Typical current methods for producing large quantities of extracts from
solid raw materials such as ground, roasted coffee are designed for
exhaustive extraction. Such methods are not ideally suited to producing
high quality coffee extracts that are rich in flavor and fragrance, and
which maintain the varietal characteristics of the roasted coffee from
which they are produced. The current invention provides methods and
apparatus for producing such high quality extracts. The invention provides
methods that have sufficient flexibility and scalability to be used for a
wide variety of applications, including for producing industrial-scale
quantities of extracts for the food and beverage industry. The invention
provides methods and apparatus that can produce highly concentrated,
"gourmet quality" extracts for use as flavoring agents, beverage
concentrates, and fragrances. The inventive extraction methods, in some
embodiments, involve subjecting roasted coffee to a static pressure
treatment with pressurized solvent and/or removing extract from the bed of
roasted coffee with a non-solvent gas as a final extraction step. The
inventive methods can reduce the extent of extraction of the roasted
coffee and the level of bitter, off-flavor components present in the
coffee extracts. The extracts produced according to the invention can be
advantageously used for applications where high quality coffee extracts,
with a relatively high concentration of soluble coffee solids and a
relatively high level of sweetness but without substantial amounts of
bitter oils and acids, are desired.