DEAS 1088 : 2022 
ICS 67.140 
 
© EAC 2022                                                                                                                              1st Edition  2022  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Liquid coffee  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1088 :2022 
ii © EAC 2022 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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participants in the EAC standards development process is permitte d without prior permission from EAC, 
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© East African Community  2022 — All rights reserved  
East African Community   
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 1088 :2022 
 
© EAC 2022 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  1 
4 Ingredients  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  2 
5 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
5.1. General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
5.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
8 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  3 
8.1 Pesticides residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............................  3 
8.2 Mycotoxins  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  3 
9 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  3 
10 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  3 
11 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................  4 
 
 DEAS 1088 :2022 
iv © EAC 2022 – All rights reserved  
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing  quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods and services are exchanged 
within the Community will be removed.  
The Community has established an East African Standards Committee  (EASC)  mandated to develop and 
issue East African Standards  (EAS) . The Committee is composed of representatives of the National 
Standards Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from the public and private sector 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, consumer groups, private sector and other interested partie s. 
Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the 
Partner States. The comments received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedu res for development of East African Standards. XXXXXX.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of  the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC EASC /TC 002, Coffee, 
Cocoa, Tea and related products.  
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be  subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  DRAFT  EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1088 :2022 
 
© EAC  2022 – All rights reserved  1 
 Liquid coffee — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for liquid coffee 
intended for human consumption.  
It applies to concentrated liquid coffee and to ready to drink coffee  
2 Normative references   
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
EAS 105, Roasted and ground coffee beans — Specification  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -pack aged foods — General requirements  
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code of practice  
Codex Stan  192, General standard for food additive  
ISO 6579 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection, enumeration and 
serotyping of Salmonella — Part 1: Detection of Salmonella spp. — Amendment 1: Broader range of 
incuba tion temperatures, amendment to the status of Annex D, and correction of the composition of MSRV 
and SC  
ISO 15141,  Cereals and cereal products — Determination of ochratoxin A — High performance liquid 
chromatographic method with immunoaffinity column clea nup and fluorescence detection  
ISO 16649 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
beta-glucuronidase -positive Escherichia coli — Part 2: Colony -count technique at 44 degrees C using 5 -
bromo -4-chloro -3-indolyl beta -D-glucuronide  
ISO 21527 -2, microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — horizontal method for the enumeration of 
yeasts and moulds — part 2: colony count technique in products with water activity less than or equal to 0,95  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platfor m: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
  
2 © EAC 2022 – All rights reserved  
 3.1 
concentrated liquid coffee  
Product obtained by extraction and concentration of water -soluble solids from roasted ground coffee and 
instant coffee  
3.2 
ready to drink coffee  
Coffee processed and presented in the ready to drink form  
4 Ingredients  
4.1 Essential ingredients  
4.1.1  Concentrated liquid coffee shall be made from roasted ground or instant coffee complying with EAS 
105 and EAS 975, respectively.  
4.1.2  Ready to drink  coffee shall be made from roasted ground coffee, instant coffee, flavored coffee or 
concentrated liquid coffee complying with relevant standards   
4.2. Optional ingredients  
Ready to drink coffee may contain other food ingredients such as:  
a) creamer ; 
b) sweete ners; and   
c) any other permitted food ingredient  
5 Requirements  
5.1. General requirements  
5.1.1 Liquid coffee (concentrated liquid and ready to drink coffee ): 
a) shall be free from any adulterants; and 
b) liquid coffee may be in form of a liquid, gel or foam and /or in semi frozen.  
5.1.2 Concentrated liquid coffee “ shall have colour, taste, odour and flavour characteristic of roasted 
ground or instant coffee ; 
5.1.3 Ready to drink coffee shall have characteristic flavour and odour of the coffee and other food 
ingre dients used  
5.2 Specific requirements   
Liquid coffee shall comply with the specific requirements specified in Table 1 when tested according to the 
respective methods of test indicated  therein  
Table 1 — Specific requirements for liquid coffee  
S/N Parameter  Ready to 
drink coffee  Concentrated 
liquid coffee  Test method  
i Caffeine, % min  NA 0.8 ISO 20481   
© EAC 2022 – All rights reserved  3 
 ii pH 5-8 5-8 AOAC 970.21  
iii Total dissolved solids, % m/m, min  NA 55 - 
Note: Caffeine does not apply to decaffeinated liquid coffee  
6 Food additives  
The use of food additives in liquid coffee shall comply with Codex Stan 192  
7 Hygiene  
7.1 Liquid coffee shall be processed and handled in accordance with the appropriate provisions stipulated 
in EAS 39.  
7.2 Liquid coffee shall not exceed microbiological  limits in Table 2 when tested in accordance with test 
methods specified therein.  
Table 2 — Microbiological maximum limits for liquid coffee  
S/N Microorganism  Maximum 
limits  Test method  
i Yeasts and moulds CFU/g  102 ISO 21527 -2 
ii Escherichia coli , CFU/ g Absent  ISO 16649 -2 
iii Salmonella spp, /25g  Absent  ISO 6579 -1 
 
8 Contaminants  
8.1 Pesticides residues  
Liquid concentrated coffee shall comply with those maximum pesticide residue limits established by the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission online database.  
8.2 Mycotoxins  
Liquid coffee shall not exceed 10 µg/kg of Ochratoxin A when tested in accordance with ISO 15141 . 
9 Packaging  
Liquid coffee shall be packaged in containers made from food grade packaging material and sealed in a 
manner that will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional and organoleptic properties of the product throughout the 
shelf life of the product.  
10 Labelling  
In addition to the labelling requirements specified in EAS 38, packages of liquid concentrated coffee shall be 
labelled legibly and  indelibly with the name of the products as “ concentrated liquid coffee ” or ready to drink 
coffe e.  
4 © EAC 2022 – All rights reserved  
 11 Sampling  
Sampling shall be done in accordance with ISO 2292  
 
 DEAS 1088 : 2022    
 
© EAC  2022  – All rights reserved