I-Corps: Coffee Bean Conversion as a Direct Additive Flavoring to Food and Beverage Products

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种来自咖啡的食品和饮料添加剂产品，以提供获得咖啡风味的传统方法的替代。目前的方法始于将煮好的咖啡饮料作为食品添加剂前体，同时使用添加的化学品来获得食品和饮料产品中所需的颜色和风味。与目前的技术相比，建议的技术保留了更多的咖啡因和抗氧化剂，同时增强了关键的挥发性化合物，使其具有更好的颜色、风味和香气。其目标是为食品公司提供一种比传统方法更可持续、更容易获得和更健康的咖啡风味替代方法。这项拟议的技术对食品公司来说可能是一个有吸引力的选择，因为它将帮助他们吸引日益增长的健康和环保意识的消费者。这个i-Corps项目基于一项技术的开发，该技术可以将整个烘焙咖啡豆转化为食品和饮料产品中的咖啡味道。目前的技术是基于喷雾干燥、浓缩或冷冻干燥的水提取煮咖啡。拟议的工艺包括将整个烘焙咖啡豆转化为超研磨的单成分调味剂，该调味剂可用作食品和饮料产品的直接添加剂，以实现具有天然着色剂的咖啡风味。与目前实现咖啡风味的方法不同，该工艺消除了大量的水消耗和废咖啡研磨废液，使其成为传统方法的可持续替代方法。此外，拟议的工艺已被证明能够产生最大的营养含量，提高关键的挥发性化合物的味道、香气和颜色，并减少当前工艺产生的一些不受欢迎的挥发性化合物。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development a coffee-sourced food and drink additive product to provide an alternative to conventional methods of achieving coffee flavor. Current methods begin with brewed coffee drink as a food additive precursor while using added chemicals to achieve the desired color and flavor in food and beverage products. The proposed technology preserves larger amounts of caffeine and antioxidants as compared with current technology, while enhancing key volatile compounds for superior color, flavor, and aroma. The goal is to provide food product companies with a more sustainable, accessible, and healthier alternative to conventional methods for achieving coffee flavor. The proposed technology may be an attractive option for food product companies as it will help them appeal to consumers that are growing increasingly health and environmentally conscious.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a technology for conversion of whole roasted coffee beans to achieve coffee flavor in food and beverage products. Current technologies are based on water-extracted brewed coffee that is spray dried, concentrated, or freeze dried. The proposed process involves converting the entire roasted coffee bean into an ultra-ground, one-ingredient flavoring agent that may be used as a direct additive in food and beverage products to achieve coffee flavor with natural coloring. Unlike current methods for achieving coffee flavor, this process eliminates significant water consumption as well as the spent coffee ground waste stream, making it a sustainable alternative to traditional methods. In addition, the proposed process has been shown to yield maximum nutritional content, enhances key volatile compounds for taste, aroma, and color, and reduces a number of undesirable volatile compounds that result from current processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.