Division 1 ‘Coffee extract’, ‘soluble coffee extract’, ‘soluble coffee’ or ‘instant coffee’

This means the concentrated product obtained by extraction from roasted coffee beans using only water as the medium of extraction and excluding any process of hydrolysis involving the addition of an acid or a base. Apart from those insoluble substances which it is technically impossible to remove, and insoluble oils derived from coffee, coffee extract must contain only the soluble and aromatic constituents of coffee. Member States shall ensure that the methods used to determine the free and total carbohydrate content of soluble coffees are in conformity with paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Annex to Council Directive 85/591/EEC of 20 December 1985 concerning the introduction of Community methods of sampling and analysis for the monitoring of foodstuffs intended for human consumption^f1 and that they are validated or standardised, either already or as soon as possible.

The coffee-based dry matter content must be:

1. (a)

   not less than 95 % by weight in the case of dried coffee extract;

2. (b)

   from 70 % to 85 % by weight in the case of coffee extract paste;

3. (c)

   from 15 % to 55 % by weight in the case of liquid coffee extract.

Coffee extract in solid or paste form must contain no substances other than those derived from the extraction of coffee. Liquid coffee extract may contain edible sugars, whether or not roasted, in a proportion not exceeding 12 % by weight.