Rychiger discusses its coffee capsule solutions

Catering to small coffee products, medium-sized roasters and leading players alike, Rychiger's coffee capsule solutions have the option to include a sophisticated aroma dosing station.

It is anticipated that the global coffee capsule market will grow from US$6.63 billion in 2022 to US$8.5 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate of 6.4 per cent, according to a report from The Business Research Company. Meanwhile, the global flavoured syrups market alone is projected to reach US$65.6 million by 2025.

Many in the coffee industry choose to customise their beverages in this way as it has become increasingly popular with major chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. In recent years, Switzerland-based filling and sealing specialist, Rychiger, has noticed this trend infiltrate the single serve market through aroma dosing.

"Five years ago, not many of the factories, roasters and fillers were really looking into aroma dosing because they wanted to have the original taste," Rychiger Senior Sales Manager Peter Kathriner says.

"But I think by today it has shifted, because end users now prefer to have their beverages according to their own tastes."

As a global leader in coffee capsule solutions, Rychiger has been actively involved in the coffee capsule space since its inception by manufacturing tailored production machines for both new and established systems across the industry. And as consumers became more interested in adding different flavours to their coffee, Rychiger began to see an uptick in orders for machines that include an option for aroma dosing – particularly in liquid form.

"As the single serve industry recognised this trend, many of the orders we get today include liquid aroma dosing as an extra option," says Kathriner. "The end user likes it, and we, as an innovative machine manufacturer facilitate what our customers and finally their end users like."

By integrating aroma dosing in a coffee capsule filling system, the fillers can incorporate various flavours through different mediums, depending on what works best for them – whether it be liquid, powder or encapsulated in form. Kathriner has found that the most popular choice with Rychiger's customers is liquid.

"Liquid is very cost effective," he says. "It is easy and fast to change the dosage in the capsule and it is perfect for smaller volumes, which leads to more flexibility for the co-packers during their production process. You can use either concentrated or diluted flavours as well.

"The limitations with liquid aromatisation or flavouring, are that we have to be focused on Rychiger's calibration unit ensures the capsule is filled precisely. the density and the viscosity of the liquid, keep control of the shelf life, and avoid highly flammable flavours."

When considering the density and viscosity of the liquid, Kathriner says it is important to balance the precise filling of the coffee powder with the aroma dosing to ensure both modules of the machine are synchronised. This guarantees that the injected flavour creates optimum flow velocity and stability of flavour.

"You can imagine that you have a destacker which brings the capsule onto the transport system, then starts to precisely fill with the coffee," says Kathriner. "Then the capsule goes to a compressing station, then to the liquid aroma dosing station if the customer has decided to do that. Afterwards the capsule reaches the cutting and sealing station and then it is rechecked.

According to Kathriner, Rychiger is famous in the coffee capsule filling and sealing industry and is by volume one of the largest filling and sealing machine manufacturers in the world. And aroma dosing comes into play on many Rychiger machines.

"Coming to the aroma dosing capabilities, I would say that it has been installed onsite on almost all the important Rychiger platforms starting from the entry level FS120, to the very famous and popular FS190 – which is in the mid-size range – and up to the FS910 and FS960 HV, which can produce up to 2000 capsules per minute," Kathriner says.

"We have already successfully implemented a liquid aroma dosing system on all these platforms in the market."

With service centres accessible at various locations around the globe, Rychiger also facilitates after service with ease.

On purchasing any of these machines, Rychiger provides customers with a full end-to- end service so they can produce the best filled and sealed capsules that suits their purposes.

"We have built single serve coffee capsules from the very beginning up until now, and we have a lot of experience in building flavouring station equipment as well," Peter says. "We also work closely with the ingredients manufacturer for the different flavouring components, so that when the customer comes to us, we can support them well.

"They can choose the capsule system/design, lidding and foils, and we can assist them with the right grinding tools and end of line equipment, which is also offered by Rychiger through its subsidiary Nuspark. What they really get from us is a full service from the very beginning, if necessary we start with tests in the laboratory. Our goal is to ensure that they get the best filled and sealed coffee capsules, including flavouring if desired. I think that is one of the many advantages of choosing Rychiger."

For more information, visit www.rychiger.com

This article was first published in the September/October 2022 edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more HERE.