JP2000041578A - Frozen coffee concentrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a frozen coffee concentrate capable of making a drinker enjoy real coffee-like flavor and taste at home. SOLUTION: This frozen coffee concentrate containing 10-57 wt.% coffee solid content and 3-50 wt.% of at least one saccharide selected from the group consisting of a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, a mannan oligomer which is a coffee solid content hydrolyzed so as to have <=10 wt.% DP 1-7 or and their mixture has 20-60 wt.% total solid content concentration and <=10 wt.% overrun.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a frozen coffee concentrate that can easily provide coffee having a taste and aroma like regular coffee at home.

[0002]

The consumption of coffee beverages is increasing year by year, and instant coffee is particularly easy to use and is preferred by consumers. However, instant coffee requires a step of drying and pulverizing the coffee extract during its production, and has the disadvantage that the aromatic components in the coffee extract are dissipated during drying.
Therefore, consumers who want to enjoy the taste and aroma of regular coffee have complained that instant coffee is not enough.

On the other hand, it is complicated to put regular coffee, and there is also a problem of deterioration of roasted and ground coffee during storage at home. Further, there is a problem that the conditions such as the temperature of hot water when regular coffee is added are not constant, and that the drinking coffee varies.

[0004] A liquid coffee concentrate obtained by concentrating a coffee extract has also been proposed, but it is unsuitable as a commercial product due to significant deterioration in flavor during chilled distribution and chilled storage.
Moreover, since it freezes under frozen conditions, it was not suitable for taking out a certain amount for drinking.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to enable consumers to easily enjoy the taste and aroma of regular coffee at home without deteriorating the original taste and aroma of regular coffee even during long-term storage. The purpose is to provide coffee products that can be.

[0006] The inventors of the present invention have earnestly studied to provide consumers with a coffee product having the original taste and aroma of regular coffee easily at home. As a result, a predetermined amount of a monosaccharide, disaccharide or DP1-7 hydrolyzed coffee solid is extracted from a roasted and ground coffee by a conventional method or concentrated as required. After adding the mannan oligomer, which is a minute, whip using air or an inert gas at a low temperature so that the overrun becomes 10% or more, and found that this can be achieved by freezing and storing.

The method of the present invention is performed as follows.

The present invention relates to a coffee solid content of 10 to 57 WT.
%, At least one saccharide selected from the group consisting of monosaccharides, disaccharides, mannan oligomers which are coffee solids hydrolyzed so that DP1 to 7 becomes 10% or more, and mixtures thereof. The frozen coffee concentrate contains a total solids concentration of 20-60 WT% and relates to a frozen coffee concentrate having an overrun of 10% or more.

Preparation of coffee extract The preparation of coffee extract from roasted coffee beans can be performed by a conventional method. Preferably, the coffee beans are roasted and pulverized, and the roasted and ground coffee beans are filled in each column of a multistage extraction system comprising a plurality of columns, usually 5 to 6 columns. I do. The liquid temperature and pressure at the time of extraction vary depending on the type of coffee beans to be used, the ground particle size, etc., but are usually 150 to 180 ° C. and 1.0 to 2.0 × 1.
It is performed at about 04 Pascal (Pa).

The concentration of the extract is preferably about 10 to 25% from the viewpoint of both economy and quality.

Concentration of coffee extract The coffee extract obtained in the above step can be concentrated by a heat concentration method or a freeze concentration method. The freeze concentration method is preferable to the heat concentration method in that the coffee liquid is hardly deteriorated by heating.

For example, freeze concentration can be performed by a conventionally known device. That is, the coffee extract is freeze-concentrated by a freeze-concentration device including a stock solution tank, a frozen surface scraping type heat exchanger (nucleus generator), an ice crystal thermoforming tank equipped with a stirrer, and an ice washer. The extract is first supplied to a nucleus generator with a frozen surface. The frozen surface is cooled to the freezing temperature by an external refrigerator, and upon contact with this surface the extract is cooled and the cooled coffee extract containing small ice nuclei is then led to an ice crystal heating tank. In the tank, small ice nuclei are unstable and melt, so that the heat of melting is lost, and as a result, large ice crystals already existing in the ice crystallizing tank grow further. The small ice crystals function as a heat carrier, and the cooling effect of the refrigerator mounted on the nucleus generator extends to the ice crystal heating tank.

The ice crystal and the concentrate slurry are sent to an ice washer, solutes attached to the ice crystal surface are recovered, and the concentrate is returned to the ice crystal heat generating tank again.

The ice is melted at the top of the washer and discharged as water, and the water will wash the ice surface. A part of the thick liquid discharged from the bottom of the ice crystallizing tank is returned to the nucleus generator, and the remainder becomes the target coffee concentrate.

The concentration of the coffee concentrate is usually 25 to 57 W
T%, preferably about 28 to 40 WT%.

Mixing Monosaccharide or disaccharide is added to the coffee extract or coffee concentrate obtained by the above method to obtain a coffee solid content of 1%.
It is prepared so as to have 0 to 57 WT%, monosaccharide or disaccharide 3 to 50 WT%, and the total solid content concentration is 20 to 60 WT%, and uniformly mixed in a tank to obtain a mixed coffee concentrated liquid.

As the monosaccharide or disaccharide, any of glucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, sucrose, maltose, or a combination of two or more thereof can be used. By setting the content ratio of these monosaccharides or disaccharides to 3 to 10 WT%, the sweetness of the drinking coffee was further controlled, and the taste was also improved. When targeting levels that do not sense sweetness,
5% or less is preferable for a high-sugar sugar such as sucrose.

The inventors have found that a mannan oligomer which is a coffee solid content hydrolyzed so that DP1 to 7 becomes 10% or more can be used instead of the monosaccharide or disaccharide.

A coffee hydrolyzate having a low hydrolysis rate of less than 10% in which DP1 to DP7 is less than 10% has a small freezing point depressing rate, and thus does not perform a function for imparting softness to a coffee concentrate under freezing.

A sweetener is added to the above-mentioned mixed coffee concentrate,
Raw materials such as milk and spices are added and the total solid content is 2
By setting it to 0 to 60 WT%, it is also possible to make a café au lait or cappuccino type.

Preparation of Mannan Oligomers Mannan oligomers can be made by hydrolyzing coffee extract residue, as described in US Pat.
No. 3,406, U.S. Pat. No. 2,687,355, U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,745, U.S. Pat.
No. 730, European Patent 0363529 B1 and the like. Spent coffee residue from a commercial coffee multi-stage extraction system can be hydrolyzed by adding an acid catalyst in a reaction vessel, or treated at high temperature for a short time without adding an acid catalyst. Can also be obtained by hydrolysis. It is convenient to use a tubular plug-flow reactor, but good results can be obtained using any reactor that is suitable for performing a reaction at a relatively high temperature for a short time. . The relationship between the reaction time and the temperature is determined by solubilizing and hydrolyzing the D
P is lowered from about 10-40 to about 1-10. Mannan oligomers are a type of saccharide.

In the field of instant coffee, emphasis is also placed on increasing the aroma of the instant product, the final product, in addition to increasing the amount of water-soluble solids. In EP 0 363 529 B1, a method of solubilizing coffee residue containing mannan as the main carbohydrate in a high-temperature and short-time reactor instead of adding an acid catalyst is used to remove the protein that appears during processing. It is disclosed that the color and aroma of coffee can be created by controlling the reaction of the components with carbohydrate oligomers.

More specifically, coffee residue is reduced to about 200
C. to about 260.degree. C. in a reactor for about 1 to about 15 minutes to hydrolyze the mannan to a DP of about 1 to 10, preferably about 1 to 6, and allow the sugar to react sufficiently to improve the color of the coffee. Create a scent. After hydrolysis, it is separated from the coffee residue to obtain a mannan oligomer, which is a soluble solid content of coffee.

The term "mannan" refers to a polysaccharide consisting broadly of d-mannose. The monosaccharide d-mannose is a kind of aldohexose, in which the configuration of a hydroxyl group bonded to a carbon adjacent to a carboxyl group in d-glucose is reversed. The d-mannose in mannan present in the coffee residue is less than 40 and mannan with a DP less than about 6 is water-soluble,
When P becomes about 10, it becomes insoluble in water.

"Oligomer" means a polymer having a relatively low number of monosaccharides. In particular, in this specification,
A polymer having less than 10 monosaccharides. Mannose is a DP1 oligomer for convenience, but strictly speaking, an oligomer refers to one composed of two or more monosaccharides.

"Degree of polymerization" or "DP" means the number of monosaccharides constituting an oligomer. Thus, for example, the DP of a manno oligomer is 4, meaning that mannose is composed of four monosaccharides.

"Coffee residue" means, for example, so-called coffee extract cake discharged from the oldest column of the multistage extraction system described in "Preparation of coffee extract".

Whipping step The mixed coffee concentrate is put into a freezing stirrer such as an ice cream freezer, and the temperature is 0 ° C. or less.
Air or an inert gas, preferably at -5 to -10C,
Preferably, whipping is performed by stirring slowly while blowing in nitrogen gas. The whipping step is performed until the overrun (apparent volume increase rate) of the coffee concentrate becomes 10% or more, preferably 10 to 100%, more preferably 20 to 50%.

In particular, by setting the total solid content of the coffee concentrate to 30 to 50 WT% and the overrun to 20 to 50%, volume shrinkage during frozen storage can be sufficiently controlled.

The frozen coffee concentrate obtained in these steps can be spooned even under freezing at -15 to -24 ° C. Therefore, the product can be marketed by pouring it into an appropriate container and distributing and storing it under freezing. When consumers want to store their products in their home freezers and drink them,
Spoon the coffee, take it into a cup, dissolve it in boiling water, and easily add hot coffee.
Ice coffee can also be made by dissolving in cold water.

If the concentration of the coffee solids is less than 10 WT%, the amount of the frozen coffee concentrate required is increased in order to obtain a suitable coffee concentration of 1 WT% at the time of drinking, and the temperature of the finished coffee is 80 ° C. Not suitable as it will be lower and warmer.

When the total solid content is less than 20 WT%, there is a disadvantage that a soft texture cannot be realized under freezing. 6
If it exceeds 0 WT%, it shows high viscosity and is not suitable for spooning. The total solid content concentration is preferably from 20 to 60%, more preferably from 35 to 45%.

If the overrun is less than 10%, it is not suitable for a hard spoon operation under freezing. In general, when the overrun is high, the volume shrinkage during storage tends to be conspicuous and the shelf life tends to be short. However, in the present invention, if the overrun is 10% or more, the shelf life of a general frozen dessert is satisfied. 3 months below -18 ° C can be achieved. More preferably, by setting the overrun to 20 to 50%, a longer shelf life can be obtained.

[0034]

EXAMPLES Preparation method [ Preparation of coffee extract] A mixture of arabica beans from Colombia: robusta beans from Indonesia at a ratio of 1: 1 was used at 235 ° C. using a commercial rotary hot-air coffee bean roaster.
For 12 minutes, and then ground in a coffee grinder into particles having an average particle size of about 1.5 mm.

The shredded roasted and ground coffee is packed in a continuous extraction tower consisting of six columns, and a pressure of 1.6 × 10 4 P
a, Extraction was performed by a countercurrent multistage extraction method at a hot water temperature of 175 ° C., and a coffee extract having an extract concentration of 16 WT% was extracted.

[Concentration of coffee extract] The coffee extract was supplied to the nucleus generator 2, and the heat was removed and cooled to about -5 ° C or less. At this time, small ice nuclei were formed in the cooled coffee extract.

The cooled coffee extract was withdrawn from the nucleus generator 2 and supplied to the ice crystal heating tank 3. The cooled coffee extract was aged for about 5 hours with gentle stirring in the ice crystal heat generation tank 3. During this time, the small ice nuclei in the cooled coffee extract were unstable and melted. At this time, the heat of melting was lost, and as a result, large ice crystals already existing in the ice crystal heat generation tank 3 grew further.

After the thermal formation, the concentrated liquid slurry containing the grown ice crystals is put into the ice washer 4 to collect the coffee liquid attached to the ice crystal surface, and then the ice crystals are dissolved and removed. It was returned to tank 3 and the aging-separation step was repeated.

The solid content in the coffee concentrate is about 38%
When it reached, it was extracted from the system.

[Preparation of Mannan Oligomer] The coffee extraction residue (1: 1 Arabica beans from Colombia: Robusta beans from Indonesia) was subjected to the coffee extraction step as described above in a yield of 35.6% (dried before treatment). (Based on roasted and ground coffee). This was heat-treated in a hot plug flow reactor (102 mm in diameter, 12 m in length). The used coffee extraction residue was first pulverized to a particle size of about 1 mm to facilitate sending the concentrated slurry to the reactor. Then, the total solids concentration is about 14
A slurry consisting of WT% water and milled material was prepared and pumped with high pressure steam to a plug flow reactor at a rate corresponding to a residence time of 8 minutes and maintained at about 220 ° C. using a 6.35 mm diameter orifice. . The conversion of the initially used insoluble coffee solids to soluble coffee solids was 45.3% on a dry weight basis. The conversion is 29.2% increase in yield by passing through a plug flow reactor, with a total yield of 64.8% based on the dry amount of roasted and ground coffee initially used. Has to do with things. Carbohydrates present in the soluble and insoluble solids were quantitatively hydrolyzed to sugars. When analyzed by HPLC, the following results were obtained. The results show that the carbohydrate concentration of the soluble fraction is 47.2%. The hydrolyzate had a normal brown color and had a coffee-like flavor. This is the solid content 40-45W
Mannan oligomers were obtained by thermal concentration to T%.

The carbohydrate content% (dry weight basis) Coffee extraction residue soluble fraction residue glucose 8.7 1.6 17.2 galactose 9.3 12.1 0.0 arabinose 2.4 0.0 0.0 mannose 26.7 33.5 4.7 Total 47.2 47.2 21.9 [Mixing / Whipping] Predetermined amount of monosaccharide, disaccharide or mannan oligomer in the coffee extract or coffee concentrate prepared by the above method. (Refer to Tables 1 and 2) In addition, after uniformly mixing in a tank with a stirrer, put in an ice cream freezer and slowly agitate while blowing nitrogen gas at −5 ° C. to whip the coffee concentrated liquid while precipitating icing. I let it. When the overrun of the coffee concentrate reached a predetermined value (see Tables 1 and 2), the whipping was stopped, and 6 to 7 g portions were dispensed into small containers and sealed to obtain products (Examples 1 to 4). .

In Example 5, a cinnamon-flavored cappuccino product was obtained by further blending aspartame as a sweetener, whole milk powder as milk, and cinnamon powder.

More specifically, a coffee concentrate having a solid content of 50 WT% and sucrose, whole milk powder, aspartame,
After mixing cinnamon powder and water in the following proportions, the mixture was slowly stirred with an ice cream freezer at −5 ° C. while blowing nitrogen gas to reduce the overrun to 1%.
A semi-frozen slurry was made by whipping to 00%. This was filled in a one-portion cup having a capacity of about 40 ml to prepare a frozen cappuccino.

<Blending ratio> Coffee solid content 20.00 WT% Sucrose 20.00 Total fat milk powder 18.00 Aspartame 0.05 Cinnamon powder 0.50 Water 41.45 Total 100.00 WT% [Analysis evaluation method] Table 1, "Appropriate under freezing" shown in 2
After storing the sample in a freezer at -18 ° C all day and night,
It was checked whether it could be taken out and spooned.

With respect to the "drinking temperature", a concentrated coffee liquid was taken into a coffee cup with a spoon so that the coffee solid content concentration at the time of drinking was 1.0%, and 100 ml of hot water was added to the finished coffee beverage. The temperature was measured.
If the liquid temperature at this time was 80 ° C. or higher, it was considered suitable for drinking.

Regarding the “storage stability”, a sample stored in a freezer at −18 ° C. was taken out, and a sensory evaluation panel (5 persons) specially trained on a coffee beverage evaluated the flavor, whereby the shelf life was evaluated. Was determined.

[Evaluation Results] Total solids concentration 20 to 60 WT
%, Overrun 10% or more and coffee solid content 10
The frozen coffee concentrate containing ５７57 WT%, monosaccharide or disaccharide 3 to 50 WT% was able to satisfy all of the suitability under freezing, drinking suitability, and storage stability.

When the total solid content was less than 20 WT%, the suitability under freezing was poor, and was not suitable for the spooning operation. The same was true even when the total solid content exceeded 60 WT%.

When the overrun is less than 10%, the frozen coffee concentrate is not suitable for spooning operation due to poor viscosity under freezing and high viscosity of the frozen coffee concentrate.

By setting the concentration of the coffee solids to 10 WT% or more, the temperature of the completed coffee is set to 80 ° C.
As a result, the drinking temperature was satisfactory.

Comparing the overruns of 40% and 80%, the three-month period of -18 ° C. or less can be satisfied as a general frozen dessert period. The advantage is that the expiration date can be made longer than that of 80%.

By peeling off the top seal of the container for frozen cappuccino prepared in Example 5, extruding the contents, and pouring boiling water into the cup, a soft-bubble cinnamon-flavored cappuccino could be produced.

Table 1 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Total solids (WT%) 45 25 40 48 Coffee solids (WT%) 35 10 30 10 Amount of saccharides (WT%) 10 15 10 20 Sugar type Maltose quorose Mannan oricodomer sucrose overrun (%) 40 80 40 80 Appropriate under freezing ○ ○ ○ ○ Drinkability / temperature (℃) ◎ (90 ℃) ○ (80 ℃) ◎ (90 ℃) ○ ( (80 ℃) Storage stability (under -18 ℃) ◎ (June) ○ (March) ◎ (June) ○ (March) Overall evaluation ○ ○ ○ ○

Table 2 Comparative Example 1 Comparative Example 2 Comparative Example 3 Comparative Example 4 Comparative Example 5 Total Solids (WT%) 25 15 65 45 40 Coffee Solids (WT%) 5 15 35 35 10 Amount of Saccharides (WT%) 200 30 10 30 Sugar type Qualcose-sucrose Maltose Mannan oridomer Overrun (%) 100 60 40 5 40 Suitable under freezing ○ × (hard) × (high viscosity) × (hard) × (hard) Drinkability / Temperature (℃) × (63 ℃) ◎ (90 ℃) ○ (84 ℃) ◎ (90 ℃) ○ (80 ℃) Storage stability × (January) ◎ (June) ○ (March) ◎ ( (June) ◎ (June) Overall evaluation × × × × × ◎: Good enough ○: Good ×: Poor

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission Date] November 30, 1998 (1998.11.
30)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0009

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Preparation of coffee extract The preparation of coffee extract from roasted coffee beans can be performed by a conventional method. Preferably, the coffee beans are roasted and pulverized, and the roasted and ground coffee beans are filled in each column of a multistage extraction system comprising a plurality of columns, usually 5 to 6 columns. I do. The liquid temperature and pressure at the time of extraction vary depending on the type of coffee beans to be used, the ground particle size, etc., but are usually 150 to 180 ° C. and 1.0 to 2.0 × 1.
0 is carried out at ⁴ Pascal (Pa) degree.

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0012

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

For example, freeze concentration can be performed by a conventionally known device. That is, the coffee extract is freeze-concentrated by a freeze-concentration apparatus including a stock solution tank, a frozen surface scraping type heat exchanger (nucleus generator), an ice crystal ripening tank equipped with a stirrer, and an ice washer. The extract is first supplied to a nucleus generator with a frozen surface. The frozen surface is cooled to the freezing temperature by an external refrigerator, and upon contact with this surface the extract is cooled and the cooled coffee extract containing small ice nuclei is then led to an ice ripening tank. In the tank, the small ice nuclei are unstable and melt, so that the heat of melting is lost, and as a result, large ice crystals already existing in the ice crystal ripening tank further grow. The small ice crystals function as a heat carrier, and the cooling effect of the refrigerator mounted on the nucleus generator extends to the ice crystal ripening tank.

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0013

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The ice crystals and the concentrated liquid slurry are sent to an ice washer, solutes attached to the ice crystal surface are recovered, and the concentrated liquid is returned to the ice crystal ripening tank again.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0014

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The ice is melted at the top of the washer and discharged as water, and the water will wash the ice surface. A part of the thick liquid discharged from the bottom of the ice crystal ripening tank is returned to the nucleus generator, and the remainder becomes the desired coffee concentrate.

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0035

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The shredded roasted and ground coffee is packed in a continuous extraction tower consisting of six columns, and a pressure of 1.6 × 10 ⁴ P
a, Extraction was performed by a countercurrent multistage extraction method at a hot water temperature of 175 ° C., and a coffee extract having an extract concentration of 16 WT% was extracted.

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0036

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Concentration of coffee extract] The coffee extract was supplied to a nucleus generator, heat was removed and cooled to about -5 ° C or less. At this time, small ice nuclei were formed in the cooled coffee extract.

[Procedure amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0037

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The cooled coffee extract was withdrawn from the nucleus generator and supplied to an ice ripening tank. While gently stirring in the ice ripening tank, add about 5
Aged for hours. During this time, the small ice nuclei in the cooled coffee extract were unstable and melted. At that time, the heat of melting was lost, and as a result, large ice crystals already existing in the ice crystal ripening tank grew further.

[Procedure amendment 8]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0038

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

After aging, the concentrated liquid slurry containing the grown ice crystals is put into an ice washer, and after collecting the coffee liquid attached to the ice crystal surface, the ice crystals are dissolved and removed, and the concentrated liquid is returned to the ice crystal ripening tank. The aging-separation step was repeated.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A coffee solid content of 10 to 57 WT%, a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, a mannan oligomer which is a coffee solid content hydrolyzed so that DP1 to 7 becomes 10% or more, and a mixture thereof. A total solids concentration of 20-60 WT% in a frozen coffee concentrate containing 3-50 WT% of at least one saccharide, and
A frozen coffee concentrate having an overrun of 10% or more. 2. The frozen coffee concentrate according to claim 1, wherein the monosaccharide or disaccharide is any one of glucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, sucrose, and maltose, or a combination of two or more thereof.