Background: Consumer demands for healthy, functional foods are growing rapidly nowadays. Coffee, as one of the most widespread commodities, represents an interesting aspect for enrichment, since it is consumed by millions of people on a daily basis. The aim of this study was to formulate enriched instant coffee powders with the purpose of estimating the influence of storage time, functional ingredients and packaging material on physical and sensory properties of the mixtures.
Results: Storage time of 6 months significantly (P <0.05) influenced moisture content of the mixtures, which rose linearly with an increase in storage time. Packaging material proved to be an important variable affecting moisture content, particle size, colour and cohesion index. Functional ingredients (vitamins A and C, iron, inulin and oligofructose) influenced particle size, dispersibility, wettability and, in terms of sensory analysis, grades for aftertaste, chemical taste and overall acceptability.
Conclusion: Addition of functional ingredients significantly influenced some particle size distribution parameters and reconstitution properties, causing an increase in wettability and dispersibility times. Furthermore, in sensory terms, it influenced aftertaste and chemical taste grades. Packaging material significantly influenced moisture content, some particle size distribution parameters, colour and cohesion index.
Keywords: functional ingredients; instant coffee; physical properties; sensory properties; storage.
© 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.