Cup for Drinks Made of Edible Twice-baked Pastry

This patent application concerns a cup for hot or cold drinks, made of an edible twice-baked pastry.

The article manufactured according to the invention represents a revolutionary innovation in the serving of drinks in the public catering sector.

As is well known, coffee and other hot drinks - such as tea, chocolate and the likes - are currently served to the public in ceramic cups. Yet the use of such crockery is inevitably associated with various inconveniences of no small consequence.

In this respect, and above all, the expenses shouldered by the owner of a concern in order to acquire a sufficient number of such ceramic cups should be taken into account. Secondly, it is important to consider the necessity to wash each cup immediately after use, such operation requiring considerable time and effort on the part of personnel, not to mention the cost inherent to the purchase and operation of a dishwasher, a now common and widespread appliance.

It must furthermore be noted that the cups used in public catering are increasingly suspected of being vehicles for the oral transmission of infectious diseases; it must be said that tests actually show that most viruses responsible for serious, and sometimes mortal, diseases are resistant even to the temperatures such cups are subjected to in normal washing cycles inside a common dishwasher.

To be honest, most of the above problems may be considered as being solved by the use of common disposable paper cups; yet the use of the latter type of containers is undoubtedly offset by the fact that it results in an enormous output of solid waste, which is moreover highly polluting as the paper used for such cups is plasticised. The article manufactured according to the invention was conceived in consideration of the above mentioned problems.

It consists of a disposable container for hot drinks made of a pastry which is twice baked and - as such - bears the unique and innovative feature of being edible once the liquid contained in it has been drunk. Such container may be shaped as a cup with its relative handle, but there is no reason why it may not be manufactured without a handle, as a simple beaker.

It is entirely made of a pastry similar to the one used for ice cream wafer; such pastry must undergo a baking process in casts in order to give it a consistency comparable to that of a thin biscuit.

It is self evident that the pastry used to make the cup in question must be hard and resistant enough not to melt on contact with boiling hot drinks; to this end, the internal walls of

the same cup are subjected, during the casting process itself, to a greater degree of baking than the other parts of the cup, so that the superficial compactness of such walls may be increased and they so become reasonably impenetrable to liquids.

At any rate it may be affirmed that, on the basis of evidence provided by accurate practical tests, the edible cup obtained in such way lends itself perfectly to being used for serving coffee, chocolate, cappuccino or other hot drinks without losing its structural hardness and without any liquid leaking out.

In fact, although the twice baked wafer gradually absorbs the hot drink, it does not lose its capacity to hold the liquid, given the short time usually sufficient for the user to consume the drink it contains.

This preliminary description already conveys the numerous advantages inherent to the article according to the invention, taking into account the fact that it is designed to be eaten by the user after consumption of the drink. Owners of public catering concerns who adopt such edible cups would no longer have to bear the cost of purchasing ceramic cups, nor the expense inherent to washing them. Moreover, considering the fact that such cups are strictly disposable, it can easily be understood that their regular use in a catering concern would safeguard customers against oral transmission of contagious diseases.

Compared to paper cups, on the other hand, the edible cups in question are preferable in that they do not generate any accumulation of solid waste.

In addition - beyond all practical, sanitary and economic concerns - it must be stressed that the cup in question is further appreciated and relished by the user, who - having enjoyed the drink contained in it - may then go on to eat the cup itself, tasting its delicious wafer, which is even more savoury thanks to the added flavour of the drink it has absorbed.

In such perspective, it is easy to see that to better satisfy the more demanding consumer's palate, the pastry used in making such cup may be of a neutral flavour, or of any other flavour as desired, for instance vanilla, cream, coffee, or honey, etc.

Thus the same customer may choose, in turn, the favourite flavoured cup in relation to the drink to be served in it. Likewise, the pastry may contain added vitamins, making it particularly suitable for children.

In order to further increase the impermeability of said cup, its internal walls may be coated with a sugar based substance of the kind used in sugar coated almonds, which, moreover, partially dissolving into the hot drink, would at the same time act as a sweetener.

For major clarity the description of the item continues with reference to the enclosed drawing which is intended for the purpose of illustration and not in a limiting sense, in which fig. 1 shows an axonometric view of the edible container according to the invention, in its handle-less version.