AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE ROASTING OF COFFEE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE ROASTING OF COFFEE."-A
communication from abread by Thaddeus Hyatt, of the City of New
Vork in the United Sta
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th November 1865.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE ROASTING OF.
COFFEE," to be as follows:-
By the common method coffee is roasted dry, that is, without any appear-
ance of oil; the prevailing theory on this subject being that "when the oil
comes the coffee is lost," for the idea is that the oil is foreign to the coffee, and
therefore injurious. Now the discovery upon which the present Invention is

page_text: founded is, that far from this being the case, the whole aromatic force of the
coffee depends upon it; that when roasted dry, although the oil is not seen, it
still exists, but in diminished quantity; that the aroma of the coffee is
developed step by step with this very oil, and that the value of coffee com-
mercially and as a beverage is exactly in the ratio of its development. The
changing shades of color through which coffee passes while under the roasting
process merely indicate the formation of caramel and the extent to which the
coffee oil has been developed, but as the whole of the aroma is not developed
until the whole of the oil is formed, the only correct standard by which to roast
coffee is the oil itself fully developed, for the perfumes of fruits, like those of
flowers, are in their oils. The yearly waste which takes place from the
common mode of coffee roasting exceeds in amount the yearly consumption,
and it is this loss and waste that the present Invention remedies. The difficult
point in roasting coffee is not to get the oil to come, but to make it stay
away. By the common method all that is necessary is to guard the heat of
the coffee at the moment it is removed from the cylinder by confining it
closely until the grains become glossy with oil. A quicker method is, how-
ever, preferred, where the work of minutes is done in seconds; this may be
secured by properly proportioning the volume of hot air to the mass of the
coffee in the drum, which should not exceed one-fifth the quantity ordinarily
roasted at a time. When coffee is roasted thus it soon commences to give a
report or crackling, which resembles platoon firing, and the operation is com-
pleted when a simultaneous explosion takes place; it must then be taken
quickly from the cylinder and spread out to cool, as it is now thoroughly
covered with oil.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th May 1866.
ΤΟ
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE ROASTING. OF COFFEE," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
iny executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their bands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):
:-
By the common method coffee is roasted dry, that is, without any appear-
ance of oil; the prevailing theory on this subject being that "when the oil
comes the coffee is lost," for the idea is that the oil is foreign to the coffee,
and therefore injurious. Now the discovery on. which the present Invention
is based is, that far from this being the case, the whole aromatic force of the
coffee depends upon it; that when roasted dry, although the oil is not seen,
it still exists, but in diminished quantity; that the aroma of the coffee is
developed step by step with this very oil, and that the value of coffee com-
mercially and as a beverage is exactly in the ratio of its developement. The
mistake concerning it arises from ignorance of the nature of coffee, two elements
in which give the beverage its peculiar character, viz., caramel, into which
the saccharine materials of the coffee are changed by the roasting process,
and which gives body and color to the liquid, and aromatic oil, which imparts
its fragrance to the caramel; these two in combination make up or con-
stitute what we call the "flavor" of the coffee. What the proportions of
each to the other are is not known, but this much is known, that when all
the oil of the coffee is liberated the proportions are not right, and it is this
derangement of the aromatic equilibrium that gives rise to the saying that

page_text: "the coffee is lost." To remedy this apparent evil the practice has been resorted
to of developing only a portion of the oil, and this with no standard except
color to determine when just enough has been formed. Owing to this, poor
coffee is the rule and good coffee the exception, while the waste and loss of
the virtue of the coffee is enormous. But the Turk pounds his coffee, and
thus harmonizes the uncertainties of the roasting, for pounding, which extracts
oils from seeds, also makes active the oil of the coffee which has been but
partially developed by the heat. The superiority of this method over grinding
is seen not only in the superior flavor of the coffee, but in the utensils, the
wooden mortar and the wooden pestle, which become impregnated with oil.
The changing shades of color through which coffee passes while under the
roasting process merely indicate the formation of caramel and the extent to
which the coffee oil has been developed, but as the whole of the aroma is
not developed until the whole of the oil is formed, the only correct standard
by which to roast coffee is the oil itself fully developed, for the perfumes of
fruits, like those of flowers, are in their oils. The excess of oil beyond the
requirements of the coffee caramel is a good reason for adding caramel, but
a poor one for cutting off the oil. The difference of result between the two
systems amounts in beverage to more than two for one, and in money to a
sum that equals the yearly value of the entire coffee crop of the world. The
yearly waste which takes place from the common mode of roasting coffee
exceeds in amount the yearly consumption, and it is this loss and waste that
the present Invention remedies. The difficult point in roasting coffee is not
to get the oil to come, but to make it stay away. By the common method
all that is necessary is to guard the heat of the coffee at the moment it is
removed from the cylinder by confining it closely until the grains become
glossy with oil. A quicker method is, however, preferred, where the work of
minutes is done in seconds; this may be secured by properly proportioning the
volume of hot air to the mass of the coffee in the drum, which should not
exceed one-fifth the quantity ordinarily roasted at a time. When coffee is
roasted thus it soon commences to give a report or crackling, which resembles
platoon firing, and the operation is completed when a simultaneous explosion
takes place; it must then be taken quickly from the cylinder and spread out
to cool, as it is now thoroughly covered with oil.
Having thus fully disclosed the nature of the Invention of "An Improve-
ment in the Roasting of Coffee," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent

page_text: I claim the preparation of oil developed coffee, substantially as and for the
purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)