Carbohydrates as targeting compounds to produce infusions resembling espresso coffee brews using quality by design approach

[Display omitted] •Espresso coffee (EC) carbohydrates are target compounds for infusion optimization.•Infusion extracts can be chemically similar to EC and different from instant coffee.•Freeze-drying is better than spray-drying to prepare instantly soluble powders.•Infusion extracts differ from EC in lower lipids content.•Volatile compounds of infusion extracts exhibit an aroma profile typical of an EC. All coffee brews are prepared with roasted coffee and water, giving origin to espresso, instant, or filtered coffee, exhibiting distinct physicochemical properties, depending on the extraction conditions. The different relative content of compounds in the brews modulates coffee body, aroma, and colour. In this study it was hypothesized that a coffee infusion allows to obtain extracts that resemble espresso coffee (EC) physicochemical properties. Carbohydrates (content and composition) were the target compounds as they are organoleptically important for EC due to their association to foam stability and viscosity. The freeze-drying of the extracts allowed better dissolution properties than spray-drying. Instant coffee powders were obtained with chemical overall composition resembling espresso, although with lower lipids content. The extracts were able to produce the characteristic foam through CO2 injection or salts addition. Their redissolution at espresso concentration allowed a viscosity, foamability and volatile profile representative of an espresso coffee, opening new exploitation possibilities.