Rotating Coffee Granule Extraction for Bitterness Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for extracting beverages from roasted plant materials often fail to adequately remove bitterness while preserving desirable flavor and body, leading to a reduction in the characteristic flavor of the percolated liquid.
Innovation Solution
A coffee extraction apparatus with a granule containing part that uses a restraining member to maintain coffee granules in a sealed state, allowing an extraction solvent to pass through in a reciprocating manner, selectively adsorbing and removing excessive bitter ingredients by exploiting the affinity of partition walls in the roasted plant's porous structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional water extraction methods are used to obtain beverage liquid from roasted plant raw material, then extraction efficiency is improved, but excessive bitterness and undesirable tastes are generated
Solution Approach 1:
The extraction process is divided into multiple sequential stages: initial extraction to obtain crude extract, followed by concentration to remove excess water, and finally drying to produce the final beverage powder. This segmentation allows each stage to be optimized independently, achieving high extraction efficiency while controlling bitterness through controlled concentration and drying conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The roasted plant raw material undergoes preliminary roasting treatment before extraction to develop desirable flavor characteristics. The roasting process creates a characteristic flavor good body while the subsequent extraction and concentration processes are designed to preserve these desirable flavors while removing excessive bitterness
2Productivity
If strong heating condition is set to reduce roasting time, then productivity is improved, but uniform heating of plant raw material is reduced leading to increased bitterness
Solution Approach 1:
The heating process uses dynamic temperature control with multiple heating stages rather than constant high temperature. The heating conditions are adjusted throughout the roasting process to achieve uniform heat penetration while maintaining high productivity, preventing the formation of burnt surfaces with bitter tastes
3Object-generated harmful factors
If activated carbon is used to adsorb and remove bitter ingredients, then bitterness is reduced, but desirable flavor ingredients and body taste are also removed
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using activated carbon that non-selectively adsorbs all compounds, the invention uses a concentration and drying process that selectively removes water and excess bitter compounds while preserving desirable flavor ingredients. The process exploits differences in concentration behavior and volatility to achieve selective removal
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes physical parameters (temperature, concentration, moisture content) during processing to control the removal of bitter ingredients. By controlling concentration and drying conditions, the process removes excessive bitterness while preserving desirable flavor compounds that have different thermal and concentration stability characteristics
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus effectively reduces excessive bitterness in the extracted liquid, maintaining the flavor and body taste, resulting in a beverage with improved clarity and preservation stability, capable of producing high-quality coffee with a clear aftertaste.
Implementation Method 1
excessively strong bitter ingredients existing in an extracted liquid from a roasted plant can be adsorbed and removed in a chromatographic manner by bringing the extracted liquid into contact with the roasted plant body held in a stationary state and having exposed partition wall surfaces
Implementation Method 2
an extraction solvent is passed through the deposited layer of the coffee granules in a reciprocating manner
Data Source
AI summary
A roasted plant extraction apparatus is provided which is capable of selectively reducing excessive bitterness in an extract liquid obtained by water extraction from a roasted plant raw material while preserving desirable flavor ingredients and body. A beverage extraction apparatus includes a granule containing part adapted to contain granules for extraction of a beverage, a pouring device for pouring an extraction solvent into the granule containing part from a first direction, and a collecting device for collecting an extract liquid extracted by means of the extraction solvent. The granule containing part comprises a detachable restraining member for placing the granules in a substantially sealed state. The beverage extraction apparatus further comprises a rotary mechanism for rotating the granule containing part.