JPS63287440A - Improvement of quality of raw coffee beans - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for improving the quality of green coffee beans, particularly green coffee beans that contain undesirable flavor and aroma components in their coffee beans. For more details.

The present invention relates to a method for improving flavor by treating green coffee beans with steam and, after moistening, treating them a second time with steam.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Over the years, coffee manufacturers have developed methods of processing relatively low quality green coffee beans to enhance their flavor quality. One of these methods is Ponzoni
) et al., US Pat. No. 3,767,418. That is, this method provides moisture to green coffee beans at a weight ratio of green coffee beans to water of 0.25:15. Humidified green coffee beans are placed in a sealed pressure vessel and heated to approximately 35,153.5 k
g/ ~2 (50psig) ~98,429J3 to 9
Steam for 1-10 minutes at a pressure of 140 psig/~2. Roasting coffee beans treated in this way was found to be superior to control beans that were not treated in this way. According to Ponzoji et al., “approximately 35,153.5 kg 7 m
2. The effect of quality improvement is insufficient to produce the desired characteristics in the final roasted and prepared coffee beverage."
,276.3kl? / ~2 (90p, s, i
, ) is the most desirable water vapor pressure, and the preferred range of water vapor pressure is 49.214.9 kl? / ~2 (70p, s
, i) ~77.337.7 kg/ ~2 (110
p, s, i,). ” The other more important technical step is the Musher
No. 2,278,473.

Add raw or roasted coffee beans to approximately 25% by weight
% or less.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,540 by Dar et al.
No. 591 refers to Robusta-coffee beans placed in a pressure vessel and heated at 10 to 10 atm.
A method of steaming in a continuous vent for 15 minutes, removing and roasting is disclosed. Baron
U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,223 discloses a method for improving the flavor and aroma of steamed coffee.

The aim of the present invention is to define an effective method for improving the quality of low quality coffee beans.

A further aim of the invention is to improve the quality of low quality coffee beans with minimal energy consumption.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the more detailed description below.

Means to Solve the Problems In order to effectively improve the flavor and aroma quality of low-quality green coffee beans, the green coffee beans are treated with steam,
It has been found that the steamed beans can be moistened and the moistened beans can be steamed a second time. In the present invention, the beans are preheated by an initial steam treatment, and the temperature is approximately 115.6°C (240°F).
Beans absorb water very quickly when contacted with moisture at temperatures of ~310'F. By combining this initial treatment and subsequent steam treatment, green coffee beans weigh approximately 14.061.4 kg/~2 (20
pθig) ~49,214.9 kl? / ~2 (7
Efficiency and quality are improved at a pressure of 0pθig).

Certain types of green coffee beans are classified as typical low quality or low grade green coffee beans.

In expert forums, these coffees are generally described as having very strong, tarry, musty, and/or musty flavours. Lobster coffee is a typical example of unprocessed coffee beans that are classified as low quality.

The present invention improves the quality of low-quality green coffee beans by a method that includes a first steam treatment. Provide ways to improve. The steam used in this first steam treatment typically weighs about 14,061.4 k! ? /m2 (20 ps
1g) ~ approx. 49,214.9kg/ ~2 (70psi
g) at a temperature of about 258°F to about 316°F. The time for the first steam treatment is generally about 0.5 minutes to about 3 minutes. The steam treatment may be carried out in a closed system, or the steam may be passed batchwise, semi-batchwise or continuously, preferably using a system with filter vents open to the atmosphere.

The first steam treatment does not achieve improvement of low quality beans. Rather, this first steam treatment continues (
Two steps were found, viz. The first steam treatment serves to heat the raw beans. The moisture content of green beans also increases to some extent, for example to about 20% to 25% by weight.

The first steam treatment imparts moisture to the treated green coffee beans, typically from about 35% to about 45% by weight. The treated beans can be hydrated by contacting them with hot water or a stream of water that was previously contacted with the green coffee beans, typically for about 0.5 minutes to about 2 minutes. One embodiment of the invention is to place water in a container and add the treated raw beans to it. After imparting the desired amount of moisture to the treated raw beans, the moistened beans are removed therefrom. As part of the moistened beans, add hot water to the container to remove any moisture from the container. Then add a new amount of processed green beans. Therefore, in this specific example, After the beans had been moistened in the container, the next amount of green coffee beans was added to the container and contacted with the water stream that had previously contacted the green coffee beans. A solid fraction of coffee beans was obtained. This water stream is called green coffee bean extract.

The liquid stream used to moisten the treated coffee beans is typically preheated to about 115.6°C (240°F) to about 154.4°C (310°F).

Treatment of the liquid stream not only provides moisture to the beans, but also serves to raise the temperature inside the beans to near the temperature of the preheated liquid stream.

The moistened beans are then subjected to a second steam treatment.

Typically, this process involves approximately 14,061.4 kg/
m2 (20981g) ~ approx. 49,214.9XF/m
2 (70 psig) water vapor pressure, preferably about 21,092.1 y/m2 (30 psig)
~60 psig water vapor pressure. 49,214.9 kg/m
Water vapor pressures above 2 (70 pθig) are unnecessary and, in fact, according to the invention, the development of undesirable flavors is recorded. The second steam treatment may be performed in a patch, semi-batch, or continuous manner. The duration of this second steam treatment is about 0.5 minutes to about 4 minutes, preferably about 1 minute to 3 minutes.

Effect Green coffee beans treated according to the invention are significantly improved. The improved beans, after being roasted and prepared as a beverage, showed in an expert panel:
It's much clearer, without any grittiness, and although it does have a faint mushy smell, it's not too cloudy.

After all the treatments of the present invention have been completed, the improved wet beans can be passed through conventional roasting equipment and roasted to the desired dark color. On the other hand, the improved beans may be dried, for example by air drying, to reduce the moisture content by weight from about 11% to about 1%.
It can be lowered to 5%. When it is necessary to store the improved beans for a period of time, drying the beans after the method of the invention and prior to roasting has the advantage of increasing stability.

The advantages of the invention are thus very obvious.

According to the present invention, beans of low quality can be improved by using steam at a lower pressure than has traditionally been done in a chamber. In other words, with previous techniques such as Bonzoni's method, approximately 63.276.3 kl? / m
2 (90 psig) was required for the same degree of improvement, but lower quality beans tl-14,061,4 kg/m2 (2
0981g) ~35,153.5 kg/m2 (5
An improvement in quality is achieved by treatment with steam at a pressure of 0.0981 g). In this way, energy savings are achieved,
Furthermore, the material composition of the pressure vessel used is only required to be able to withstand the lower pressures during the upgrading process. Furthermore, the improved beans of the present invention were shown to be superior to the improved beans of the prior art according to expert discussions. In addition, it was found that beans that had been steam treated for the first time absorbed water much faster than control green beans that had not been steam treated for the first time. As mentioned above, the more effective water absorption of raw beans is,
This is accomplished in the present invention.

A preferred embodiment of the invention? Then, the process of the present invention is 1
It is done in one container. A particularly suitable vessel for such an invention is a digester, such as that manufactured by Comb+tion Engineering, Springfield, Ohio.
C-E Ba, a subsidiary of C.E.
Pauer, %459 M&
D is a digester. The product in the digester is transported through a small chamber created by a conveyor belt. This digester is a cylindrical container closed at both ends, with 45
Set at a slope of °. This flow is axially divided into two parts by a conveyor belt. This belt ends before each end of the cylinder. According to a preferred embodiment, the "green coffee bean extract" reservoir is attached to the lower end of the digester. Unprocessed coffee beans are placed in a digester, dropped onto a conveyor belt, and trapped between the blades of the conveyor, which moves at a constant speed. This conveyor blade allows the coffee beans to move down the front side of the belt, into and through a reservoir of green coffee extract, and then to be conveyed over the container on the back side of the conveyor belt and into the digester. Released at the top.

Blowing saturated steam over the raw coffee bean extract in the digester. This allows the green coffee beans to be treated with steam prior to the humidifying operation in the reservoir.
The quality of the coffee beans can be improved by adding moisture afterwards. Additionally, a water inlet is provided at or near the water level for adding hot water into the green coffee bean extract reservoir to maintain the water level.

EXAMPLES Although the present invention has been described above, the process of the present invention will be explained in more detail using the following examples.

Example 1 Green coffee beans (EK-20725) are placed in the Bauer digester described above. Saturated steam is introduced into the digester such that the green coffee bean extract is maintained at about 10% of its height at the bottom of the digester.

This saturated water vapor weighs 35,153.5 kg/m2 (5
(0 psig), 147.8°C (298?). The green coffee beans are placed on the front side of the conveyor belt and are treated with steam during their movement, ie for about 2.25 minutes. The green coffee bean extract is then placed in a reservoir maintained at approximately 285"F.

The coffee beans are passed through a reservoir and moistened to a temperature of approximately 40% (by weight). The residence time in the reservoir is approximately 0.
It is 5 minutes. The coffee beans are raised upwards on the back side of the belt, producing 35,153.5 kl? / m2 (50
psig) and saturated steam at 147.8°C (298°F). The moistened beans are exposed to steam for approximately 2.25 minutes prior to entering the digester.

The green coffee beans thus treated are roasted and prepared as a beverage. A control coffee beverage was prepared from the same untreated green coffee beans.

The expert panel concluded that coffee beans processed in this way are
It was determined that the beans were significantly clearer, less bitter, less turbid, and had a slight mushy odor compared to the control beans that were not treated. On the other hand, the control coffee had a tarry odor and a mushy smell.

Example 2 Ivory Coast The speed of moistening coffee beans was compared. The first set of beans is first subjected to steam treatment according to the present invention. control beans were not treated with steam prior to exposure to hot water (−
+-). As shown in Figure 1, 35.153.5kg/
6 m2 (50 psig) for 1 min with saturated steam;
Ivory coast coffee beans in contact with hot water preheated to 5.6°C (150°F) were heated to 40°C by a total of 2 minutes, i.e. 1 minute of steam treatment and 1 minute of hot water contact.
% moisture content (-o-).

Control Ivory Coast coffee beans, which were not treated with this treatment, took 10 minutes to reach the same 40% moisture content when contacted with 65.6°C (150°F) hot water (-
D-). Therefore, the speed required for total moisture application is increased by a factor of five with the present invention.

Example 3 EK-20/2 with improved quality in the process of the present invention
5 Coffee beans and US patents 3, 7 by Ponzoni et al.
A comparison was made with the same coffee beans produced by the process of No. 67,418.

Ponzony et al.'s sample was previously published in U.S. Pat.
Prepared according to Example 1 of No. 18. That is, beans are placed in an autoclave, mixed with water at a weight ratio of 1:1, and steam t
63,276.3 kg/m 2 (90 psig) was added and maintained at this pressure for about 5 minutes.

Two samples were prepared according to the method of the present invention, and both were subjected to different pressures during the steam treatment process. In the first sample, green coffee beans t 21,092.1 to 9/@2 (30 ps
ig) for 2.25 minutes, then with water and approx.
Contact for 0.5 minutes at 33.3°C (272°F) and finally, this moisture-gold bean k 21,092.1 #
/m2 (30 psig) for 225 minutes. The second sample had two steam treatments of 35,153.5k
g/m2 (s.

psig) was prepared in exactly the same manner.

The three types of raw coffee bean samples obtained in this way were 7
Roasted to 0 roasting color, 453.69 (1 pound)
It was prepared as a drink in the same way as a hitori cup. The expert panel compared all these three samples and compared the two samples prepared by the method of the present invention, namely 21.092.1 kl? /m
2 (30 psig) and 35,153.5 kg/m
We found that coffee beans modified at 2 (50 psig) were significantly clearer and less bitter than the same green coffee beans modified by the method of Bonzoni et al.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a graph comparing the speed at which coffee beans are moistened. (5 other people)

Claims (7)

[Claims] (1) (a) Pressure of green coffee beans is approximately 14,061.
4kg/m^2 (20psig) ~ approx. 49,214.9
kg/m^2 (70 psig) and the temperature is about 125
．． 6°C (258°F) to approximately 157.8°C (316°F)
(b) contacting the steam-treated green coffee beans with moisture for about 0.5 minutes to about 2 minutes; (c) contacting the steam-treated green coffee beans with moisture for about 0.5 minutes to about 2 minutes; The pressure of a given green coffee bean is approximately 14,061.4
kg/m^2 (20 psig) ~ approx. 49,214.9k
g/m^2 (70 psig), temperature is approximately 125.6℃ (
(d) roasting said coffee beans; and (d) roasting said coffee beans. quality improvement method. (2) The method according to claim 1, wherein the water vapor pressure in step (a) is the same as the water vapor pressure in step (c). (3) The humidity in step (b) is approximately 115.6°C (24°C).
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature is between 0[deg.]F and about 310[deg.]F. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacting with moisture in step (b) is effective to increase the moisture content of the beans to about 35% to about 45% by weight. (5) The water vapor pressure in steps (a) and (c) is approximately 21.09
2.1kg/m^2 (30psig) ~ approx. 35,153
．． 5 kg/m^2 (50 psig) and the temperature is about 1
34.4°C (274°F) to approximately 147.8°C (298°
F) The method according to claim 1. (6) The beans brought into contact with water vapor in step (c) are
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the product is dried prior to the roasting step of d). 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the beans are dried to a moisture content of about 10% to about 15% by weight.