JPH11215951A - Clear coffee beverage and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain clear coffee beverage from which insoluble solid content is more sufficiently removed and provide a method for producing the coffee beverage. SOLUTION: This method for producing clear coffee beverage comprises extracting pulverized coffee beans with extracting water and removing the insoluble solid content by the following three processes from the extract. Continuous centrifugal separation of the extract is carried out at a rotating rate of 6,000 rpm and 10,000 L/hr flow rate. The resultant clarified solution is filtered by a filter capable of filtering molecules having 0.5-100 μm size. The filtrate is finally passed through a filter to which zeta positive electric charge is applied and the final filtrate is recovered as the clarified coffee beverage. The method enables production of clear coffee beverage in which turbidity of the beverage is reduced and miscellaneous tastes are removed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for producing coffee beverages, especially clarified coffee liquor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Commercially available coffee beverages are usually provided in containers, such as cans, bottles or PET (PET) bottles. Thus, commercially available coffee drinks
Clarification of these coffee beverages is required because they may be filled in a transparent container or transferred to a glass or the like for drinking.

[0003] That is, coffee beverages are produced by extracting ground coffee beans with an extract such as hot water, but in the extracted state as it is, precipitates, due to insoluble solids present in the extract, A suspension is formed, which results in the coffee beverage becoming cloudy. This phenomenon occurs particularly when serving with cold iced coffee. The formation of such precipitates and suspensions lowers the impression on the appearance of the coffee beverage product to consumers and purchasers, and also affects the taste and causes the coffee beverage to have an unpleasant taste. . Therefore, in the process of producing a coffee beverage, insoluble solids that form the basis of the formation of these precipitates and suspensions are removed.

[0004] The removal of insoluble solids has been conventionally performed by centrifugation. Specifically, after the coffee extract is cooled, the extract is continuously centrifuged at a rotation speed of about 6000 rpm at a flow rate of about 10000 L / hour to thereby separate and remove insoluble solids. .

[0005]

However, with the conventional coffee beverages, formation of precipitates, suspensions, and the like is sometimes observed with the passage of time, and the coffee beverages may still be turbid.

The inventors of the present invention believe that the formation of precipitates, suspensions, and the like caused by the passage of time is caused by fine insoluble solids which could not be sufficiently removed by previous centrifugation or the like. An attempt was made to remove insoluble solids present in the coffee beverage by a more precise separation method, and the present invention was completed.

[0007] That is, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a clarified coffee beverage from which insoluble solids have been more sufficiently removed and a method for producing the same. is there.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for extracting ground coffee beans using extraction water, and separating and clarifying insoluble solids from the extracted liquid. A coffee beverage, wherein the insoluble solids are separated based on the size of the molecule and on the basis of the electrical adsorption force.

According to the above invention, not only the insoluble solids are separated mechanically by centrifugation or the like as in the prior art, but also the insoluble solids which could not be removed conventionally can be separated by the electric separation operation. It is possible to do. Specifically, in this electrical separation, it becomes possible to remove minute substances having a charge, such as colloid particles, which could not be separated by a conventional mechanical method. As a result, further clarification of the coffee beverage is achieved than before, and the appearance of the product when placed in a transparent container is excellent, and it is also possible to provide a coffee beverage with a clean taste from which unpleasantness has been removed. it can.

Another invention of the present application is a method for producing a clarified coffee beverage by extracting ground coffee beans using extraction water and then separating insoluble solids from the extracted liquid, wherein the insoluble solids are produced. And a step of separating the components based on the size of the molecule and a step of separating the components based on the electric adsorption force.

According to the above invention, in the separation step based on the size of the molecule, a precipitate or the like having a predetermined size or more out of the insoluble solids is separated from the coffee extract. It is expected to separate charged fine substances such as colloid particles.

Either of these two separation steps may be performed first, but it is preferable that mechanically large insoluble solids are separated in advance, and then fine insoluble solids that cannot be separated in this step are separated. Are electrically separated. Efficient clarification of coffee beverages by first performing the separation process based on the size of molecules, which can be performed relatively easily, and then performing the precise separation process using electric suction Becomes possible.

In the above, in the separation step based on the size of the molecule, 1 μm
It is preferable to remove these molecules.

Further, the separation step based on the electric adsorption force can be carried out by bringing a charged carrier into contact with the insoluble solid. Therefore, even fine insoluble solids that could not be separated by the above mechanical separation method can be separated by their electric adsorption force if they have a charge. Since many insoluble solids such as fine colloidal particles are negatively charged, it is preferable to use a positively charged carrier in the electrical separation.

As the charged carrier, an ion exchange resin or the like can be used, but it is preferable to use a filtration filter to which a charge is added. Thereby, the electrical separation processing and the mechanical separation can be performed simultaneously.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

The method for producing a clarified coffee beverage according to the present embodiment comprises (1) a coffee extraction step, (2) a centrifugation step, (3) a filtration step, and (4) an electrical separation step. Hereinafter, each of these steps will be described in detail.

(1) Coffee Extraction Step The coffee extraction step may be performed using any existing methods and devices. Specifically, a method of extracting ground coffee beans using hot water of about 95 to 99 degrees such as a drip type or a siphon type, a method of extracting using pressurized hot water such as an espresso type, Furthermore, a method of extracting with cold water, such as so-called cold coffee, or the like can be employed. Further, devices manufactured corresponding to these methods can also be used.

When extraction is performed using hot water or the like, the extract is immediately cooled to at least room temperature using a cooler in order to maintain the quality of the extract. Any type of cooler can be used here, but a type in which the extract is brought into direct contact with a wide cooling surface such as a plate cooler can be suitably used.

(2) Centrifugation step In order to remove large molecules among the insoluble solids from the extract, centrifugation is performed. The number of revolutions and time during centrifugation can be determined according to the diameter of the centrifugal rotor and the like. For example, when a rotor having a diameter of 60 cm is used,
Rotation speed 6000rpm (6000xg), flow rate 1000
Centrifugation can be performed continuously under the conditions of about 0 L / hour.

(3) Filtration Step In the clarified liquid after the centrifugation, components that can be mechanically filtered are further removed in a filtration step.

As the filter used for this filtration, a filter made of a material acceptable in the regulations for food production, for example, a cellulose, cotton, polypropylene material or the like can be used. As the shape of the filtration filter, a wound type, a tubular type, a disk type, or the like can be adopted. In the case of a large-scale treatment, it is preferable to use a wound type or a tubular type having a high filtering ability. The filter used herein preferably has a filtration accuracy of about 0.5 to 100 μm, more preferably about 1 to 25 μm, which can remove molecules. As a filter that can be used, Micro Wind (trade name) of Cuno
And a filter manufactured by Millipore.

(4) Electric Separation Step In the electric separation step, suspended substances such as colloid particles and submylon particles are mainly adsorbed and filtered by utilizing electric adsorption power.

Since these colloidal particles, submicron particles and the like have a negative charge, a fine carrier can be adsorbed and separated using a carrier having a positive charge on the surface.

As the carrier, for example, beads such as an ion exchange resin, a filter material for filtration and the like can be used, but it is desirable to select a filter material for filtration. Here, by using the filter material for filtration, it is possible to perform the electric adsorption separation and the filtration of the insoluble solid having the predetermined size again. for that reason,
It becomes possible to separate insoluble solids with higher accuracy.

As the filter material for filtration used here, for example, a filter material such as polypropylene or cellulose can be used. When a charge, particularly a positive charge, is added to the filter material, it can be performed, for example, by introducing an amine-based functional group into the filter material so as to replace a hydroxyl group of cellulose with an amine. Alternatively, a commercially available filter such as Zetaplus (trade name) having a positive charge manufactured by Cuno may be used for convenience.

By passing the filtrate of the filtration step through the filter material having such a charge, fine insoluble solids having a negative charge such as colloidal particles present in the filtrate are removed. Will be.

When an ion-exchange resin is used in this step, the filtrate after pre-filtration is passed through the ion-exchange resin packed in a column, or the ion-exchange resin is directly applied to the filtrate by a batch method. By addition, fine insoluble solids having a charge can also be adsorbed. In the case of the batch method, it is necessary to separate the ion exchange resin by centrifugation or filter filtration after adsorption.

The clarified coffee beverage finally obtained is
If necessary, sugar, milk, emulsifier, other additives and the like are added and prepared, followed by packing in a container and sterilization.

[0030]

The present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the following examples.

Example 1 350 kg of ground coffee beans are put into a coffee extractor. 475 hot water at 98 ° C
Shower 0L from the top of the extractor and drip,
After passing through a wire mesh (80 mesh), the extract was recovered (about 3500 L). The extract recovered here was immediately passed through a plate cooler and cooled to about 25 ° C. in order to maintain quality.

Next, a part of the insoluble solid was separated from the cooled extract by centrifugation. This centrifugation operation was performed using a continuous centrifugal rotor (diameter 60 cm) at a rotation speed of 6000 rpm and a flow rate of 10,000 L /
Performed under the condition of time. Collect the clarified liquid obtained here,
Next, a filtration treatment was performed.

In the filtration process, 1 to 25 μm is used as a filter.
The measurement was performed using a thread-wound filter “Micro Wind D (Cuno, trade name)” (CCSVY type: cotton material, cartridge length 250 mm) made of a cotton material capable of filtering m molecules. The clarified liquid was passed through the filter, and the filtrate was collected.

The filtrate is further separated into a filter having a positive charge of zeta "Zeta plus cartridge 05S (Kuno, trade name)" (filtration accuracy of 1 to 9 μm) as an electrical separation means.
m) to separate insoluble solids. That is,
In this step, the negatively charged insoluble solid remaining in the filtrate was removed and the insoluble solid of 1 μm or more was separated again. The finally obtained filtrate was collected as a clarified coffee beverage.

To this clarified coffee beverage (3500 L), 400 kg of sugar and 10 kg of baking soda were added for pH adjustment, and then water was added to adjust to 10000 L. This prepared liquid was packed in a can and sterilized at 121 ° C. for 20 minutes to obtain the canned coffee of Example 1.

[Comparative Example 1] In Comparative Example 1, the filtration step and the electrical separation step of the above operation were omitted, and the same ratio of the clarified liquid after centrifugation as in Example 1 was used. Sugar, baking soda and water were added, and after canning, sterilized under the same conditions to produce a canned coffee of Comparative Example 1.

Example 2 The canned coffee of Example 1 and the canned coffee of Comparative Example 1 were subjected to a sensory evaluation. The sensory evaluation was carried out on 10 panelists, using those on the 5th day after production. Table 1 shows the results. Specifically, for each of the three items of turbidity, transmitted color, and taste, 5
The evaluation was made on a scale from 5 (good) to 1 (bad).
In addition, the values in Table 1 show the average points of the sensory evaluation by 10 panelists.

[0038]

[Table 1] As shown in Table 1 above, the canned coffee of Example 1 exhibited higher values for the items of turbidity and taste than Comparative Example 1. In particular, with respect to the taste, the evaluation that “aftertaste was clear” was obtained as a result considered to be due to the removal of the conventional savory taste.

Example 3 Canned coffee was produced in substantially the same manner as in Example 1 above. Specifically, Example 1
After performing the coffee extraction step and the centrifugation step under the same conditions as described above, the obtained clarified liquid was filtered using a filter different from that in Example 1. In this embodiment, a thread-wound filter “Micro Wind D (Kuno, trade name)” of polypropylene material capable of filtering molecules of 10 μm or more (PPPV)
C type: cartridge length 250 mm) was used. The filtrate after filtration using the above filter was then clarified by passing through the same ZetaPlus cartridge 05S as in Example 1.

400 kg of sugar and about 10 kg of baking soda for pH adjustment were added to 3500 L of the obtained coffee extract in the same manner as in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, and finally water was added to obtain 10000 L of the prepared mixture. did. Then, after canning and sterilizing treatment under the same conditions as in Example 1 above, Example 3 was performed.
Of canned coffee.

[Comparative Example 2] In Comparative Example 2, Example 3 was used.
Of the above operations, the filtration step and the electrical separation step were omitted, and the same ratio of sugar, sodium bicarbonate, and water as in Example 3 was added to the clarified liquid after centrifugation as in the conventional method. Sterilized under the same conditions, a canned coffee of Comparative Example 2 was produced.

Example 4 The sensory evaluation of the canned coffee of Example 3 and the canned coffee of Comparative Example 2 was performed. The sensory evaluation was carried out on 10 panelists, each of which was used 5 days after production. Table 2 shows the results. Specifically, for each of the three items of turbidity, transmitted color, and taste, 5
The evaluation was made on a scale from 5 (good) to 1 (bad).
The values in Table 2 show the average points of the sensory evaluation by 10 panelists.

[0043]

[Table 2] As shown in Table 2 above, the canned coffee of Example 3 showed higher values for the items of turbidity and taste than those of Comparative Example 2. In particular, with respect to the taste, the evaluation that “aftertaste was clear” was obtained as a result considered to be due to the removal of the conventional savory taste.

Further, from Examples 1 and 3, it was clarified that a cotton material and a polypropylene material can be suitably used as the filter for filtration.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, since insoluble solids are removed more than ever, clarification can be achieved as compared with conventional coffee beverages.
In terms of taste, it became possible to reduce unpleasant taste.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A coffee beverage which is obtained by extracting ground coffee beans using extraction water, separating insoluble solids from the extract, and clarifying the coffee beverage, wherein the insoluble solids have a molecular size. A clarified coffee beverage characterized in that the coffee beverage is separated on the basis of an electric adsorption force. 2. A method for producing a clarified coffee beverage by extracting ground coffee beans using extraction water and then separating insoluble solids from the extracted liquid, wherein the insoluble solids have a molecular size. A method for producing a clarified coffee beverage, comprising: a step of separating the beverage based on the electric power and a step of electrically separating the beverage based on an electric attraction force. 3. The method for producing a clarified coffee beverage according to claim 2, wherein in the step of separating based on the size of the molecule, insoluble solids of about 1 μm or more are separated. 4. In the step of electrically separating based on the electric adsorption force, the insoluble solid having a charge is separated by bringing the insoluble solid into contact with a charged carrier. A method for producing a clarified coffee beverage according to claim 2 or 3. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the carrier is a filter for filtration.