Improvements in Treating Coffee
Year: 1898

page_text: Improvements in Treating Coffee
I, RICHARD CHARLES EDWARD SCARLE, of 6, Elmfield Mansions Upper Tooting,
in the County of Surrey, Tea and Coffee Buyer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in treating raw coffee to prepare it
for consumption.
Hitherto it has been the practice to prepare coffee for consumption by directly
roasting the raw berries in a roasting machine at a relatively high tempera-
ture and, as a result, the driving off of the moisture from the berries during
the roasting operation prevents the aroma of the coffee being fully developed.
Now I have found by experiment that if the raw berries be preliminarily
heated to a temperature just sufficient to drive off the moisture without in any
way baking or roasting them, the berries thus dried can be roasted in the ordinary
manner and the aroma will be more fully developed than if the raw berries be
roasted direct.
According to my invention, therefore, I treat the raw coffee berries in any
suitable drying apparatus at such a temperature that the moisture will be driven
off without in any way baking or roasting the berries, and then submit the
dried coffee berries to the usual roasting operation.
Improvements in Treating Comes.
I, RICHARD CHARLES EDWARD SCARLE, of 6, Elmfield Mansions, Upper Tooting,
in the County of Surrey, Tea and Coffee Buyer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in treating raw coffee to prepare it for
consumption.
The mode hitherto adopted for preparing coffee for consumption consisted in
subjecting the raw or green berries to a relatively high temperature in a roaster.
In practice, however, it is found, especially with certain kinds of coffee berries,
that the colour which the berries assume as a result of the roasting operation
is inferior and that the aroma of the coffee is dissipated and I believe that this
17

page_text: result is due to the steam which is given off by the coffee during the earlier
stages of the roasting and which is more or less confined within the roasting
chamber or cylinder.
Now I have found by experiment that, if, prior to the roasting operation, the
raw berries be heated to a temperature sufficient to drive off the moisture with-
out in any way baking or roasting them, the berries when subsequently roasted
possess a colour and aroma equal to that of coffee of much higher grade.
My invention therefore consists in subjecting raw coffee berries to a drying
operation without baking or roasting them and then submitting the berries so
dried to the usual roasting operation.
This drying operation can be carried out in a variety of ways, for instance,
the drying can be effected in a chamber heated by water or steam so as not to
exceed the temperature of boiling water, or the drying can be effected at a still
lower temperature by carrying out the drying operation in vacuo, also in some
cases it may be advisable when drying large quantities of coffee to dry the same
upon a floor similar to that of a malt kiln.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The improvements in treating coffee consisting in subjecting raw coffee
berries to a drying operation at a relatively low temperature and then subjecting
the berries so dried to the usual roasting operation, substantially as described.
2. Coffee prepared for consumption substantially in the manner herein before
described.
Dated the 18th day of August 1899.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.