TITLE: A disposable beverage infusion device and use of such device

TECHNICAL FIELD

The described subject matter relates generally to means for preparing beverages, more particularly, it relates to an infusion arrangement for preparing a single cup of coffee, tea or the like.

BACKGROUND The commercial background of the invention is to give the hot beverage market a one cup solution where one only need hot water or other type of liquid such as milk or alike, to brew a hot beverage. In the same time, the idea is also to give the customer a possibility to choose the type of beverage they want with the base of only using hot water or alike without investing in brewing machines.

The technical background is based on the "presso" brewing technology, or plunge pot brewing as it also is referred to, where the coffee, tea or alike is blended with hot water and is separated from the liquid with a filter or a mesh that is pressed down in a drinking container. The "Presso" (or plunger pot) technique is providing the best tasting coffee according to many connoisseurs. The plunger pot normally consists of a carafe or pitcher, with a manual piston-like assembly inside. The bottom part of the 'plunger' is a fine mesh, either metal or plastic.

To use such a device one just removes the whole plunger device, and put the ground coffee in the bottom of the pot. Pour in hot water, and put the lid and plunger device back on. Let it sit and brew for a few minutes. Then just push down on the plunger. The mesh filters out the ground coffee and holds them down at the bottom of the pot. Leave the plunger in place, and just pour out coffee.

A problem with that solution is that the pressure one have to force upon the plunger device is relative high, this because the liquid needs to pass the filter mesh that has the same area as the diameter of the beverage container. Hence it is difficult to create a plunger pot brewer in a disposable material, which normally is not as rigid as a normal carafe or pitcher. The plunger pot beverage container is also normally made as a system, not for one time use, and can therefore not be economic in a one cup solution. The problems with other one-cup solutions is that one have to remove a part of the brewing device, before one can drink the beverage, and also that one have to wait up to three minutes before it is brewed, and one can move around with the beverage. These methods are normally using other brewing techniques than the plunger pot technique.

Though not a fatal flaw, one issue that plagues plunger pots is heat loss. Pre-warming the carafe (and filter assembly) can, and will, reduce this problem, but the glass/carafe/pitcher is normally quite thin, so the temperature of the water may drop below optimal brewing temperatures while steeping. Insulated presses will virtually eliminate heat loss; however, such presses now in production are made of either plastic or metal (stainless steel), which is not suitable for one-cup solutions.

In US 3,935,318 is described a one-cup solution comprising a disc-shaped receptacle containing coffee or other solid beverage material, the invention described is built on the idea to incorporate a pumping action into the device in order to force hot water through the solid beverage material. However a disadvantage with this solution is that a lot of residue material and sediment appears in the drink after infusion, also another disadvantage is that the invention, as described, is expensive to produce due to its complexity. Also another

disadvantage is that, when utilized, the device causes spilling of hot beverage, due to the movement needed for infusion. Also should be noted that this does not resemble the "Presso"-technique at all. In US 5,441,752 is described yet another one-cup solution wherein the idea is to use a combined stirrer and infusion device. However a disadvantage with this solution is that the hot water is not sufficiently surrounding the solid infusible material, and hence the device described is unable to create a sufficiently good drink. Neither this solution is based on the "Presso"-technique .

SUMMARY

The advantages with present invention are that you can offer a beverage of any taste without any machines; also you can get a beverage of high quality when you only have access to boiling water or other hot liquids such as milk or the like.

One object of the described subject matter is to provide a disposable brewing device, for brewing coffee, tea or the like in a single beverage container, which is simple and easy to use and yet able to create coffee or tea according to, or resembling, the "Presso"-technique .

A further object of this invention is to provide such a brewing device which will maintain hot water in contact with coffee grounds or tea leaves in the filter, in such way that the produced coffee or tea will present a better brew characteristic and less sediment than known prior-art and also a produced coffee or tea that has a better heat preservation than prior art solutions.

A further object of this invention is to provide a disposable infusion means for infusing a beverage in a single beverage container (300) comprising a brewing means

(100), having a circular type cross-section, with a first, upper, portion (200) of the brewing means (100) comprising

of a plurality of perforations (104) for allowing hot liquid to flow downwards, the first, upper, portion (200) further comprising of a at least one outer flexible, foldable, set of circumferential wings (101) and a second, lower, portion comprising of a water permeable infusion bag (201), wherein the second portion being attached to the first portion of said brewing means (100)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The foregoing and other advantages of the described subject matter will become apparent from the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings, wherein;

FIG.l shows a top view of the device to be placed in a beverage container.

FIG.2 shows the side view of the same bag device, illustrating the filter bag being attached on the bottom side of the plunger device

FIG.3 is a perspective view of the cup and infusion device assembly.

FIG.4 is illustrating the stick to be used for causing the relative vertical movement

FIG.5 shows a perspective view of the cup and infusion device assembly when in use. FIG.6 shows a perspective view of the cup and infusion device assembly when the brewing procedure is finished.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to "a/an/the [element, device, component, means, step, etc] " are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of said element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly

stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated.

The general idea with this invention is to provide a simple and yet easy to use one-cup solution for brewing coffee, tea or the like based on the "Presso" technique but modified for one-cup solutions.

The normal plunger pot works by steeping coarsely ground coffee in hot water. It is very important to mention how hot the water should be. Coffee, an organic substance, can be easily burnt if given the proper conditions. Therefore, when using this method of coffee brewing, bring water up to a slow boil and then down again. Water boils at 100 degrees C and water 5 degrees below boiling will work well. Pour the heated water over the grounds and let it sit for roughly four minutes. The final step displays the origins of the name "plunger pot." When ready, slowly depressing the plunger will release and filter the beverage. The coffee has been made and is now ready to be served.

Some presses are insulated; these work well for keeping the coffee hot during the steeping process. However, contrary to the manufacturers' instructions, one should pour off the coffee when it is ready and not keep in the brewing vessel, else it will continue to steep and become bitter and over-extracted.

While this may all seem very romantic and yet scientific, the plunger pot has its invariable advantages. First most, coffee made with this method is richer as it contains more oils from the grounds.

A plunger pot consists, normally, mainly of two parts: a beaker-shaped container, carafe or pitcher made out of glass, metal, or plastic, and a plunger, which is a multi- piece wire-mesh filter assembly attached perpendicularly to a metal rod.

The basic concept of present invention is however to introduce a one-cup solution based on "Presso"-technique by sealing coffee, tea or other solid brewing material in a filter bag (201) which is a water permeable infusion bag of suitable type, with a surface of practically the same size as the container where the liquid is brewed. The brewing means (100) presented comprises mainly of three parts, an infusion bag or filter bag (201), a plunger device (200) and an actuating stick (400) The filter bag (201) is attached to a so called plunger device (200), that is used, both for securing that said filter bag (201) is hanging stable below the plunger device (200) and inside the drinking container (300) when hot water or other hot liquid is poured into the drinking container (300) by means of engaging an outer set of flexible, foldable circumferential wings (101) with a notch

(301) inside the upper part of the drinking container

(300), and also as a mesh device where the water or other hot liquid can pass around the edges of the wings (101, 102) when the plunger device (200) is pressed down, in order to minimize the pressure on the mesh.

As the area of the filter bag (201) is relatively large, no excessive pressure is created when the brewing means (100) is pressed downwards, in the drinking container (300), since the area of witch the liquid needs to pass the filter is large.

When the brewing process is finished, the brewing means (100) is pushed down and locked in the bottom of the drinking container (300), by means of engaging the inner set of flexible, foldable circumferential wings (102) with a notch (302,303,304) placed in the lower part of the drinking container (300), and therefore the brewing means (100) does not have to be removed afterwards.

As depicted in figure 1, the inner set of circumferential set of wings (102) are mounted radial to

the outer set of wings (103), however the mounting of these wings can easily be rearranged so that the outer and inner set of wings are mounted in between each others, or in any other suitable configuration. The filter bag (201) is floating freely in the liquid filling out the drinking container (300); it is attached to the plunger device (200), which is flexible in the way it is shaped. The plunger device (200) is fitted with two set of wings (101, 102) on the outer, upper rim of the plunger device (200) and these wings (101, 102) are divided in two sections in order to give a correct angle when the brewing means (100) is pushed downwards into a conical drinking container (300) and the function of the top horizontal wings (101) is to control that the brewing means (100) stay in the centre when pushed downwards, and also to make sure that the brewing means (100) does not pop up when the liquid is brewed and when the brewing means (100) is pressed down.

The plunger device (200) will engage and lock in a notch (301) at the top of the drinking container (300) and remain stable during the brewing. There are also several notches (302, 303, 304) at the bottom of the drinking container (300) to make sure that the plunger device (200) will be locked, when it is pressed down. The outer set of wings (102) is attached to the ring of the plunger device in such a way so that they will bend easily when pressed down .

The plunger device (200) is also fitted with a set of flexible, vertical guidance wings (103) which are mounted on the outside of the upper, portion of the plunger device (200) .

On the top centre of the plunger device (200) there is a stand-off grid (202) with a circular shape further comprising an X-shaped slit (105) that will receive and hold the end of a stick (400) that is used to press the

plunger device (200) down. The stick (400) fits loose in the circular shape and has typically an x-profile (401) that will help to press the brewing device (100) straight down, without making the plunger device (200) to turn around.

When pressing the stick (400), the stand-off grid

(202) will be pressed down and the circular shape will hence squeeze around the X-profile (401) and make them connect when the brewing means (100) is pushed to the bottom. When taking up the stick (400) it will work in the other direction and loosen up.

At the bottom of the plunger device ring there are vertical guidance wings (103) that will make sure that the plunger device (200) will stay in position, and also to make sure that the filter bag (201) will not be squeezed between the drinking container (300) and the ring of the plunger device (200).

The filter bag (201) is made as big as possible, in order to create a surface that is so big that it will create practically no pressure when the water is pressed out of the filter bag (201) when pushing the stick (400) down in the drinking container (300) to stop the brewing process .

In order to get the liquid inside the filter bag (201), the top of the filter bag (201) is made of a net or mesh that will let the water pass freely and blend up with the tea, coffee or other solid beverage material quickly.

If the water comes from the outside (i.e from the side) and in, it will make the coffee lump together and will therefore not mix with the liquid. At the bottom of the filter bag (201), the structure of the net or mesh is denser to prevent that there will not come residue material into the beverage.

When brewing, with fresh coffee, foam will be created; this foam will make the filter bag (201) flow and hence

this foam will prevent a proper brewing and it will also create unwanted bubbles in the filter bag.

To prevent this, there are holes (not shown in any figure) made into the top part of the mesh or net, in order to make sure that the air created will be able to go out. These holes are also made, so that they are still being small enough to prevent the ground coffee to get out of the bag. The edges of the small holes are rough so that the bubbles will burst when they are lying against the top mesh and the air will be pressed out. In the plunger device (200) there are openings (104) both for relieving air release upwards and also for letting hot liquid coming in from above .

The drinking container (300) described and used in the above embodiments is preferably made in a biodegradable or recyclable material due to environmental issues and it is also preferably made in a conical shape, due to logistic reasons; i.e. it is more efficient to stack conical containers on top of each others, hence securing that a more cost efficient transport can take place.

The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the claims. As will be readily obvious, individual features of the forms of embodiment may be interchanged with or supplemented by features of other forms of embodiment.