Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life Prediction
Instant coffee powder is highly sensitive to environmental humidity, which can significantly affect its quality during storage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the storage stability of instant coffee by assessing the moisture uptake and monitoring the evolution of key quality indicators...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Foods |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/10/1826 |
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| author | Marco Lopriore Marilisa Alongi Marika Valentino Monica Anese Maria Cristina Nicoli |
| author_facet | Marco Lopriore Marilisa Alongi Marika Valentino Monica Anese Maria Cristina Nicoli |
| author_sort | Marco Lopriore |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Instant coffee powder is highly sensitive to environmental humidity, which can significantly affect its quality during storage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the storage stability of instant coffee by assessing the moisture uptake and monitoring the evolution of key quality indicators under different environmental relative humidity (ERH) conditions. To this purpose, instant coffee was removed from its original packaging and stored at 11, 32, and 65% relative humidity (ERH) at 20 °C. Quality parameters related to both the powder (visual appearance and solubilization time) and the resulting brew (pH) were monitored over time. The coffee stored at 11% ERH demonstrated stability throughout the observation period. Storage at 32% ERH resulted in short-term powder stability, but a notable pH decline after six months. At 65% ERH, critical moisture levels were exceeded within one week, resulting in rapid visual degradation, impaired solubilization, and reduced brew quality within three months. The acquired findings on the behavior of a dry food powder under various storage conditions are particularly relevant in the context of the increasing application of compostable packaging with low moisture barriers, in conjunction with the need to manage the secondary shelf life of dry food powders whose use is often parceled. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6da5b3b68bdd45779462ef6f9a167978 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2304-8158 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foods |
| spelling | doaj-art-6da5b3b68bdd45779462ef6f9a1679782025-08-20T03:14:39ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582025-05-011410182610.3390/foods14101826Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life PredictionMarco Lopriore0Marilisa Alongi1Marika Valentino2Monica Anese3Maria Cristina Nicoli4Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via Sondrio 2A, 33100 Udine, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via Sondrio 2A, 33100 Udine, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via Sondrio 2A, 33100 Udine, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via Sondrio 2A, 33100 Udine, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via Sondrio 2A, 33100 Udine, ItalyInstant coffee powder is highly sensitive to environmental humidity, which can significantly affect its quality during storage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the storage stability of instant coffee by assessing the moisture uptake and monitoring the evolution of key quality indicators under different environmental relative humidity (ERH) conditions. To this purpose, instant coffee was removed from its original packaging and stored at 11, 32, and 65% relative humidity (ERH) at 20 °C. Quality parameters related to both the powder (visual appearance and solubilization time) and the resulting brew (pH) were monitored over time. The coffee stored at 11% ERH demonstrated stability throughout the observation period. Storage at 32% ERH resulted in short-term powder stability, but a notable pH decline after six months. At 65% ERH, critical moisture levels were exceeded within one week, resulting in rapid visual degradation, impaired solubilization, and reduced brew quality within three months. The acquired findings on the behavior of a dry food powder under various storage conditions are particularly relevant in the context of the increasing application of compostable packaging with low moisture barriers, in conjunction with the need to manage the secondary shelf life of dry food powders whose use is often parceled.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/10/1826instant coffeeenvironmental relative humidityT<sub>g</sub>stability studyshelf lifequality decay |
| spellingShingle | Marco Lopriore Marilisa Alongi Marika Valentino Monica Anese Maria Cristina Nicoli Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life Prediction Foods instant coffee environmental relative humidity T<sub>g</sub> stability study shelf life quality decay |
| title | Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life Prediction |
| title_full | Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life Prediction |
| title_fullStr | Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life Prediction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life Prediction |
| title_short | Impact of Environmental Humidity on Instant Coffee Stability: Defining Moisture Thresholds for Quality Degradation and Shelf Life Prediction |
| title_sort | impact of environmental humidity on instant coffee stability defining moisture thresholds for quality degradation and shelf life prediction |
| topic | instant coffee environmental relative humidity T<sub>g</sub> stability study shelf life quality decay |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/10/1826 |
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