Manufacture of Coffee in the Form of Compressed Tablets or Blocks.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 11th Feb., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Manufacture of Coffee in the Form of Compressed Tablets or Blocks.
I, JOAQUIM FRANCO DE LACERDA, of Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil, Financier, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:.
In order that coffee may serve efficiently as an economical alimentary substance,
while retaining its several qualities of flavour and aroma, it is necessary that it
should be pure and without admixture of any substances such as chicory and the
like, which are generally employed for increasing its volume at the expense of its
quality.
As the developing of the caffein is effected by the action of heat in roasting,
it is necessary that the roasting shall be neither insufficient nor carried too far, as
in the latter case the carbonisation destroys the agreeable flavour of the coffee and
removes nearly the whole of the caffein and aroma, and in the case of insufficient
roasting the aroma is not properly developed, the flavour is indifferent and the
colour is yellowish, without sufficient development of the caffein.
In addition to the above necessary qualities, it is also desirable that the coffee
should be presented to the public in a convenient form, admitting of simple and
easy manipulation for rapidly preparing an agreeable beverage.
It is furthermore desirable that the prepared coffee should occupy a comparatively
small volume and not be readily liable to deterioration.
My present invention relates to an improved manufacture of coffee which shall
comply with the above requirements and which consists in preparing pure ground
coffee in the form of tablets, blocks, plates, sticks and other suitable solid forms by
the action of considerable pressure.
For this purpose carefully roasted coffee is ground to a very fine, almost
impalpable powder, instead of being only coarsly ground as at present.
The coffee so prepared when subjected to the action of water will present the
maximum amount of contact surface for obtaining the greatest possible yield of
infusion containing the active principles of the coffee.
The coffee thus pulverised is then compressed under a high pressure, with or
without an admixture of sugar, but without admixture of any foreign matter or
agglutinating substance by means of which pressure it is converted into a compaci
solid mass in the form of tablets or blocks of any desired shapes and of a size to
correspond to the production of either only a single cup or of a definite number
of cups of coffee infusion.
By this means the consumer is enabled without difficulty to take the exact
amount of coffee which is necessary for preparing the number of cups of coffee he
may require.
For preparing the coffee infusion from the above described coffee tablets or
blocks, I have found that the following mode of proceeding will give the best
results.
1. A quantity of water is taken corresponding to the number of cups of
coffee required.

page_text: 2. The water having been heated to boiling point, the quantity of compressed
coffee required to produce the desired number of cups is thrown in and the boiling
is continued until the complete disintegration of the tablets or blocks is effected.
3. The heating is then discontinued, and a number of small spoonfuls of cold
water are introduced, corresponding to the number of cups of coffee to be made;
the decoction is stirred and allowed to rest for one or two minutes, to allow the
coffee grounds to settle.
The decoction is then heated again and the operation is thus completed.
The above described manufacture of tablets or blocks of compressed coffee may
also be used as edible tablets in the same manner as tablets of chocolate; for
this purpose it is only necessary to add to the almost impalpable coffee powder the
amount of sugar that may be desired for rendering it palatable, and then
compressing the mixture as described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The manufacture of tablets or blocks of compressed coffee either alone, or
mixed with sugar by grinding roasted coffee reduced to a very fine and almost
impalpable powder and then subjecting it to so high a pressure that it will cohere
to a solid mass without admixture of any foreign substances, substantially as
described.
2. In the manufacture of tablets or blocks of compressed coffee referred to in the
first claim, making such tablets or blocks of such a size as to correspond to the
exact number of cups of coffee infusion required substantially as described.
3. A manufacture of edible tablets or blocks of coffee consisting in grinding coffee
to an almost impalpable powder, mixing the requisite amount of sugar therewith
and then subjecting the same to such a pressure that it will cohere in a solid mass
without admixture of other substances, substantially as described.
Dated this 9th day of January 1899.