The Basque Café Fortaleza company and AZTI-Tecnalia have together been involved in a R+D+i project, which has resulted in an innovative decaffeinated coffee with lime flower and balm. Based on a request from the coffee company, the technological centre drew up the technological development of this new product, already on the market, and which has needed an investment of 700,000 euros for its development. This project had the support of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Basque Government and the Bizkaia Provincial Government, by means of the Saiatu Programme.

Research workers at AZTI-Tecnalia, specialising in the design of new functional foods, have developed this new decaffeinated coffee at its instrumental and sensorial analysis laboratories. It has the recognised properties of both lime flower and balm, while maintaining the taste and aroma qualities of the coffee. To this end, the experts selected, from various suppliers, extracts of the lime flower and balm for their high content of the most appropriate active constituents, for having been obtained from mild aqueous extracts and for presenting suitable granulation, all to the point that, on mixing with coffee, the latter's sensorial profile remains unaltered.

One of the targets of the research was to calculate the proportions of lime flower and balm vegetable extracts suitable for the end product to have the desired functional effect and, at the same time, to be sensorially optimum for the consumer. Likewise, AZTI-Tecnalia has validated the specific industrial process and the product mixture and packaging ad-hoc, in such a way that the lime flower and balm are appropriate in each of the packs on sale and homogenous throughout the production process.

The new coffee is on the shelves and available at all large food chain stores in the Basque Country, Navarre, Cantabria, La Rioja, Aragón, Galicia and Castille & León.

Comparte este contenido: