Spent Coffee Grounds Cocoa Substitute via Defatting and Milling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The food industry faces challenges in finding sustainable alternatives to cocoa powder that replicate its taste and physical characteristics while reducing environmental impact and logistical complexities associated with genuine cocoa powder production.
Innovation Solution
A method involving spent coffee grounds is developed, where the material is dried, defatted, milled, and flavored to create a cocoa powder substitute that mimics the flavor and texture of cocoa powder through artificial flavoring or cocoa-homologous fermentation processes, including a roasting step to generate Maillard reaction products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If genuine cocoa powder is used, then authentic taste and flavor are achieved, but environmental impact and logistical complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a substitute product that copies the essential characteristics of genuine cocoa powder through spent coffee grounds processing. The spent coffee grounds are dried, defatted, milled, and flavored to replicate cocoa powder's taste and physical properties, providing a functional copy that reduces environmental impact while maintaining sensory authenticity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms spent coffee grounds into a cocoa-like product by changing key parameters: drying to reduce moisture content, defatting to remove oils, milling to achieve specific particle size, and flavoring to develop cocoa-like taste profiles. These parameter changes convert waste material into a valuable substitute product.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If spent coffee grounds are processed into cocoa powder substitute, then environmental footprint is reduced, but production process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the production process into distinct sequential stages: drying spent coffee grounds to reduce moisture, defatting to remove oils, milling to achieve particle size, and flavoring to develop taste. This segmentation allows each step to be optimized independently and simplifies the overall complex transformation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses intermediate processing steps to transform spent coffee grounds gradually. The drying and defatting processes create intermediate products that are then milled and flavored. These intermediary steps facilitate the complex transformation while maintaining process control and reducing overall complexity.
3Shape
If spent coffee grounds are dried and defatted, then cocoa-like physical characteristics are achieved, but flavor development requires additional processing steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions of drying and defatting spent coffee grounds before flavoring. By removing moisture and oils in advance, the substrate is prepared to better absorb and retain flavor compounds, making the subsequent flavoring step more effective and reducing the complexity of achieving desired taste profiles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes physical parameters (moisture content, oil content, particle size) before flavoring to create optimal conditions for taste development. These parameter changes in the spent coffee grounds enable better flavor incorporation and reduce the complexity of the flavoring process.
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 cocoa powder substitute effectively replicates the taste and physical characteristics of genuine cocoa powder, offering a lower carbon footprint, reduced heavy metal content, and increased supply chain resiliency, making it a viable alternative for various food products.
Implementation Method 1
drying a spent coffee ground material, previously utilized in a coffee brewing process, to a moisture content of less than 10% by mass
Implementation Method 2
defatted to an oil content of less than 5% by mass
Implementation Method 3
milled to an average particle size of less than 250 microns
Implementation Method 4
a roasting step to generate Maillard reaction products
Data Source
AI summary
A method for production of a cocoa powder substitute includes: drying a spent coffee ground material, previously utilized in a coffee brewing process, to a moisture content of less than 10% by mass to produce a dried spent coffee ground material; extracting oil from the dried spent coffee ground material to produce a coffee flour material characterized by a fat content of less than 5% by mass; milling the coffee flour material to an average particle size of less than 250 microns; and flavoring the coffee flour material to produce a cocoa-homologous flavor in the coffee flour material.