EP1854741A2

EP1854741A2 - Disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminum scoop system prefilled with ground and pressed coffee and ready to be inserted for immediate use in a espresso coffee maker

Info

Publication number: EP1854741A2
Application number: EP07380102A
Authority: EP
Inventors: German Diaz Blanco
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-04-17
Filing date: 2007-04-13
Publication date: 2007-11-14
Also published as: CA2649774A1; BRPI0710680A2; EP1854741A3; ES2284388A1; ES2284388B1; RU2008145114A; WO2007118914A1; US20090098253A1; AU2007239426A1; MX2008013295A; MX284791B

Abstract

Looking at the attached Figures, it can be seen that the present invention comprises a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop (1) provided with a porous filter in its lower part (2) filled with ground and pressed coffee (3) and provided with an upper lid and upper porous filter (4).

Description

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a scoop system made of food grade plastic or aluminium, simple or double, to fill with ground and pressed coffee and to be placed in a porta-scoop of an espresso coffee maker to make a cup of coffee.
The object of the invention is to obtain, in the simplest, cleanest and easiest manner a cup of espresso coffee. Since the scoop object of the invention is a disposable scoop, the process only requires it to be placed in the porta-scoop of the coffee maker filled with ground and pressed coffee, which avoids having to manually calculate the dose of coffee and also the noise of the coffee grinder when grinding the whole bean.
Another noteworthy fact of the invention is that, since the disposable scoop already incorporates the ground and pressed coffee dose, and will only be used once, the next cup of coffee will not be tainted with used coffee grounds remnants from the previous use, as it is usually the case in the traditional coffee making system that comprises a fixed metal scoop that is reloaded with the coffee dose every time a cup of coffee is going to be made.
The object of the invention is also to resolve the problem of mixed flavours. Since there are already several flavours of espresso bean being marketed, making coffee in coffee makers that have only a fixed scoop as means to feed the new dose of coffee for every cup make entails the risk of the flavours mixing, since the waiters at commercial establishments when making a new cup dispose of the grounds of the previous cup by dumping the used grounds out, and therefore residues of previous doses remain in the scoop, and therefore the possibility of different flavours mixing exist, ruling out the obtention of an optimum, pure, cup of coffee as can be obtained with the disposable scoop for ground and pressed coffee for espresso coffee makers.
The problem of mixing different coffees in the scoop pertains also to mixing caffeinated and decaffeinated varieties in the espresso maker. When the customer asks for a cup of decaffeinated coffee at a commercial establishment, the waiter or operator simply puts manually the requested coffee dose in the same scoop used to make caffeinated varieties. The present invention also solves this potential problem.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is a well known fact that metal scoops that fit the porta-scoop of conventional espresso making machines are only cleaned at the end of every work shift, and sometime less often. This modus operandi leads to the mixing of flavours, and the subsequent lack of hygiene and lessened quality of the next cup of coffee brewed with said espresso machine.
Although the conventional espresso brewing system can make a cup of espresso coffee, they have certain problems that are reflected in the following instances:
When the waiter or operator extracts the porta-scoop from the coffee maker containing the grounds of the previous brewing, they usual way of disposing of said used grounds are by knocking the porta-scoop against a bar provided to that effect in the container provided as disposal drawer for said used grounds. Because the fixes scoop has been exposed to the heat generated by the motor of the coffee making machine, the coffee grounds hardened, leaving residue or remnants adhered to the fixed metal scoop, that can only be eliminated if the waiters or operators were to wash the scoop after every use, a hygienic routine that is seldom done. This problem would be solved by using the disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso coffee makers, since each coffee cup will be made with a new scoop and dose, and therefore the aforementioned disadvantages of the conventional system such as lack of hygiene, mixing of flavours and of caffeinated and decaffeinated varieties of coffee would have been overcome, while obtaining every time an optimum cup of coffee having the best of qualities and with the assurance that no coffee grounds previously used have been brewed again.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to the creation of a food grade plastic or aluminium scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso coffee makers in such a manner that the operator only has to place said system in the porta-scoop of the espresso coffee maker, remove it after it that cup-dose has been brewed and place a brand new scoop for the next cup, avoiding thus the problems mentioned above, since the disposable nature of the scoop of the present invention is made such (disposable and one use only) to precisely avoid the mixing of flavours, residues of previous coffees brewed that is the norm with the traditional brewing system.
The scoop or coffee ground receptacle is made in disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium that has in its lower base a porous structure covered by a porous paper filter over which the ground and pressed coffee is poured and packed in the pre-measured single or double dose. The upper part has a porous plastic cover or a porous filter paper. When the pressure water jet sent by the espresso coffee maker enters through this upper part of the scoop, the coffee is brewed inside the scoop and exits through the porous paper filter placed at the bottom of the scoop, pouring directly onto the cup placed below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To further illuminate the description already provided, and to help gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the present invention, and according to a preferred example of a practical embodiment of the present invention, the following three figures are attached as integrated part of said description. These three figures show the outline and the perspective of the disposable one use only plastic or aluminium scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee according to the object of the present invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Claims

System comprising a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso coffee makers and intended for the infusion or brewing of one single or double dose of espresso coffee with the purpose of obtaining an optimum cup of coffee devoid of the flavour of the coffee grounds previously used to brew other earlier cups of coffee.
System comprising a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso coffee makers, that can be used also empty, without the ground and pressed coffee already incorporated to the scoop, and can be filled with fresh ground coffee direct from the coffee mill and disposed of after each successive brew.
System comprising a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso coffee makers that fits in industrial and household coffee-making machines equally.