Cold brew compositions and methods
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cold brew coffee and tea production methods are either too time-consuming or result in beverages that are not mild and creamy enough to appeal to a wider audience, and there is a need for a method that can produce beverages with greater health and flavor benefits while being efficient and flexible.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the formation of an aqueous mixture with cold water, whole coffee beans or other brewing ingredients, a sweetener, and a polysaccharide emulsion stabilizer, followed by grinding to release flavors and oils directly into the water, resulting in a cold brew beverage that is mellow, creamy, and rich, with a high water-to-coffee ratio and minimal processing time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If traditional cold brew methods are used, then beverages have rich flavor, but production time is too long (12-24 hours)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-grinding coffee beans to a specific particle size range (20-200 mesh) before brewing. This pre-processing step increases the surface area of coffee particles, enabling faster extraction of flavors and oils during the brewing process, thus reducing production time while maintaining rich flavor concentration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes key parameters including water temperature (maintained between 40-60°F), coffee particle size (20-200 mesh), and water-to-coffee ratio (5:1 to 10:1). These parameter optimizations enable faster extraction at lower temperatures, achieving both reduced production time and preserved flavor quality compared to traditional methods.
2Quantity of substance
If traditional cold brew methods are used, then beverages have strong coffee flavor, but they are not mild and creamy enough
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the water-to-coffee ratio to between 5:1 and 10:1, which is higher than traditional cold brew ratios. This parameter change dilutes the strong coffee flavor to create a milder, creamier beverage that is more palatable to a broader audience while still maintaining rich flavor through the use of emulsifiers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces emulsifiers (such as lecithin, polysorbate 80, or guar gum) as intermediary substances that create a creamy emulsion in the beverage. These emulsifiers mimic the creaminess of dairy milk, softening the strong coffee flavor and improving overall palatability without compromising the coffee's essential characteristics.
3Ease of operation
If high water-to-coffee ratio is used, then beverages are milder and creamier, but flavor concentration decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses emulsifiers as intermediary substances that allow for higher water-to-coffee ratios while maintaining flavor concentration. The emulsifiers create a stable creamy emulsion that carries flavor compounds, ensuring that even with increased dilution for mildness and creaminess, the beverage retains adequate flavor intensity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite beverage system combining coffee extract, water, and emulsifiers in optimized proportions. This composite formulation ensures that the higher water content needed for creaminess does not compromise flavor concentration, as the emulsifier matrix preserves and distributes flavor compounds throughout the diluted beverage.
4Reliability
If minimal processing is used, then beverages retain health benefits, but production efficiency is low
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-grinding coffee beans to optimal particle size before brewing. This single pre-processing step significantly reduces brewing time (from 12-24 hours to 1-2 hours) while maintaining minimal processing throughout the rest of the workflow, thus improving production efficiency without compromising health benefit retention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical brewing methods with a cold water extraction process using controlled particle size and emulsifiers. This substitution eliminates the need for heating, filtering, and complex mechanical processing steps, thereby improving production efficiency while preserving heat-sensitive health benefits and antioxidants in the final beverage.
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
This method produces a cold brew coffee and tea that is milder, creamier, and faster to produce than traditional methods, with a unique milky appearance and creamy flavor, appealing to a broader market while offering health benefits and flexibility in ingredients and production.
Implementation Method 1
a polysaccharide emulsion stabilizer, followed by grinding to release flavors and oils directly into the water, resulting in a cold brew beverage that is mellow, creamy, and rich, with a high water-to-coffee ratio and minimal processing time
Data Source
AI summary
Cold-brewed compositions and methods for preparing them are disclosed that comprise the general steps of: (a) adding together ingredients comprising unheated aqueous liquid, a variety of brewing ingredients, and emulsion stabilizers comprising polysaccharides to obtain various aqueous mixtures; (b) grinding brewing ingredients amidst the obtained aqueous mixtures for a period of 30 seconds to three minutes to obtain various dispersions of finely ground brewing particles; and (c) removing brewing particles large enough to be detected by the tongue or mouth to obtain a variety of novel cold-brewed compositions that possess stabilized emulsions.