Apparatus for producing soluble coffee concentrates

Claim 1

Apparatus for producing a soluble coffee concentrate, which comprises: means including a roasting vessel for roasting green coffee beans; an elongated conduit; an endless member extending through said conduit; a plurality of pistons fixed to said endless member in spaced apart relationship, said pistons being sealingly engageable with the inner wall of said conduit; means for advancing said endless member to thereby move said pistons through said conduit; means for transferring the roasted beans from the roasting vessel to said elongated conduit iNtermediate the ends thereof; means for removing absorbed gases from said beans and returning them to said roasting vessel comprising a conduit means communicating at one end with the interior of said elongated conduit at a location spaced in the direction of movement of the endless member from the location at which the roasted beans are transferred into said elongated conduit and means interposed in said conduit means for pumping absorbed gases from said elongated conduit to said roasting vessel; means for flooding with and soaking in water the beans from which the gases have been removed to facilitate a subsequent reduction in thickness of said beans; means for reducing the thickness of the roasted beans to thereby facilitate the extraction of coffee solubles from said beans; means for contacting the reduced thickness beans with heated water to extract the solubles therefrom; means for concentrating the solution of extracted solubles; means for reducing the concentrate to a frozen particulate form; and means for freeze drying the solubles in the particles of frozen concentrate.