Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Foraminous material infusion type – or foraminous container... – Having diverse soluble or dispersible material
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-06
2004-08-17
Becker, Drew (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Foraminous material infusion type, or foraminous container...
Having diverse soluble or dispersible material
C426S115000, C426S079000, C206S000500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06777007
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a new pod and method for making fluid comestibles such as coffee, espresso, herb, tea, milk, hot chocolate, latte, cappuccino or mocha. More particularly, the invention relates to a pod in which flavor-containing material such as coffee grounds or cocoa is sandwiched between two porous sheets and method for extracting or dissolving the flavor from the flavor-containing material in the pod.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Today, coffee and espresso arc generally made by adding loose coffee grounds into a filter and applying hot water to the grounds. In automatic drip coffeemakers, the water seeps through the grounds due to gravity, while in espresso machines the water is forced through grounds by pressure. One major issue with today's method of making coffee and espresso is the messiness in handling of the loose coffee grounds.
The two known solutions to this messiness problem are coffee pods, which comprise a supply of coffee grounds sandwiched between two sheets of filter paper as shown in
FIGS. 1
a
and
1
b
, and coffee cartridges or capsules, which comprise a supply of coffee grounds sealed in an aluminum foil or plastic container as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,768 to So, U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,335 to Fond et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,899 to Fond and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/748,495, pending, to the applicant. The coffee cartridge or capsule provides a good solution to the messiness problem, but it is costly to make and causes enviromental problem due to the disposal of the metal or plastic container materials in each cartridge or capsule.
The coffee pod (
FIGS. 1
a
and
1
b
) also solve the messiness problem well, and is cheap to manufacture and do not create any environmental problem as the coffee cartridge or capsule does. However, the existing coffee pods do not work with conventional filter basket
27
(
FIG. 2
) as provided in current pump and steam espresso machines. There are two possible arrangements to fit the pill-shaped coffee pod
10
in the filter basket
27
. The fist possible arrangement is to have the annular sealing seam
18
of the pod
10
supported by the annular rim
19
of the basket
27
. This arrangement, although provides a good seal between the pod and pod holder, does not provide adequate support for the pod and will most likely cause the pod to be pushed into the basket by pressure above the pod during brewing process, thus breaking the seal. As a result, we noticed significant and unacceptable bypass of water through bypass channels formed between the sealing seam and the side wall of the filter basket. As expected, the resulting coffee or espresso was light-colored and watery.
The second possible arrangement (not shown) is to insert the pod
10
completely into the basket
27
until it reaches the bottom
20
of the basket. This arrangement does provide adequate support for the pod
10
by the bottom of the basket
27
. However, significant water leak or bypass exists between the annular sealing seam
18
of pod
10
and the side wall
25
of the basket
27
due to the irregular spaces or channels formed by the interaction or squeezing of the annular sealing seam with the side wall
25
of the filter basket. In our tests, we noticed that the coffee coming out of the outlet
22
of the filter holder
29
had very light color and tasted more like water than coffee, which indicated that most water flowed through such irregular spaces or channels rather than through the coffee grounds
17
in the pod. Furthermore, the pod holder and pod were very wet and dripping after preparing the beverage, which would cause some messiness during disposal of the used pod.
As a result of such leak or bypass, special filter basket
27
a
and filter holder
29
a
(
FIG. 3
) are required to allow the consumers to make espresso or coffee with coffee pods. In such special filter holder (i.e. pod holder)
27
a
, a recessed part
19
a
of the rim
19
is dimensioned to receive and support the sealing seam
18
. The bottom
20
of the filter holder
27
a
is shaped and dimensioned to fit lower half of the pod
10
. To achieve sufficient seal between the bottom of the pod
10
and the bottom
20
of the filter holder
27
a
, the upper half of the pod
10
has to be pressed against the lower surface of the brew head in an espresso or coffee machine (not shown).
One drawback with such pod
10
and special filter basket
27
a
is that the special pod holder and basket holder add substantial cost to an espresso machine. As a result, most manufacturers do not provide such special filter basket and holder with their espresso machines. A second drawback is that most consumers find it cumbersome and confusing to have to use one set of holders for loose grounds and the other set of holders for coffee pods. This confusion and cumbersome is further increased by the fact that only one set of holders can be mounted to the machine at a time and the other set has to be pressed elsewhere in the kitchen. This also increases the chance for holders to get lost. A third drawback is that such special filter basket (or pod holder)
27
a
can not take two or more pods, which are desired by some consumers when they intend to make more than one cup of coffee or espresso drinks. A forth drawback with such special pod holder is that the used wet pod often sticks to the brew head rather than stays in the pod holder when the user remove the pod holder from the machine, which causes messiness and defeat at least some of the advantage of using coffee pod. A last drawback is the dripping and overflow of coffee that may occur when removing the pod holder from the machine since the pod holder
27
a
is too shallow, which causes messiness in the kitchen. These and other drawbacks are among the main reasons that prevent the popular use of coffee and espresso pods today.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a coffee pod that works with conventional filter baskets such as those for espresso machines.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a coffee pod that allows the user to stack two or more coffee pods in a filter basket or pod holder to make two or more cups of coffee or espresso at a time.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a coffee pod that solves the messiness problem of loose coffee grounds but does not causes other messiness issues in the kitchen.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a coffee pod that for making a better cup of coffee or espresso.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide consumers a low cost and environment friendly coffee pod.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a beverage pod for making hot milk or hot chocolate.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide beverage pod(s) for making a mixed or blended beverage such as latte, cappuccino, or mocha.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide beverage pod(s) that can be sufficiently dried and drip-free right after the preparing the beverage.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a method for using coffee pod to make a better cup of coffee or espresso.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a method for consumers to conveniently dispose the used coffee pod.
Still other objects will become apparent after reading the accompanying drawings and description. It should be understood that the invention could still be practiced without performing one or more of the objects set forth above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the invention provides a pod for making coffee, espresso, hot chocolate, mocha, latte or the like. The pod comprises a first sheet of filtering paper having an open top end, a bottom and a substantially vertical side wall adapted to form a seal with the vertical side wall of a pod holder, a second sheet adapted to fit to or into the open top end of the first sheet to form a closed chamber between the sheets, a supply of flavor-containing materials in the closed chamber, and an annular sealing s
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