Air is one of the main enemies of good coffee: exposure of beans to the ambient temperature can alter their taste and aroma. In the food industry, great value is attached to all those techniques capable of preserving, throughout all stages of processing, the peculiarities of coffee. The most advanced ones involve the use of various gases and mixtures that can ensure the high quality of the final product, as well as increased productivity and energy savings.
SIAD, a chemical group specializing in the production and distribution of gases and blends, with solutions for food applications, has developed specific products for the coffee industry, for cryomacination and cryogenic cooling, storage, degassing and decaffeination.
Cryomacination
By using nitrogen and CO2, cryomilling can reduce the heat generated in the processing of coffee, as well as chili peppers, mustard seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oregano leaves.
This particular way of grinding the grains brings many advantages to the production process and processing of the final product.
The main ones are:
- Produces finer and more uniform particles
- Maintains organoleptic and aromatic characteristics
- “Helps” the product retain essential oils.
- Prevents oxidation and color change phenomena
- Increases production
- Avoids packing problems
- Improves the cleanliness of mills
Cryogenic cooling
The standardization of the coffee production process is enabled by controlling the cooling phase. Once the roasting is complete, it is necessary to reduce the temperature: this very delicate step, if performed with sophisticated cryogenic techniques, prevents any alteration of the organoleptic characteristics of the product.
Other achievable benefits are listed below:
- Greater control of roasting: limiting the thermal inertia of freshly roasted coffee
- Increased product shelf-life
- Energy saving: 30-40% reduction in energy costs required in the cooling phase
- Making original and alternative blends: processed coffee can leave hints of dried fruit that can assume the scents of flowers and fresh fruit
- Reduced process time: through thorough cooling, coffee can be generated immediately ready for packaging, thus reducing or eliminating steps such as degassing and storage
Storage, degassing and decaffeination
Particularly delicate, for the maintenance of coffee quality, are the storage and packaging stages.
Reducing the percentage of oxygen inside the storage silos through the addition of nitrogen gas enables the organoleptic properties of treated coffee to be preserved.
Degassing operations are also used to control the release of carbon dioxide. In fact, nitrogen gas can be introduced into silos or during processing stages, resulting in the removal of CO2 generated during roasting or released during storage stages, thus enabling appropriate packaging operations.
In addition, in the final packaging in cans or capsules, it is possible to employ mixtures that can maintain the qualities, aroma and taste of the final product: Foodline, SIAD’s food gas line, was developed with precisely these purposes in mind. The different blends developed by SIAD laboratories meet the specific needs of each roastery.
Finally, to obtain a decaffeinated product, CO2 can be used for another of its properties, that of capturing and storing the stimulant.
