Modelling the acqueous extraction of soluble substances from ground roasted coffee

This work aims to study and model the extraction of soluble substances from coffee grounds having different particle sizes. The results demonstrate that coffee brewing cannot be considered a simple diffusion mechanism as reported in the literature. The phenomenon has two phases: a washing phase where surface soluble substances instantaneously dissolve and are transferred to the extract by a convection mechanism, and a diffusion phase involving the solubles within the porous particles. A model was set up to calculate extraction yield as the addition of the two phases. It was also demonstrated that the effect of washing shows a linear correlation with the external surface area of particles and that the composition of the extracts does not depend on extraction time.