CA2360453A1 - Method of processing roasted coffee and a roasted coffee product produced by the method - Google Patents

Abstract

Roasted coffee beans are ground and pelletized to provide an equivalent of retail ground coffee. Compared with the known methods of retail delivery of coffee, the invention extends the shell life or freshness due to a reduced access of air to the groud particles contained in the pellet. The ground mix can also be combined with other ingredients, e.g. sugar, dry milk or cream etc. The pellets are used in lieu of a ground coffee mix in the same fashion as in the presently known methods of brewing coffee.

Description

Method of Processing Roasted Coffee and a Roasted Coffee Product Produced by the Method This invention relates to a method of processing roasted coffee and to a roasted coffee product produced by the method. The purpose of the invention is to facilitate the handling of coffee prior to its brewing.
As is well known that certain liquid foodstuff is produced from solid vegetable raw material which is usually subjected to a preliminary grinding and is then exposed to suitable liquid, usually water. The exposure to the liquid results in that soluble constituents of the raw material pass into the liquid phase thus forming the required brew. Roasted coffee beans present one form of such treatment but there are other materials similarly treated, e.g. leaf tea and various fruits or vegetables.
Over the course of the twentieth century, various brewing devices have been developed with a view to facilitating the brewing of coffee from ground roasted coffee beans by the consumer. These devices operate under several general brewing methods.
A so-called manual technique is typically represented by filtration or percolation. The ground coffee is contained in a filter made from paper, cloth, stainless steel etc. Boiling water is passed through the batch of ground coffee to extract the soluble constituents of the ground.
Another method utilizes infusion. While this method is more popular in brewing tea, it has also been used in treating ground coffee. The roasted and ground coffee is brought into contact with boiling water in a suitable receptacle and left to stand over a period of about 5 to 10 minutes. The brewed product is decanted through a screen or filter in order to separate solids from the required extract. In some instances the coffee in the suspension is continuously heated during the infusion to avoid undesirable sensory characteristics. This is so-called boiling or decoction method.
The Turkish coffee variation of decoction technique necessitates the use of specific equipment for grinding and decoction of the coffee. Coffee has to be particularly finely ground and its suspension in water has to be previously mixed with finely granulated sugar and then heated strongly.
Espresso machines work by application of the technique of vaporization under pressure. The machines have become very popular, initially in Europe, later in a majority of markets external to Europe.
So-called instant coffee is also known but its taste never matches the taste of a good ground coffee and therefore does not in fact belong to the classical ways of brewing coffee.
Regardless which of the coffee brewing techniques is used, the coffee must be ground and, eventually, the grounds separated from the extract.
Coffee drinkers usually buy coffee which has already been ground, in a superstore or in specialty stores which offer the grinding to the requirement of the consumer. While roasted coffee beans can also be ground at home, most people do not like to do so as a special coffee grinder has to be purchased and they usually leave mess on the counter after the grinding. On the other hand, the home grinding has the advantage of obtaining a freshly ground coffee as the unground roasted coffee beans retain a somewhat longer shelf life than the ground coffee. The ground coffee, which eliminates the home grinding, has the disadvantage of a very short shelf life as a much larger surface of coffee particles is exposed to air and loses, within a matter of few days, losing aroma.

It is an object of the present invention to provide roasted coffee ready for brewing but not having the disadvantages mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
According to the invention, the roasted coffee beans are ground to a desired degree of particle size and the resulting particle mix is immediately or very shortly after the grinding subjected to pelletization to produce pellets of ground coffee which are then supplied to consumers to provide what in effect is a ground coffee having much longer shelf life than the loosely packaged ground coffee. The term "pellets" within the context of this specification is to be interpreted broadly as including other forms such as tablets, slugs or other shapes.
The high pressure pelletized coffee pellets eliminate a substantial amount of voids between the particles of the mix. The compacting of the mix into pellets therefore substantially reduces the size of the surface of coffee particles exposed to air. As a consequence, under the same storage conditions, the pellets retain freshness for a substantially longer time than the loosely stored ground coffee or even roasted but unground coffee beans.
I have found out that tablets stay in consumable condition at least twice as long as roasted coffee beans even if the beans are vacuum packed.
Brewing coffee from the tablets is easy and can be done by any of the known method of brewing as the tablets simply replace the usual ground coffee batch.
The size of the tablets and the particle size of the compacted coffee comprised in the tablets are optional depending on the intended type of brewing.
Typically, the size of the tablets would vary from about 25 mm in diameter to 56 mm in diameter and would weigh about 7 grams to 14 grams depending upon the desired volume of coffee to be brewed. Usually it is recommended that 1 gram of the tablet should be used for 1 oz of water.
In use, the tablet is simply dropped into a cup or other container and boiling water is poured over the tablet or tablets. The tablet or tablets disintegrate within about 10 to 15 seconds to fully expose all particles of coffee to the brewing water. The disintegration period can be further shortened if the surface of the tablet is provided with projections, e.g. ribs, which allow the flow of the brewing liquid under the tablet even if the tablet rests on the bottom of the container.
If desired, the tablets may contain, in addition to the compressed coffee particles, dry cream, milk, spices, sugar, sweeteners or other desired additives. I
have found out that the pellets or tablets made only from ground coffee particles have sufficient strength to handling without the need for addition of binder.

Claims (8)

1. A method of producing a ground roasted coffee bean product, in which roasted coffee beans are ground to provide a ground coffee mix having a desired fineness and virtually immediately compressing the mix into the shape of a pellet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pellet has surface projections allowing the flow of brewing liquid underneath the pellet even if the pellet rests on a bottom of a brewing container.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the coffee beans are ground to a particle size of about 50 to 1000 microns.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 - 3, wherein one or more of the following additives is added to the ground coffee during or prior to the compressing:
a) sugar;
(b) sweetener;
(c) dry milk or cream;
(d) spices or other aromatic substances;
(e) combination of spices used in making Turkish coffee.

5. A coffee product for use in brewing coffee, having the form of a compressed pellet.

6. The product of claim 4, wherein the weight of the pellet is from about 3 grams to about 21 grams.

7. The product of claim 4 or 5, having the shape of a generally cylindric tablet having the diameter from about 0.625 inch to about 2.2 inch.

8. The product of any one of claims 4 - 6, further comprising one or more of the following ingredients:
(a) sugar;
(b) sweetener;
(c) dry milk or cream;
(d) spices or other aromatic substances;
(e) combination of spices used in making Turkish coffee.