The Procter Gamble Company

Steven J Kirkpatrick

Roger William Gutwein

Jeffrey Keith Leppla

James P McCarthy

Sara L Work

Diane H Neilson

Edward L Whaley

William C Papa

Mary R Jensen

Daniel L Woods

Steven A Zoller

Richard W Bertagna

Roast and ground or flaked coffee products which provide more brew strength and cup color at lower levels of brews solids. These coffee products include darker fasted roasted coffee that is predominantly high acidity-type coffee that provide, when brewed appropriate conditions, a consumable coffee beverage having:

Process of making a fast roasted coffee providing increased brew

Roast and ground or flaked coffee products which provide more brew strength and cup color at lower levels of brews solids. These coffee products contain darker fasted roasted coffee that is predominantly high acidity-type coffee that provide, when brewed appropriate conditions, a consumable coffee beverage having:

Fast roasted coffee providing increased brew strength and darker cup

Green coffee beans are dried prior to roasting to a moisture content of from 0.5 to 7%. The drying is conducted at from 70.degree. to 325.degree. F. (21.degree. to 163.degree. C.) for from 1 minute to 24 hours. The dried green beans are fast roasted to a Hunter L-color of from 10-16. The dried roasted beans are blended with non-dried coffee beans roasted to a Hunter L-color of from 17-24 and having a moisture content before roasting of greater than about 7%. The blend contains from 1-50% of the dried dark roasted beans and from 50-99% of the non-dried roasted beans. The blend has a surprisingly high yield.

High-yield roasted coffee with balanced flavor

Roasted coffee granules are admixed with roasted coffee non-granules in critical weight ratios. The smaller coffee non-granules include flaked coffee, flaked coffee fines, ground coffee fines, and coffee agglomerates. The larger coffee granules include roast and ground coffee. The coffee granules and coffee non-granules are densified to between 0.41 to 0.56 grams/cc. The compact coffee has the flowability, flavor, aroma and strength of roast and ground coffee. At equal volumes, the compact coffee results in more brewed coffee than conventional roast and ground coffee.

Flowable compact coffee

This invention relates to an improved process for preparing reduced density roast coffee beans. The improved process comprises predrying green coffee beans to a moisture content of from about 0.5% to about 10% by weight, fast roasting the beans, and cooling the roasted beans. The resulting roasted beans have a Hunter L-color of from about 14 to about 25, a Hunter .DELTA.L-value is less than about 1.2 and a whole roast tamped bulk density of from about 0.28 to about 0.38 g/cc. The resulting roast coffee beans are more uniformly roasted than traditional reduced density coffee beans.

Process for making reduced density coffee

The invention is a method for treating coffee beans to make a better-tasting and improved aroma coffee. Green coffee beans are first partially roasted to a Hunter a-color between about 3 and about 9, under roasting conditions sufficient to increase the Hunter a-color of the beans by at least about 1.5 a-color units during the partial roasting step. The partially roasted beans are then treated with either an alkaline solution comprising water and a foodgrade base, or a coffee bean extract solution comprising water and from about 1% to about 12% coffee solids. Preferably, the partially roasted beans are treated by soaking them in the solution at a temperature between about 65.degree. F. (18.degree. C.) and about 120.degree. F. (49.degree. C.) for a time between about 2 hours and about 24 hours. Then the treated beans are roasted to a Hunter L-color between about 16 and about 24, under roasting conditions sufficient to lower the Hunter L-color of the beans by at least about 10 L-color units during the final roasting step. The invention is also a roast and ground coffee composition comprising volatile and nonvolatile coffee compounds, said volatile compounds including ketones, diketones, aldehydes, methyl esters, furans, phenolics, and substituted pyrazines, wherein the volatile compounds are present in the coffee composition so that f(d) is greater than 145, where f(d)= ##EQU1## and wherein the composition has a Hunter L-color of not more than 24.

Process for treating coffee beans to make a better-tasting coffee

The invention is a method for treating coffee beans to make a better-tasting and improved aroma coffee. Green coffee beans are first partially roasted to a Hunter a-color between about 3 and about 9, under roasting conditions sufficient to increase the Hunter a-color of the beans by at least about 1.5 a-color units during the partial roasting step. The partially roasted beans are then treated with either an alkaline solution comprising water and a foodgrade base, or a coffee bean extract solution comprising water and from about 1% to about 12% coffee solids. Preferably, the partially roasted beans are treated by soaking them in the solution at a temperature between about 65.degree. F. (18.degree. C.) and about 120.degree. F. (49.degree. C.) for a time between about 2 hours and about 24 hours. Then the treated beans are roasted to a Hunter L-color between about 16 and about 24, under roasting conditions sufficient to lower the Hunter L-color of the beans by at least about 10 L-color units during the final roasting step. The invention is also a roast and ground coffee composition comprising volatile and nonvolatile coffee compounds, said volatile compounds including ketones, diketones, aldehydes, methyl esters, furans, phenolics, and substituted pyrazines, wherein the volatile compounds are present in the coffee composition so that f(d) is greater than 145, where ##EQU1## and wherein the composition has a Hunter L-color of not more than 24.

The present invention is a process for making a reduced density roast and ground coffee product comprising the steps of: (a) cracking roasted coffee beans to a size such that about 40% to about 80% are retained in a 6-mesh screen (3.36 mm, 0.132 in.); then (b) normalizing the cracked beans; and then (c) grinding the cracked and normalized beans. The roast and ground coffee product produced by the combination of the three steps has a density between about 0.24 g/cc and about 0.41 g/cc. The reduced density roast and ground coffee product has an acceptable non-chaffy appearance. Problems associated with the use of air removal and screening are avoided.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Steven J Kirkpatrick