You might be getting more than a pick-me-up from your morning cup of coffee. Three students from Loreto College, St Stephen's Green, Dublin, undertook a project to detect traces of lead found in coffee beans.
Róisín Corcoran, Estelle Purcell and Sara Sorensen carried out a chemical extraction process to measure the lead content of beans. They used 14 samples from around the world, including Brazil and Guatemala.
They first ground the beans, then measured out a 2g sample for testing. This involved charring each sample with a bunsen burner and then digesting them in nitric acid.
Next they filtered the samples and then analysed them with a spectrometer to test for lead content.
Alarmingly, they found that all 14 samples contained lead, but at low levels. They conducted their experiments with the help of staff at NUI Maynooth.
The idea for their project came from a report that said many samples of chocolate contained lead traces, and they assumed coffee might be the same given it comes from similar regions.