Pre-Ground Coffee Can Contain Corn, Soybeans, Twigs, Dirt

No doubt about it: there is trouble in coffee land. Drought and the spread of "leaf rust," a plant disease, has left growers suffering in Brazil, the source of roughly a third of the world's coffee supply.

This one-two punch to the java industry has kicked prices up to their highest point in years and fanned fears of a global shortage (though those worries seem to have been premature). With the future uncertain, some unscrupulous folks in the supply chain have decided to get sneaky. They're increasing profits by padding ground coffee with filler ingredients, say researchers. These adulterants range from relatively harmless things like chicory and brown sugar to more eyebrow-raising stuff like acai berries, soybeans, and peanuts, which could be problematic for those with allergies. And then there's the awful, inedible dreck that winds up in the mix, which we'll get to in a second.