Patent Application
20050163892
The present subject matter relates to a frozen additive for use with a heated beverage. More specifically, the present subject matter relates to a frozen flavored additive for cooling a heated beverage.
Heated beverages, such as, for example coffee, tea or hot chocolate, were often served at a temperature that was higher than desired by consumers for consumption. In order to avoid discomfort, or even injury, it was often necessary to cool a heated beverage prior to consumption. There were two common procedures for cooling beverages. The first method was to allow the beverage to cool towards the ambient temperature over a period of time. One problem associated with this first method was the length of time required to cool the beverage. The second method was to insert ice cubes into the beverage to rapidly reduce the temperature of the heated beverage. Unfortunately, this second method resulted in dilution of the heated beverage.
The present subject matter discloses a frozen additive for use with a heated beverage. The frozen additive may be approximately the same concentration of ingredients as the heated beverage to enable the frozen additive to cool the heated beverage without substantially diluting the heated beverage. Alternatively, the frozen additive may comprise a substantially higher concentration as the heated beverage to give the beverage a concentration boost while cooling. In another embodiment, the frozen additive may utilize different ingredients to alter the flavor or content of the ingredients in the heated beverage as it is cooled. In yet another embodiment, the frozen additives may be packaged with ingredients used to make the heated beverage. The present subject matter further relates to a method of cooling a heated beverage with any of the above-mentioned frozen additives.
As commonly occurs when preparing the heated beverage 10 for consumption, the temperature of the heated beverage 10 is often raised above the desired consumption temperature. Raising the temperature of the heated beverage beyond the desired temperature may occur intentionally or unintentionally. It is recognized that the temperature desired for consumption is subjective and, accordingly, may vary from person to person. Therefore, even if the heated beverage 10 is raised to a predetermined temperature, that temperature may exceed the desired temperature for a particular use or consumer. It is further recognized that the desired temperature may fall within a range of temperatures and often does not lend itself to precise calculation.
While the frozen additive 14 shown in
Alternatively, the frozen additive 14 may be made from a beverage other than what is used as the heated beverage 10. As a result of using different frozen additive 14, various flavors or ingredients may be added to the heated beverage 10. For example, it may be desirable to combine a flavored frozen additive 14 with a coffee based heated beverage 10, thereby adding flavor to the heated beverage 10.
Additionally, the frozen additive 14 may be produced in varying concentrations to appeal to customers wanting to subtly affect the flavor and/or ingredients of the heated beverage 10 while substantially maintaining the composition of ingredients of the heated beverage 10. For example, a coffee based frozen additive 14 may be produced in “light,” “regular” and “strong” concentrations to enable one to increase or decrease the concentration of caffeine in a coffee based heated beverage 10. For example, a “strong” coffee frozen additive 14 may be used to increase the flavor and/or caffeine concentration in a coffee based heated beverage 10. Additionally, other flavors, vitamins or other ingredients could be incorporated into the frozen additive 14 to be used with the heated beverage 10. For example, vitamin C, zinc, protein, creatine (or other health and exercise related supplements) may be incorporated into a frozen additive 14 to be used with a tea or apple based heated beverage 10 to provide a consumer with certain vitamins or minerals.
Depending upon the ingredients used, it may be possible to package the frozen additives 14 in the container 16 in an non-refrigerated and non-frozen state. A user of the frozen additives 14 would then place the container 16 or serving cups 20 removed from the container 16 in a freezer prior to use with a heated beverage 10. The serving cups 20 may comprise uniform concentration throughout the container or, alternatively, varying concentration to provide a variety pack.
It may be useful to package some or all of the ingredients used to make the heated beverage 10 in a kit that includes one or more prepackaged servings of the frozen additive 14 in a frozen, or unfrozen, state. For example, ground coffee used to make a the heated beverage 10 may be packaged in a kit with a container 16 comprising serving cups filled with coffee additive. The various frozen additives 14 may be used to tailor the flavor and/or concentration of the ingredients in the heated beverage 10. For example, ground coffee used to make a the heated beverage 10 may be packaged in a kit with coffee based frozen additives 14 of varying strengths to enable various combinations of the heated beverage 10 and the frozen additives 14 to be produced. Accordingly, a decaffeinated coffee based frozen additive 14 could be packaged with ingredients to make a caffeinated coffee based heated beverage 10. The decaffeinated coffee based frozen additive 14 could be used to dilute the strength of the caffeine concentration in the heated beverage 10. In another example, the frozen additives 14 packaged with the ingredients for making the heated beverage 10 may incorporate various flavors, such as vanilla, cocoa, hazelnut, etc. to enable production of heated beverages 10 of varying flavors.
It should be noted that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and without diminishing its attendant advantages.
