FRESH vs. RANCID: Control Your Coffee's Destiny

Copyright © 2014 MOCON Inc.

WHAT MAKES COFFEE ‘great’?

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As with most food products, we ‘experience’ them using a combination of aroma and taste. Fresh coffee is great coffee!

The good & the bad

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You want to keep the aroma’s in and the odor’s out… so how will you ensure that this happens? Aroma & Flavor Testing can make all the difference in ensuring a great product with the best possible aroma & flavor!

Aroma, flavor & freshness • There is a race against time from moment they are

harvested, natural deterioration and spoilage

endanger quality and shelf life of beans

• Handling, Packaging & Transportation can all have an

impact on the product

4 Major Killers of Coffee Are:

1. Sunlight 2. Oxygen 3. Heat 4. Moisture

Did You Know? Coffee is derived from over 1,500 chemical substances, making

it a highly complex beverage. Approximately 850 of these chemical substances are volatile, while 700 are soluble.

the complex composition of coffee

Volatile Substances (Compounds that vaporize)

– Responsible for aromas

– Present in very small amounts

– More than 700 compounds have

been identified in roasted coffee

Non-volatile Compounds (Compounds that do not readily evaporate)

– Contribute to basic taste sensations

of acidity, bitterness and

astringency

– Carbon dioxide is most important

non-volatile

– Generated by pyrolysis and Strecker

degradation reaction

– Amount is dependent upon degree

of roast

– Very soluble in coffee matrix

Did You Know? Roasting is a pyrolytic (heat-driven) process that greatly increases the chemical

complexity of coffee. The aroma of green coffee contains around 250 different volatile molecular species, whereas roasted coffee gives rise to over 800!

WHY DOES COFFEE GO ‘BAD’?

Reactions of deterioration

• Maillard Reaction

– Water

– Temperature

• Lipid Oxidation

– Oxygen

– Water

– Temperature

Did You Know?

Coffee beans start to oxidize after three weeks;

ground coffee oxidizes within five days.

HOW DO WE KEEP COFFEE Tasting great?

Keep Oxygen OUT

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Manage Moisture Level

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Manage Carbon Dioxide

It’s all in the PACKAGING!!

So how do you ensure the best

packaging for your product?

• Choose the Right Barrier – testing your barrier is crucial; if you don’t have the correct barrier all of the other stuff is pointless!

• Control and evaluate the ENTIRE Packaging Process

– Immediately after roast until the package reaches your consumer

– Shelf life ends when the consumer opens the package – you need to confirm that your product’s shelf life is its ACTUAL shelf life

– Perform regular QC/QA by testing random samples on the production line

Freshness of the coffee that a roaster or retailer sells and serves is a direct reflection of the standards and abilities of that operation.

It will determine your competitiveness in the marketplace and how attractive your product is to consumers that it is worth seeking out.

Next we will walk you through what’s needed to

ensure your product stays perfectly fresh…

To keep profits UP & your customers HAPPY…

so you NEVER have to worry about this…

Package TESTING

The ONLY way (besides product complaints) to know if all your efforts are working is to TEST!

• On-line Gas Monitoring

• Headspace Analysis

• Permeation Testing

• Leak Detection

• Seal Strength Analysis

You can use special instruments to test yourself in-house

or you can send samples to a lab (like ours!) to be tested.

There are so many variables to what keeps coffee smelling & tasting GREAT – the only way to control these variables and keep your coffee fresh is to TEST!

#1 choosing the right barrier

• Certain materials can control the amount of oxygen and moisture that permeate into the package over time, and some are better than others.

• The type of materials are dependent upon desired shelf-life, processing conditions, storage, transportation conditions and to some extent, coffee type.

• Art to Barrier Packaging: Cost VS. Barrier • Test barriers to make sure you choose the right barrier the first

time to save money in the long run.

How will you know what barrier is best for your product if you don’t test it??

#2 Permeation/barrier Testing

Room Environment Package Wall Product

• Air & moisture are the enemy!

• Make sure your barrier is keeping your product safe by testing it for Oxygen and Water Vapor Transmission through the barrier.

• Ensure your vendor is

providing you with the actual packaging that you are paying for!

#3 Modified Atmosphere Packaging

Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) uses natural gasses to combat spoilage and to protect the appearance, flavor, and

texture of packaged foods

MAP – What’s Involved? – Gas-flush

• Package is flushed with nitrogen to reach desired residual O2 level

– Compensated Vacuum • All air is vacuumed from package and then desired

gas mixture is introduced

– Vacuum • All gas is removed from package

#3.5 importance of map

Ground coffee is very delicate and deteriorates rapidly when it comes into contact with air, light, heat and humidity.

• Flushing roasted coffee with nitrogen removes oxygen from the package thus delaying lipid oxidation reactions and keeping coffee FRESH & YUMMY!

Can be a bit tricky – you need to remove O2 without removing too much moisture

#4 CO2 Management

• The roasted coffee is placed in bins which are flooded with nitrogen

• On-line analyzers monitor the level of CO2 in the bin until it has reached the company’s predetermined level

• The coffee is then packaged

• Used industry-wide to release CO2 as it is produced

• As name implies, allows for release of CO2 but does not allow entry of O2 or water vapor

#5 Headspace Analysis

• Analysis for O2 and CO2 levels inside a closed package – great to use for Quality Control / Quality Assurance

• Can be used to determine M.A.P. efficiency and package integrity

• Bench-top and portable instruments allow for a range of applications

#6 Leak Detection / Seal strength

• M.A.P. and/or the best barriers are useless if there are LEAKS in the package!

• Even small leaks can allow the package to

reach 21% O2 within a few days!

This is NOT good!

• Seal Strength

– Indicates leaks in the seal

– Important if there is pillowing due to CO2 production

#7 Online Gas Mixing & Monitoring

• Continuously measure O2 levels during the packaging process

• Save gas with automatic regulation of gas flow

• Ensures that your MAP packaging machine is working correctly and you are gas flushing the correct protective atmosphere to ensure the prolonged shelf-life of your product.

We know that was a lot of info - so here’s a graphic that sums it all up!

It’s ok, don’t worry!

we Can Help you control your

coffee’s destiny!

• Shelf-life studies

• Aroma, Flavor & Odor

studies

• Permeation testing

• Package integrity studies

• Online gas analysis

• Headspace analysis

• Leak detection

• Package Development

we would love to learn more about

your product and how we can help!

MOCON Inc.

www.mocon.com

info@mocon.com

763.493.6370