A method of making a tablet for hot espresso beverage extraction includes the steps of grinding a brewable product to obtain a powder having a substantially uniform particle size, dosing a predetermined amount of the ground product powder, moistening the powdered product dose, homogenizing the moistened mixture to obtain a powdered product with a substantially uniform moisture content, forming the powdered product dose to obtain a disk-shaped or prismatic tablet, and supplying an amount of energy to the tablet to obtain a substantially compact and integral item. The step of supplying energy is carried out by irradiating the tablet with an electromagnetic wave beam to overheat and partially bake and/or sinter the particles of the powdered product and impart a relatively compact and self-supporting construction to the finished tablet. The electromagnetic wave irradiation step is carried out at the end of the forming step while continuously compressing the dose.

A method of making a tablet for hot espresso beverage extraction includes the steps of grinding a brewable product to obtain a powder having a substantially uniform particle size, dosing a predetermined amount of the ground product powder, moistening the powdered product dose, homogenizing the moistened mixture to obtain a powdered product with a substantially uniform moisture content, forming the powdered product dose to obtain a disk-shaped or prismatic tablet, and supplying an amount of energy to the tablet to obtain a substantially compact and integral item. The step of supplying energy is carried out by irradiating the tablet with an electromagnetic wave beam to overheat and partially bake and/or sinter the particles of the powdered product and impart a relatively compact and self-supporting construction to the finished tablet. The electromagnetic wave irradiation step is carried out at the end of the forming step while continuously compressing the dose.

The present invention relates to a coffee beverage product comprising 1 to 25 wt.% of coffee solids; 1-11 wt.% of milk protein; 0.01-3 wt.% galactose and 0.5-15 wt.% galactooligosaccharide. The present invention further relates to a method of preparing such a coffee beverage product.

The present invention relates to a coffee beverage product comprising 1 to 25 wt.% of coffee solids; 1-11 wt.% of milk protein; 0.01-3 wt.% galactose and 0.5-15 wt.% galactooligosaccharide. The present invention further relates to a method of preparing such a coffee beverage product.

A method of dispensing a beverage comprising: a) inserting a beverage ingredient tablet (20) into a beverage preparation machine (30); b) measuring a characteristic associated with the thickness of at least a portion of the beverage ingredient tablet (20) to identify the beverage ingredient tablet (20); c) configuring one or more dispense parameters of the beverage preparation machine (30) based on the identification of the beverage ingredient tablet (20); and d) operating the beverage preparation machine (30) to dispense a beverage by contacting the beverage ingredient tablet (20) with an aqueous fluid.

In a method for producing tablets for extraction of a liquid food product, a plurality of dosed amounts of a moistened powder ingredient are loaded into respective forming cavities of a multi-cavity forming device, the multi-cavity forming device is then introduced into a multimode cavity of a microwave oven, and thereafter the multi-cavity forming device is removed from the multimode cavity. The multimode cavity is prearranged in such a way that an irradiation of the microwaves thereinto causes heating of all dosed amounts of the ingredient in the respective forming cavities of the multi-cavity forming device, to form simultaneously a plurality of tablets each having a self-supporting structure.

In a method for producing tablets for extraction of a liquid food product, dosed and moistened amounts of a powder ingredient are heated while contained in respective confined volumes. The method comprises the steps of: providing the ingredient in powder form; loading dosed amount of the powder ingredient into respective forming cavities; moistening each dosed amount of the powder ingredient, only at a surface layer thereof, and heating the dosed and moistened amount of the ingredient while contained in the respective forming cavity.

A capsule for preparing a beverage, in particular a hot beverage, consisting of a compact of a material selected from the group consisting of instant coffee, instant tea, soluble coffee substitute extract, cocoa, drinking chocolate, milk powder, vegan milk substitute powder, dry soup, protein powder, fillers, food supplements, and combinations thereof, wherein the capsule is configured such that it dissolves in, in particular, hot water.

A process for preserving the organoleptic characteristics of coffee-based products and extending their shelf lives, having the steps of roasting the green coffee beans and placing it in a chamber with an inert gas atmosphere, first milling of the roasted coffee beans under inert gas conditions to a size between seventy five (75) and five hundred (500), second milling the previously milled roasted coffee beans under refrigerated conditions to ensure that the size of the bean particles fall between ten (10) and thirty (30) microns and jet milling the first and second milled coffee beans using a closed, or semi-closed, loop of inert gas jet mill to bring the bean particles' size between one tenth (0.1) and less than ten (10) microns resulting in an ultrafine powder. Micro-encapsulating or agglomerating the ultrafine powder with food ingredients, resulting in coated roasted whole coffee granules.

An apparatus for manufacturing tablets for hot beverage brewing includes a reservoir feeding infusible loose food products, a grinding system for the loose food products to obtain grounds of a given size, a moistening system moistening the grounds to a given moisture content, a mixing and homogenizing system for mixing and homogenizing the grounds to a homogeneous mixture, a weighing system of the homogeneous mixture to obtain a dose of predetermined weight, a forming system forming the dose into a tablet of predetermined volume, an irradiation system for electromagnetic irradiation of the tablet to overheat the particles to a partial baking and/or sintering for compactness and self-supporting ability without an enclosure, and a control system acting on the grinding, moistening, homogenizing, system, forming, and irradiating systems to control particle size, moisture content, homogeneity, weight, volume and compactness parameters of the tablet and change water permeability of the tablet accordingly.