Patent Application
20140377414
This disclosure relates to single serve cups for use in the beverage brewing industry.
The popularity of the single beverage server continues to rise, and various approaches to designing an extraction cartridge or cup have been proposed and put into commerce. Some of the noted drawbacks to known single serve cups are less than optimal extraction quality, less than optimal flavor of the extracted beverage and greater than optimal cost per cup. There are various environmental and structural concerns as well.
A new structure for a single serve cup is needed.
A portion package for brewing hot beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc.) in a single serve brewing machine such as a Keurig K-cup machine is disclosed. It improves on current products in the market by improving (for instance in single cup coffee brewing) both coffee extraction and the resulting flavor of the coffee.
In one embodiment, this is accomplished by having a paper filter in direct contact with the body of the cup, providing optimal or maximum cup-body-to-filter contact, and by creating what is believed to be a bidirectional, controlled flow of hot water through the coffee during brewing.
A cup body is shaped to fit into a single serve coffee brewing machine. The cup is conventionally made by injection molding a plastic material such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polylactic acid, or the like or by forming a paper cup in the way that paper cups are conventionally produced, but with an open bottom and holes in the wall of the cup.
In a first embodiment, the walls of the cup body have round or polygonal shaped holes that act as coffee extraction ports. The cup body has an open bottom where only filter material covers the cup bottom.
Filter material shaped like a cup is fixed to the inner surface of the cup body. This can be done either through a secondary process where the filter material is first shaped and then heat sealed in to the cup or through a direct press of a filter disk into the cup.
The filter material is in direct contact with the body of the cup, which provides maximum cup-body-to-filter-material contact compared to conventional portion cups which have a smaller inner chamber of filter paper surrounded by a plastic cup. Maximizing cup-body-to-filter contact has been shown to improve the flavor of the brewed coffee in taste tests.
The design is believed to create a bi-directional flow of water that maximizes the amount of ground coffee in contact with the hot water. As hot water is injected into the cup, it extracts flavor from the ground coffee and passes through the filter in both the vertical plane (the coffee extraction ports) and the horizontal plane (the open bottom). The open bottom is an improvement over other known cups which have a closed, impermeable, plastic bottom. In taste tests, what is believed to be this bi-directional flow has been shown to produce a better extraction and better tasting coffee compared to any other known single serve portion cups. Different sizes and shaped ports are used to provide different levels of extraction.
The design keeps hot water in contact with the coffee longer by restricting to at least some extent and also controlling the flow of the water out of the cup. The coffee extraction ports or side ports in the cup restrict the area through which water can flow out of the cup as compared to known cups with large panel openings between widely spaced plastic ribs and in so doing, increase the amount of time the coffee and hot water percolate inside the cup compared to such designs. This provides for better extraction and better tasting coffee based on taste tests.
The plastic cup can be made environmentally friendly by injection molding the body from renewable and compostable polylactic acid (PLA), the filter can be made of wood pulp fibers, and the lidding can be compostable/degradable material like Pacific Bag Inc. Biotre® brand packaging film. This would create a cup made of renewable, compostable, biodegradable materials that will reduce waste and the use of limited, non-renewable resources. The cup can also be made environmentally friendly by making the body from renewable and compostable paper coated with polyethylene (PE) or polylactic acid (PLA).
The cup is designed to be pre-filled with ground coffee or other hot beverage precursor material and covered with a flexible lidding material sealed to a cup rim in the case of the plastic cup or to a paper lip in the case of the paper cup. In the case of the paper version, the lip and heat sealed lidding arrangement is similar to a cup of instant soup.
After use, the plastic version is designed to be disposed of in normal trash and the paper version by disposal in normal trash or by composting. Both versions are disposed of with the wet, used coffee inside. The disclosed cup is more convenient than re-usable plastic cups on the market because the consumer does not need to fill the cup with coffee and close the lid before use and then remove the coffee grounds and clean the cup after use. The cup is designed to be made of thin, economical materials which allow them to be priced as one-time use, disposable devises. This is an improvement in cost and convenience over refillable, plastic cups that retail for in the $10-$20 range.
In another embodiment, the improvement on current products in the market includes:
the filter insertion does not require complex mechanical methods for pleating and sealing the filter to the interior of the cup;
it can be manufactured on relatively low cost, readily available equipment using existing methods of cup making;
the cup can be made of renewable or renewable and compostable paper resources for a more environmentally friendly product compared to current plastic cups; and
manufacturing is less complex and more economical compared to current products on the market.
In this embodiment, paper cups are made by unrolling a roll of paper that is coated with a heat sealable material such as polyethylene (PE). The coated paper is conventionally die cut into a flat. A separate operation die cuts a round bottom piece. A cup is formed when the flat is joined together with a heat seal, the round bottom piece is heat sealed on to the cup bottom and the top of the cup is rolled into a lip. In cups for foods like instant soup, a lidding material is heat sealed to the cup lip after product has been filled into the cup by the food or beverage manufacturer. A heat sealable plastic can also be used to make the flat or bottom piece.
For the disclosed cup, a paper flat is made in the conventional way. The paper flat is perforated over what will become the side walls of the cup. These perforations allow the brewed coffee the flow out of cup. The exact number and size of perforations can be adjusted to adjust the coffee extraction from the cup, but generally the perforations will be small like a pinhole. In prototypes up to 600 perforations per cup have been used. The perforations can be done while the paper is in roll form, prior to being die cut into a flat, or after the paper is die cut into a flat. The round cup bottoms are also perforated prior to being sealed to the cup.
Filter material is applied to the flat and the bottom on the side that will become the interior of the cup. Application can be done by heat sealing heat sealable coffee filter material to the PE coating on the cup. The filter material covers the perforations to prevent product in the cup from escaping and to provide for proper extraction of the beverage in the cup.
As mentioned above, the cup material may be paper or plastic material such as polypropylene. The plastic material is desirably heat sealable on the interior as is a PE coated paper cup.
The disclosed single serve cup or beverage extraction cup or cartridge includes a filter insert inside a cup body. The cup body has an open bottom and a plurality of side ports, and the filter insert is shaped to fit the cup body such that substantially all the side ports are fronted with filter material. Generally, the filter insert is bonded to the cup body, and covers the cup body open bottom.
The cup body is advantageously made of a recyclable plastic, though in some instances it may also be made of coated paper. The side ports are substantially round in shape, or they are an elongated generally ellipsoidal shape, desirably tapered to some degree at each end of the ellipse. Other shapes will occur to those skilled in the art and are intended to fall within the scope of the claims. The side ports, regardless of shape, are on the order of 5 mm wide (3 mm to 7 mm), though smaller ports, even as small as pin-prick size have been found to produce good results, especially in paper versions of the cup. Larger port widths up to 10 mm can also be made to serve.
The disclosed side ports are advantageously arranged around the vertical frustoconical wall of the cup body such that at least one first side port is laterally adjacent to a second side port and vertically offset from the second side port. Desirably all, or at least a plurality of first side ports are respectively laterally adjacent to a plurality of second side ports and each of the side ports of a pair of laterally adjacent side ports are vertically offset from each other.
The open bottom of the cup body is open over substantially all of a bottom of the cup body. A radially inwardly projecting bottom lip comparable in width to the cup body rim is optionally present, and the open bottom opening is defined by the inner circumference of this bottom lip. Other opening shapes can be made to serve however, and the bottom lip may be smaller in width than the cup rim, or not present at all, in which case the opening at the bottom is simply defined by the circumference of the bottom wall of the cup body. Non-circular open bottoms typically defined by polygonal or irregularly shaped bottom cup lips can also be made to serve.
The filter insert is a conventional non-woven material and may be either paper or polymer, with polypropylene having been found to be advantageous. The filter insert is desirably bonded by heat seal to the inside of the cup body along substantially all of a region that includes an upper circumference of the cup body. This upper circumference of the cup body is generally just below the cup rim on the cup body, but may be disposed at some small distance below the cup rim as well. Alternatively, all or substantially all of the filter insert can be bonded to the inside of the cup body. The heat seal bonding is generally conventional and believed to be well understood by those skilled in the art. Other conventional hot-food-grade adhesives may also be employed in the alternative to heat sealing.
A desirable usage of the disclosed extraction cartridge is for making hot beverages. The cartridge has a filter insert inside a cup body, with a quantity of beverage precursor such as coffee grounds or powder or tea leaves or powder or chocolate inside the filter and a lid sealed across the cup rim of the cup body.
Definitions.
When used in this disclosure the terms substantial and substantially or the like are used in the sense of ‘all’ or ‘very nearly all’ or ‘very nearly completely’. It is intended as a definite term and the only variation possible is to cover would-be infringers who seek to avoid the scope of a claim by making insubstantial variations. In other words, it is believed that one of ordinary skill in the art will know what is meant by any term in this disclosure which includes the words substantial or substantially.
Wherever used throughout the disclosure and claims, the term ‘generally’ has the meaning of ‘approximately’ or ‘closely’ or ‘within the vicinity or range of’. The term ‘generally’ as used herein is not intended as a vague or imprecise expansion on the term it is selected to modify, but rather as a clarification and potential stop gap directed at those who wish to otherwise practice the appended claims, but seek to avoid them by insignificant, or immaterial or small variations. All such insignificant, or immaterial or small variations are intended to be covered as part of the appended claims by use of the term ‘generally’.
Turning now to the drawings, the disclosed single serve cup is described by reference to the numerals of the drawing figures wherein like numbers indicate like parts.
In
Cup body 11 has rim 14 and open bottom 17. A plurality of side ports 15 are provided in the vertical wall of cup body 11. Laterally adjacent port pairs 16 are vertically offset one port from the other.
With respect to the filter material inside the cup, a non-woven material is desirable, but it need not always be polypropylene. It can be made from either wood pulp (i.e. paper), with heat sealable plastic advantageously embedded in it, or it can be made entirely from other kinds of plastic fibers.
With regard to systems and components above referred to, but not otherwise specified or described in detail herein, the workings and specifications of such systems and components and the manner in which they may be made or assembled or used, both cooperatively with each other and with the other elements of the invention described herein to effect the purposes herein disclosed, are all believed to be well within the knowledge of those skilled in the art. No concerted attempt to repeat here what is generally known to the artisan has therefore been made.
In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown, since the means and construction shown comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims, appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent application 61/839,292 filed Jun. 25, 2013 which is hereby incorporated by this reference as if fully set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61839292 | Jun 2013 | US |
