Coffee Tablet Hardness Control via Compressive Pressure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coffee tablets either disintegrate too easily during packaging and transport, resulting in poor coffee quality, or are too hard and fail to disintegrate properly during brewing, leading to low brewing strength and extraction of undesirable substances.
Innovation Solution
A method for manufacturing coffee tablets with controlled hardness, achieved by selecting specific coffee parameters such as moisture content, degree of roast, and pouring volume, and applying a compressive pressure of 70-130 bar to ensure the tablets disintegrate gradually during brewing while maintaining strength for packaging and transport.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If coffee is compacted at high pressure to obtain a firm tablet, then the tablet remains intact during packaging and transport, but the brewing strength and coffee quality deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by optimizing the compressive pressure during tablet formation to a specific range (70-130 bar) that balances hardness and disintegration. This parameter optimization allows the tablet to maintain structural integrity during transport while enabling gradual disintegration during brewing, thus resolving the contradiction between tablet strength and brewing quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic behavior to the tablet by designing it to disintegrate gradually during the brewing process rather than remaining completely intact or falling apart immediately. This dynamic disintegration characteristic allows the tablet to transition from a strong structural form during transport to a progressively breaking-down form during brewing, releasing coffee extracts at an controlled rate.
2Ease of operation
If coffee is compacted at low pressure to obtain a soft tablet, then the tablet disintegrates easily during brewing, but the tablet disintegrates too easily during packaging and transport
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses parameter changes by selecting a specific compressive pressure range (70-130 bar) that creates an optimal balance. This parameter selection ensures the tablet is hard enough to survive packaging and transport but soft enough to disintegrate gradually during brewing, resolving the contradiction between ease of disintegration and transport integrity.
3Productivity
If loose coffee grindings are used instead of compacted tablets, then the coffee extracts are rapidly extracted, but over-extraction occurs and undesirable substances are extracted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by creating a tablet that disintegrates gradually during brewing rather than immediately. This dynamic disintegration process controls the release rate of coffee extracts, preventing rapid over-extraction while still maintaining efficient coffee preparation. The gradual breakdown of the tablet structure during the brewing process naturally regulates the extraction timeline.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent ensures continuity of useful action by maintaining controlled disintegration throughout the brewing process. The tablet continuously breaks down at a controlled rate, continuously releasing coffee extracts without abrupt changes. This continuous controlled action prevents the sudden over-extraction that occurs with loose coffee, while maintaining steady extraction efficiency.
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 method produces coffee tablets that maintain structural integrity during transport and packaging, while ensuring a high-quality brew with minimal extraction of undesirable substances, achieving at least 80% of the brewing strength of loose coffee grindings.
Implementation Method 1
a coffee tablet which is manufactured by compacting, under a pressure from 20.7 MPa to 48,3 MPa, a mass of roast and ground coffee particles
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for manufacturing a coffee tablet designed for preparing coffee therewith, wherein an amount of coffee starting material is compacted at a particular compressive pressure so that a coffee tablet with a particular hardness is obtained, while the particular hardness at a particular compressive pressure depends on a number of coffee parameters, such as moisture content of the coffee starting material, degree of roast of the coffee starting material and/or pouring volume of the coffee starting material, whose coffee parameter values are selected such that the obtained hardness of the coffee tablet effects disintegration thereof at a desired moment, in a desired manner. The invention further relates to a coffee tablet for preparing coffee manufactured with such a method.