Coffee process

A method of processing coffee beans comprising:

• selecting and blending whole, unroasted coffee beans;
• roasting the whole, unroasted coffee beans to obtain whole, roasted coffee beans;
• blending the whole, roasted coffee beans with water and under heat;
• subsequently, breaking or cracking the whole roasted coffee beans to obtain broken or cracked coffee beans, or breaking or cracking the whole roasted coffee beans and adding water to form a suspension or mixture;
• grinding or milling the broken or cracked coffee beans, the suspension or mixture to obtain ground or milled coffee beans;
• performing a first extraction on the ground or milled coffee beans with heat and under pressure;
• subsequently, performing a first vacuum de-aeration or evaporation step on the coffee beans on which said first extraction was performed;
• subsequently, recovering aroma components contained in vapor expelled in said first vacuum de-aeration or evaporation step;
• separating solid material from a water/oil phase in a first decanting step, wherein the water/oil phase comprises:
• particles, an oil phase, and a water phase;
• separating the water/oil phase into the particles, the oil phase comprising lipids with hydrophobic aroma components and the water phase comprising water-soluble flavors, water-soluble polyphenols and fats or lipids adapted to be maintained in the water phase, to obtain one or more coffee extraction products, wherein at least one of the coffee extraction products comprises the fats or lipids adapted to be maintained in the water phase;
• subjecting at least the coffee extraction product comprising the fats or lipids adapted to be maintained in the water phase to a second evaporation in which excessive water is evaporated;
• recovering flavor compounds evaporated in said second evaporation together with the water;
• and
• subsequently lyophilizing at least the coffee extraction product comprising the fats or lipids adapted to be maintained in the water phase to obtain, after adding the aroma components recovered in the first vacuum de-aeration or evaporation step and/or the flavor compounds recovered in the second evaporation step, coffee products.