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Instant coffee with natural aroma by spray-drying.

Conference Paper · January 1993

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 INSTANT COFFEE WITH NATURAL AROMA
BY SPRAY-DRYING

D. G. BASSOLI, A. P. SUMI, Y. AKASHI, H. UCHIDA, A. S. De CASTRO

CIA. Iguaçu De Café Solúvel, Brazil

N. OHTANI, T. OBAYASHI, M. NAKAYAMA, A. SHIGEKANE, Y. TAMURA, M. TOMITA

Morinaga Milk Industry Co. Ltd., Japan

M. TAKAHASHI, N. NARUI
Morinaga Engineering Co. Ltd., Japan

1.BACKGROUND

Instant coffee is made by processing coffee beans through the following steps:
roasting, grinding, extraction, concentration, drying and packing. As the result
of recent technological improvements in extraction, concentration(freeze concentr-
ation, reverse osmosis), recovering and adding aroma, it has become possible to
produce high quality extract. The method of drying coffee has a significant impact
on those characteristics which are considered important for instant coffee:
flavour, moisture, color, density, solubility, particle size distribution and
powder flowability.

Freeze drying and spray drying are the most frequently used methods for producing
instant coffee. With freeze drying, concentrated coffee extract is frozen and then
milled, and the granules so obtained are sifted to ensure uniform size.The next
step is vacuum drying. Because the moisture sublimates, there is very little
change in the aroma characteristics caused from heating or oxidation. However,
there is some aroma losses due to the necessary long exposure time. The instant
coffee produced by this method is rather expensive because of the high costs for
both equipment and energy.
Spray drying is the other major processing technique. Concentrated coffee extract

712 ASIC, 15e Colloque, Montpellier, 1993

 Technologie

is atomized inside a drying chamber where the water is removed by contact with
air at temperatures ranging from 200 to 300 °c . Multi-nozzles are often used in
this spraying technique to pressure-atomize the extract, generating concentrated
coffee extract droplets that will be dried to the final powder. Better energy
efficiency and controllability of physical properties for instant coffee producti-
on are achieved with this method. This technique permits large scale production
and results in a product with low density and good flowabilty. Because of the
relatively simple equipment, production costs are low. The disadvantages are the
aroma losses and the caramel flavor imparted to the product.

2.INTRODUCTION

Improvement of aroma retention has been shown in a comparison of conventional high

temperature spray dried product and freeze dried product. Freeze dried product had
17% more low boiling point volatiles and 75% more high boiling point volatiles
than conventional spray dried product (1). There is also a report that aroma
retention of spray dried product can be improved by increasing the soluble solids
content and temperature of the liquid, keeping a high temperature and a low
relative humidity in the drying air, and ensuring a larger droplet diameter (2).
Being somewhat sticky, instant coffee tends to adhere to the chamber walls. When
this occurs, taste quality deteriorates due to longer exposure to the high tempe-
ratures; also, scorched particles become mixed with the powder causing further
quality deterioration. In conventional high temperature spray drying chambers, a
portion of this spray may extend outside the downward hot air flow in such a way
that some powder will adhere to the chamber ceiling and wall. Furthermore, due to
the relative low volume of hot air, the particle residence time inside the chamber
is prolonged, creating conditions which may overheat the product.
To perform the low temperature spray drying, a single nozzle with a spray angle
that fit the air vent opening was selected for use. As the drying phenomenon
occurs almost instantaneously, it was possible to adjust the hot air flow within a
certain range, as equired. The hot air vents were constructed so as to direct the
air flow in a manner that significantly reduces the amount of powder coming in
contact with the chamber ceiling and wall.
In Fig.l, the pattern of liquid and air flow distribution in the spray-drying
chambers used for this experiment is shown; a comparison of the various character-
istics of each dryer is shown in Table 1.

713
 Fig - 1 Comparison oí ílow oí liquid and hot air

Extract Extract
Hot air
Table -1 Comparison oí spray dryers
Kot air air

Conventional
high temp, dryer Low temp, dryer
.Adhering
Dowder
No. of nozzle 4 1
Hot Air Temp. 200-300'C 130-180'C
Chamber Temp. 110-130'C 90-100'C
Conventional Hot Air Volume low hiqh
Low terap.
high temp, Hot Air Flow swirlinq rectified
spray dryer 30kg/cm2
Spray Pressure 30kg/cm2
spray dryer

This paper compares the aroma retention of product made with the single nozzle low
temperature spray-drying method , to that of product made using both the conventi-
onal high temperature spray-drying method and the freeze-drying method.

3.METHOD AND MATERIAL

3.I.Materials
For this comparison, a blend of Arabica (70%) and Robusta (30%) coffee beans were
roasted, ground and extracted, according to current industrial techniques. The
resulting extract was split into two parts. One was freeze concentrated (T.S.30%),
then dried using three methods: conventional high temperature spray drying ( hot
air at 270°c ), low temperature spray drying (hot air at 140, 160 and 180 °c ), and
freeze drying. The second part was thermally concentrated (T.S.43%) and spray
dried using conventional high temperature spray drying (hot air at 270°c ), and low
temperature spray drying (hot air at 140 °c ) .

3.2.Analytical method of aroma

The materials, concentrated coffee extract or powder, were pre~treated either by
adsorption onto TENAX, or by purge and trap techniques. After this, the volatiles
were quickly heated to 200°C and automatically injected into a gas-chromatograph
equipped with flame ionization detector.

714
 Technologie

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4. 1. Aroma retention comparison

The mentioned analytical procedure was applied to compare aroma retention of extr-
act obtained by freeze concentration with that of products dried using the methods
below:

(a) conventional high temperature spray drying

(b) low temperature spray drying
OVERALL AROMA • freeze concentrais d extract
The overall aroma profile - low temp, spray dry {140*C)
- low temp, spray dry (lcO"C)
obtained by gas-chromatography - [ow temp, spray dry (ISO^C)
- high temp, spray dry (270"C)
is presented in Fig. 2 for LOW BOILING POINT ROAST NOTE
VOLATILES s (N-conpouund)
various inlet drying air
temperatures, using freeze
concentrated extract as an index
(equal to 100). Results show
that aroma retention is much ACIDTYNOTE ROAST NOTE
(Furan)
greater for the instant coffee
produced by spray drying at
SWEET NOTE
low temperatures than for the
product dried at high tempera-
tures. Evaluation by experienced tasters indicated that the conventional high tem-
perature dried product lacked body and had a caramel and burnt/over-cooked aroma.
Conversely, the low temperature spray dried product did not have such characteris-
tics, and the flavour was very close to the original extract. The reason for the
over-cooked aroma is thought to be high air temperatures scorching of product
which reduces the amount of low boiling point volatiles, resulting in an
imbalanced.
The aroma retention at low drying temperatures was higher. Air flow rectification
inside the chamber, and better cooling devices at the conical bottom, are some
features that might also have contributed to the significant reduction of powder
adhering to the chamber wall.

4.2.Effect of concentration method on aroma retention

To compare the difference in aroma retention between different extract concentrat-
ion methods, freeze concentrated and thermal concentrated extracts were dried at
140 X and 270 X respectively, using the low temperature drying tower type and the
conventional drying tower type. Fig.3, shows the aroma retention of products
produced under the above-mentioned conditions.

715
 Fig-3 Comparison oí aroma retention - by concentration methods

Aroma retention Aroma retention

(%)
20 60 80 100

Original
extract

Low lemp. spray

dried product

Conventional
high temp, spray
dried product

Freeze concentrated extract Thermal concentrated extract

The freeze concentreted extract was indexed as 100%. Thermal concentrated extract
was 40%.The low temperature dried product had the higher aroma retention for
extracts concentrated by either heating or freezing process compared to the other
method. The aroma retention level of the low temperature spray dried product is
higher than that of the thermal concentrated extract. From these results, it is
thought that because aroma is lost during high temperature spray drying,Thermally
concentration also cause significant aroma loss. Using high quality raw materials
and extract, production of powder with a high degree of aroma retention could be
effectively achieved through combination of freeze concentration and low temperat-
ure spray drying, it is speculated.

4.3. Effect of drying method on aroma retention

In order to compare the differences in aroma retention between drying methods,
two portions of freeze concentrated extract were dried by freeze drying and spray
drying at 140 t . The so-obtained powders were analysed and compared with the ori-
ginal extract (the extract was indexed as 100). The results are shown in Fig. 4.

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 Technologie

Ffg-4 Comparison oí low Dolling point volatiles - by drying method

Aroma retention
Aroma retention for (%)
0 20 40 60 80 100

low temperature spray Freeze

concentrated
dried product and fre- exiract

eze dried product were

69% and 57%, respectively.
Low temp, spray
It is thought that the dried product

aroma retention level of

the freeze dried product
is lower than that of low Freeze dried
product
temperature spray dried
product because of the
large aroma loss resulting from the long vacuum drying time needed for freeze
drying. This long time is required because the maximum concentration level that
can be achieved by freeze concentration is less than that of thermal concentrated
extract. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that low temperature spray
drying is also effective for drying extracts with low solids concentration,
demonstreted in the tests much by better aroma retention.

5.CONCLUSIONS

l.Qualitywise, the product spray dried in the low temperature drying chamber has
proved to have much more natural taste, being closer to the original extract
independent of whether such extract was thermally or freeze concentrated. It also
lacks caramel and burnt/over-cooked flavour notes that are present in the powder
produced by the conventional high temperature spray drier.

2.Aroma retention in the product made by the low temperature spray drying method
is superior to that obtained in the product made by the conventional high tempera-
ture, spray drying method.

3.Even when compared with an equivalent freeze dried coffee, the powder obtained
by low temperature drying exhibits better aroma retention. Particularly, the
retention was greater for an extract with low solids content, such as freeze con-
centrated coffee extract.

717
 References:
(1) Flink, J. : Freeze Drying and Adv. Food Tech. (Goldblith, S.A. ,et dl.eds.),
Academic Press (1975).
(2) Kerahof.P.J.A.M.: Adv. Preconcentration and Dehydration of Foods, Applied
Sei. Pub.,London, P.349 (1974)
(3) Barnett, S.: Spray & freeze drying of coffee extract. Proc. 4th Int. Dry.
Symp. (1984) Vol 2

SUMMARY

Recently, for the purpose of preserving aroma,freeze concentrating and freeze

drying have been applied to coffee extract to produce an instant coffee powder of
higher quality. However, one drawback is that such drying is very expensive. On
the other hand, although the cost of the original high temperature spray drying is
quite low, this method most adversely affects the quality.
To overcome these weak points, aroma retention of product made with a single
nozzle low temperature spray drying system has been studied. Qualitywise, the
product spray dried in the low temperature drying chamber has proved to have much
more natural taste, being closer to the original extract independent of whether
such extract was thermally or freeze concentrated. It also lacks caramel and
burnt/over-cooked flavour notes that are present in the powder produced by the
conventional high temperature spray dryer. Aroma retention in the product made by
the low temperture spray-drying method is superior to that obtained in the product
made by the conventional high temperature spray-drying method.

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