sign on a purple background is for imported products, on a light green one - for domestic products (in this case, the package must be marked “made in Belarus”). Often there is simply no such sign on fake packages, or some scammers can confuse its color. Also there, the date of manufacture and expiration date are rarely knocked out by the factory. They are simply printed along with the image. And if you want to erase this data, then you will not succeed. From the original packaging, they are erased, over time they become paler.

Another important detail is the price. They try to sell a fake drink at a lower cost, so they will be sold out faster. A suspiciously low figure on the price tag is another reason to doubt the authenticity. Counterfeit coffee is rarely packaged in high-quality packaging. So-called "soft" packaging is usually counterfeited, since it is cheaper. So if you buy coffee in glass or tin can, then the probability of being deceived is less. Yes, and this packaging allows you to keep the aroma longer, so large companies use it more often.

By the way, instant coffee is often counterfeited. For its manufacture, cheaper or poor-quality raw materials are used, various additives, which only mimic the correct appearance. Ground beans, rye, barley, cereals are added to the powder. Such a drink almost does not dissolve in a cup. They can also fake grains, instead of which beans or clay fakes are poured into the package (!). Even just to brew a cup invigorating drink succeed with difficulty...

And yet, cases of counterfeit coffee in Belarus are the exception rather than the norm. And if a counterfeit product hits the shelves, then thanks to checks it quickly disappears. But still, it is simple vigilance that turns out to be the best guarantor of quality.

Natalia BORISOVETS

Unfortunately, any popular product sooner or later, enterprising businessmen try to copy (of course, without caring about quality at all). They also fake coffee, much to the chagrin of coffee lovers. It is not enough that such a drink tastes terrible, but it can also be harmful! Cheap raw materials are to blame for the unpleasant taste. All that is not suitable for execution quality drink, can be found in the composition of low-quality, so to speak, coffee .: overcooked, defective, wet grains, as well as waste coffee production. But a serious health hazard can be ingredients that do not relate to the process of creating a drink at all. Beans, burnt sugar, chicory and malt are just the beginning of a long list of substances that can be found in fake coffee.
Real coffee is very easy to distinguish from fake coffee. Fake coffee has a foreign smell or specific, uncharacteristic impurities in the aroma. If the drink has already been bought, then by the repulsive unpleasant taste it is easy to understand whether you have purchased natural coffee.
Most often, it is instant coffee that is counterfeited. This probably indicates the greatest popularity of this drink in Russia. The composition of fake instant coffee aims to imitate appearance drink. For this purpose, rye, ground beans, barley, etc. can be found in it. After you try to brew the “miracle powder”, it will not dissolve in the cup, but will turn into an incomprehensible brown liquid.
But, as we noted above, a non-repulsive taste in the first place should cause concern for the average consumer - it can be "hammered" with all kinds of fragrances and flavors, much more dangerous harm, which such a drink can cause health.
The basis of good real coffee is coffee beans, and, accordingly, the composition of the drink differs, first of all, in the content of caffeine. Fake coffee stands out against the background of the natural quantity and quality of caffeine, which is practically absent in an artificial product, or it is in very small quantities. Some forgers add chemical caffeine or, not really bothering themselves, they simply buy artificial caffeine in pharmacies and, grinding it, add it to a mixture that will be sold under the guise of coffee. In this case, specific inclusions can be easily seen in the purchased powder. The harm that counterfeit coffee will have in this case is even difficult to predict. The fact is that artificial caffeine has a much stronger concentration than real caffeine. In this case, the heart, digestive and nervous system person.
These techniques are used by counterfeiters to create both fake ground and fake instant coffee. The most amazing thing is that lately scammers have managed to create fake coffee beans as well. Ground coffee forged according to the already mentioned principle. Here, the cheapest varieties of coffee or rejected leftovers, a variety of cereals that are not related to the drink, chicory are involved in the process. Coffee beans created according to a more complicated program. Here, natural coffee beans are replaced with beans or tiny clay fakes. It is clear that the main goal here is external similarity, since it will not work to make even more or less tolerable coffee from such “products”.
If fake coffee is made quite high quality, then at first it can be difficult to distinguish it. But to help the average consumer, there are a number of signs that help to find the real natural coffe among the mass of low-quality goods. If you use these simple tricks, the risk of buying fake coffee is minimized.
Like it or not, but the price is the first thing that will indicate a fake. Quality coffee cannot cost less than what was spent on it when it was created, so too low price You should alert and arouse suspicion. If the requested amount is too low, then you probably have a low-grade mixture in the pack. The next thing to pay attention to is the packaging. Responsible producers usually pack good coffee in cans or glass jars which will help to preserve the refined taste and aroma of the drink for a long time. Presumptuous businessmen, in turn, most often do not spend money on expensive containers - they are usually simply replaced with cheap transparent plastic packages, in which fake coffee will later be sold.
But even if you buy coffee in a can, pay attention to how the box is framed. Large manufacturers do not actually use stickers and labels. All inscriptions are made on the box itself. This complicates the counterfeiting of the drink, since it is much easier and cheaper to stamp the same type of cans and stick paper labels on them. In addition, the package must contain all information about the manufacturer: barcode, country of origin, expiration date. Pay attention to the barcode - the first three digits must match the code of the declared country of origin. Another nuance that will help you when choosing a high-quality drink: pay attention to the quality of the inscriptions. The blurry and indistinct outlines of the letters should arouse suspicion in you. But also vice versa: too bright packaging talks about a low-quality manufacturer and fake coffee.
Be careful when examining the packaging: the design, which is too clearly reminiscent of another well-known manufacturer, as well as the very name of the product, consonant with the name of a popular coffee brand, speaks of unscrupulous manufacturers who are unlikely to have taken responsibility for creating the drink itself.
And the last thing I would like to mention about fake coffee: many manufacturers today producing a drink in foil bags equip it (the bag) with a special valve as an addition. This valve allows you to appreciate the delicate aroma of the coffee product. The presence of such a device on the purchased product indicates that the manufacturer is not afraid to demonstrate the quality of the created product, and, accordingly, such a drink at least deserves attention. The package itself should be tight enough. This is due to the fact that the manufacturer, taking care of more long-term preservation of the proper quality of the drink, pumps out all the air from the package. Thus, the presence of air in the bag indicates that either the packaging is damaged and the coffee in it has already begun to oxidize, or the drink was made by unscrupulous manufacturers and does not have the proper level of quality.

If you want to buy a real fragrant drink that can please you with its aroma and taste for a long time, you can buy natural coffee on our website, avoiding the dubious purchase of fake coffee.