Patent Application
20130118358
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This disclosure relates to a system for preparing and dispensing various types of beverages. More specifically, it relates to a system comprising a pitcher or the like with several interchangeable attachments for the pitcher that provide for the preparation and dispensing of infused beverages (such as tea and fruit-infused beverages) and freshly-squeezed fruit juice.
The consumption of freshly-prepared beverages, such as tea, herbal tea, fruit-infused water or tea, and freshly-squeezed fruit juice has become increasingly popular. Each type of beverage requires it own preparation technique and apparatus, however. For example. the preparation and dispensing of steeped and infused beverages are facilitated by the use of beverage preparation vessels that incorporate devices known as infusers. For example, steeped beverages, such as tea and herb tea, are customarily brewed by placing the herbal material in a pot, into which is poured hot water. Typically, it is known to provide an infuser configured as a mesh receptacle or basket to confine the herbal material while it is being steeped in the hot water.
Infusers are also used to prepare “infused” beverages that consist essentially of water that is flavored or “infused” with the juice or essence of various fruits. In the case of infused beverages, the infuser is configured as a basket or receptacle that is inserted into a vessel, such as a pitcher, containing a volume of water. The infuser has an interior that holds crushed fruit or fruit pulp, and a side wall with passages or apertures therethrough for the passage of water through the infuser, and the passage of juice from the fruit into the water, whereby the water is flavored by the juice.
Freshly-squeezed fruit juice requires a “juicer,” which is a device that extracts the juice from the fruit, leaving the pulp as a residue to be disposed of. Typically, a juicer comprises a basin with a porous bottom and a central extraction element or reamer configured for entry into the exposed interior of a cut fruit, such as an orange or lemon. The juicer is placed on top of an open container or vessel, and fruit is then manually rotated on the reamer to extract the juice from the pulp. The juice then drains into the container through passages in the bottom of the basin.
A number of popular beverages are combinations of two or more of the above types of beverages, such as, for example, tea combined with freshly-squeezed fruit juice and/or infused fruit juice, or freshly-squeezed juice combined with infused juice. To make such a combination drink, it is necessary to use two different types of infusers (i.e., an herbal infuser and a fruit infuser), or either an infuser and a juicer. Each of these implements may come with its own beverage container, thereby requiring the pouring of the beverage from one container to another as the drink is made. In any event, having a separate apparatus for each of the three types of beverages described above is cumbersome and wasteful of costs and space.
It would therefore be desirable to have a beverage preparation and dispensing system that requires only a single container, and that can be used to prepare any of the types of beverages described above.
Broadly, in one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a beverage preparation and dispensing system, comprising a container having an open top end; a cover having a bottom portion removably attachable to the top end of the container; at least first and second infusers removably attachable to the bottom of the cover; and a juicer device removably attachable to the top end of the container when the cover is removed.
In a specific embodiment, the container includes a container body having an open top, and a lid ring having a bottom portion removably attachable to the open top of the container body and a top portion defining the open top end of the container to which the cover and the juicer device are removably attachable. Advantageously, at least a first one of the infusers is configured to hold herbal material, such as tea leaves, and at least a second one of the infusers is configured to hold crushed fruit or fruit pulp.
The container 102 also includes a lid assembly comprising a lid ring 106 and a cover 108. The lid ring 106 is removably attachable around the container rim 105 by means of an internal thread 109 (
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When it is desired to add freshly squeezed fruit juice to the container 102, the cover 108 (and any infuser attached thereto, as described above) is not used. Rather, the juicer device 150 is affixed to the upper portion 112 of the lid ring 106, as described above, and then used to extract juice from a fruit in the conventional way. The extracted juice flows through the passages 156 into the body 103 of the container 102. The juicer device 150 is then removed, and it may be replaced by the cover 108, with or without one of the infusers 118, 120 attached thereto.
It will be appreciated that other embodiments of the system 100 may include the juicer device 150 and only a single infuser, or they may include more than two different types of infusers. Alternatively, the system may include two or more of single type of infuser, so that one may be used while the other is being cleaned, for example. In any of these embodiments, a beverage having both an infused flavorant and fresh-squeezed juice, or a beverage having two or more different kinds of infused flavorants, may be prepared in and dispensed from a single container.
It will be appreciated that, in alternative embodiment, the beverage preparation and dispensing system of the present disclosure may omit the lid ring. In this alternative embodiment, the container body 103 would have an internal thread (not shown) around the open top end 104, with an optional handle and spout formed integrally with the container body at diametrically opposite sides of the open top end 104. The cover 108 in this embodiment is removably attachable directly to the top end of the container body by engagement between the external thread 115 on the cover 108 and the internal thread around the top end of the container body. Likewise, the juicer 150 is removably attachable directly to the top end of the container body, when the cover has been removed, by engagement between the external thread 160 on the juicer and the internal thread around the top end of the container body.
In still another alternative embodiment, the various components may be removably attachable to each other by means of a friction fit, instead of a threaded engagement.
Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to specific embodiments, these embodiments are illustrative only and not limiting. Many other applications and embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent in light of this disclosure and the following claims.
