Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Beverage or beverage concentrate
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-12
2001-08-21
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Beverage or beverage concentrate
C426S096000, C426S569000, C426S586000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06277429
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to spray dried self-whitening instant coffee compositions, to aqueous compositions for preparation thereof, and to methods of preparing the compositions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is well known in the art to prepare instant coffee beverages from dry mix compositions which include a particulate soluble coffee component and a particulate “creamer” or whitener component. Such compositions also may contain a sweetener component and various optional components such as bulking agents, flavors, and coloring agents. Such compositions may be of the foaming type in which case the resulting beverage may be of the cappuccino type. Foaming may be caused by including a chemical carbonation system in the composition or by utilizing a low density (gas injected) creamer, or both. Coffee whiteners utilized in such compositions may be of the dairy or non-dairy type and typically include a fat (“oil”) component, and a protein component which normally includes caseinate, a carbohydrate component.
One conventional method of preparing an instant coffee beverage composition involves dry blending of a particulate instant coffee and a particulate whitener. However, the whitener tends to separate from the coffee and the components may not dissolve at the same rate. Various techniques have been proposed to overcome these drawbacks. One such proposal is to agglomerate the whitener and instant coffee. Agglomeration processes are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,433,962; and 3,706,572.
It has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,398,081 to wet-mix coffee and milk as a liquid concentrate which is dried to provide a homogeneous whitened instant coffee powder. A similar wet-mix method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,733 in which milk or a milk derivative in concentrated form is mixed by wet methods with coffee followed by spray drying to form a whitened instant coffee.
A principal drawback associated with any instant coffee compositions containing caseinate or other lactic protein is that undesirable protein aggregates may appear in the reconstituted beverage. The '733 patent attempts to avoid this problem by heat treatment, both before and after concentration, in order to carry out a controlled flocculation of whey protein.
It is an object of the present invention to provide spray dried self whitening instant coffee that can be easily produced and which avoids the formation of protein aggregates in beverages prepared from the composition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing and other objects which will be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art are achieved in accordance with the present invention by providing:
an aqueous emulsion having a pH of from 5.5 to 9, and consisting essentially of 30-80% water, and 20-70% solids, wherein the solids contain, on a dry weight basis, 10-70% soluble coffee, a pH adjustment agent in an amount sufficient to effect said pH, 5-60% oil, 0-85% filler, and 0-10% low molecular weight emulsifier;
an improved method of spray drying an aqueous coffee extract composition to produce spray dried instant coffee wherein the aqueous coffee extract is the aqueous emulsion just described, whereby the spray dried coffee product is self-whitening;
a method of preparing the emulsion which comprises providing an aqueous composition having a pH of from 5.5 to 9 and consisting essentially of 30-80% water, and 20-70% solids, wherein the solids contain, on a dry weight basis, 10-70% soluble coffee, a pH adjustment agent in an amount sufficient to effect said pH, 5-60% oil, 0-85% filler, and 0-10% low molecular weight emulsifier;
subjecting said aqueous composition to high shear mixing to form an aqueous emulsion;
homogenizing said aqueous emulsion to form a homogenized aqueous emulsion; and
spray drying said homogenized aqueous emulsion to form a self-whitening spray dried instant coffee;
a self-whitening spray dried instant coffee having an average particle size of 50 to 200 gm, and consisting essentially of 10-700 soluble coffee, 5-60% oil, 0-85% filler, and 0-10% low molecular weight emulsifier on a dry weight basis, including the oil; and
a particulate dry mix instant cappuccino composition comprising the self-whitening spray dried instant coffee mentioned above and a chemical foam generating system comprising an acid and a carbonate or bicarbonate.
By “self-whitening instant coffee” is meant an instant coffee product which is whitened by emulsified oil to substantially the same extent of whitening that is achieved by whitening with a conventional dairy or non-dairy coffee creamer or whitener.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention provides a particulate, self whitening spray dried instant coffee product which is prepared from an aqueous emulsion which contains, as essential ingredients, a soluble coffee component, a pH adjustment component, an oil component, a filler component and an optional low molecular weight emulsifier component. The instant coffee product is obtained by spray drying the emulsion containing the essential ingredients, and spray drying can be effected with equipment widely employed commercially in making spray dried coffee and coffee whiteners. The emulsion may be used as such to prepare a whitened coffee beverage in which case the filler component may be omitted. However, for preparing a spray dried product, a filler component is required to serve as a spray drying carrier to bind or encapsulate the oil component.
The soluble coffee component can be derived from any type of coffee beans such as Robustas and Arabicas. The coffee may be decaffeinated or caffeine-containing. The soluble coffee component is preferably provided as an aqueous extract, or percolate, of roasted and ground coffee or of thermally or acid-hydrolyzed spent coffee grounds, and the aqueous extract is preferably obtained in the same manner that such extracts are prepared for use in the commercial production of spray dried or freeze dried instant coffee. Alternatively, the soluble coffee component may be provided as a particulate instant coffee, such as spray dried or freeze dried coffee, in which case the coffee is dissolved in water in order to prepare the aqueous emulsion. The coffee component can be derived from a single coffee or a plurality of different coffees and may be obtained by a single extraction or from a plurality of separate extractions or from combinations of the foregoing.
The soluble coffee component is suitably present in the aqueous emulsion in an amount of from 10-70%, preferably 15-60%, and more preferably 30-45%. These percentages, and all percentages herein, are percentages by weight based on the dry weight of the relevant composition including the weight of the oil, unless stated to the contrary.
If the amount of coffee in the composition is at the high end of the range, then the resultant spray-dried product tends to have a medium brown color, whereas a composition containing a lesser amount of coffee will have a light brown color. Both, however, when reconstituted, provide a whitened coffee beverage.
In preparing the emulsion, it is preferred to first provide an aqueous solution of the soluble coffee component as an aqueous solution having a pH of 5.5 to 9, preferably 6 to 7.5, and more preferably 6.3 to 6.7. The desired pH is preferably accomplished by adding a pH adjustment agent to an aqueous solution of the soluble coffee component in an amount sufficient to effect the desired pH. Suitable pH adjustment agents include buffers, such as sodium and disodium phosphate, fumarate, tartrate and maleate, disodium and dipotassium phosphate, and trisodium and tripotassium citrate. A wide range of food grade buffers having different molecular weights, pKas and ionic charge densities are known and may be used. Alkaline materials such as sodium and potassium hydroxides, carbonates, and bicarbonates and calcium and magnesium hydroxides and carbonates may also be used and generally in a lesser amount than a buffer to achieve the same pH. Various combinations of buffers
Graves William B.
McGarvey Raymond M.
Zeller Bary L.
Kraft Foods Inc.
Marcoux Thomas A.
Weier Anthony J.
LandOfFree
Self-whitening coffee and method of manufacture thereof does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Self-whitening coffee and method of manufacture thereof, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Self-whitening coffee and method of manufacture thereof will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2473862