A grinding device comprises a grinding housing with mutually co-acting grinding bodies. A lower of the two grinding bodies is both driven and axially adjustable for the purpose of setting a grind size. An upper grinding body is removable. A grind size of the grinding device can be adjusted in absolute manner between a first extreme position and a second extreme position, corresponding to a fixed setting range between a minimal clearance between the two grinding surfaces and a maximum clearance between the two grinding surfaces. An extreme position of the adjustable grinding body is imposed by a stop which is encountered by the adjusting means in the relevant extreme position. A coffee machine uses the absolute grind size and/or a fine-tuning for an optimal contact time between coffee and through-flowing water.

A device for creating infused beverages that includes a solvent flow management system having a pump body with a pump bore defining a pump interior volume, a piston disposed within the pump interior volume and in a fluidically sealed configuration with the pump bore, and a pump drive system operably coupled to the piston to generate a piston translation path. The device also includes a solvent-flow conduit and in fluid communication with the pump interior volume and a brewing chamber, an outlet, and a flow control valve, wherein the pump drive system is operably configured to selectively drive the piston along the piston translation path, when the flow control valve is in a selectively closed position, to induce a negative pressure and the flow of fluid through a solute housed in the brewing chamber, downstream and through the solvent-flow conduit, and into the pump interior volume.

A recipe is obtained from a user and a mixing machine is configured based on the recipe. A beverage is mixed based on the recipe and dispensed. The use of the recipe by the mixing machine is monitored and compensation for use of the recipe is determined based on the monitored use and the configuration of the mixing machine.

A coffee brewing process comprising the steps of: providing a coffee brewing device, having a plurality of coffee brewing elements; providing end user criteria; selecting recipes from a remote server based upon the end user criteria, said recipes including at least one data set corresponding to said recipe; downloading the recipe and corresponding at least one data set; adjusting settings of at least one coffee brewing element based upon the data set, and so; brewing coffee using said coffee brewing device at one element.

The present invention relates to a beverage preparation machine (10) for preparing a liquid beverage from a cartridge, the machine comprising a first liquid supply circuit (13) configured for selectively providing liquid of predefined temperature and/or volume from a liquid reservoir (22) of the machine (10) to a cartridge inserted into the machine, a second liquid supply circuit (14) configured for selectively providing liquid of predefined temperature and/or volume from the liquid reservoir (22) of the machine to a liquid delivery outlet (11b) of the machine, a control unit (15) for controlling the first and second liquid supply circuit (13, 14), and a network unit (16) comprising a network interface for communication with an external electronic device (1) over a network, wherein the control unit (15) is configured to individually control the selective provision of liquid from the first and the second liquid supply circuit (13, 14) in response to information obtained via the network unit (16).

A coffee machine is disclosed having a water system intended to be connected to a water supply system, a filter unit disposed at the inlet of the water system, a pump, a tank disposed in the water system between the filter unit and the pump, a sensor unit disposed in the tank and suitable for measuring at least one quality parameter of the water contained in the tank, a monitoring unit electrically connected to the sensor unit to receive electrical signals that are indicative of the measured water quality parameters, transduce the electrical signals in numerical values and compare the numerical values of the measured parameters with preset threshold ranges, and a user interface operatively connected to the monitoring unit and having an alarm to indicate when a water parameter is out of the preset threshold range.

A portable, self-contained beverage apparatus includes a container assembly having a known storage capacity for storing a consumable liquid, and a dispensing assembly disposed within the container assembly that dispenses variable, non-zero quantities of additives into the consumable liquid. The dispensing assembly includes multiple apertures structured and arranged to retain vessels containing the additives to be dispensed into the consumable liquid. The beverage apparatus also includes a level sensor disposed within the container assembly that determines a consumable liquid level of the consumable liquid stored in the container assembly. In certain embodiments, one or more positive displacement pumping mechanisms are configured to pump additive liquid from additive containers into a beverage chamber.

An apparatus estimates a property of an ingredient of a beverage based on photograph data of the ingredient of the beverage. An apparatus obtains photograph data of an ingredient of a beverage used for preparation of the beverage, and estimates a property of the ingredient of the beverage based on the obtained photograph data.

Systems and methods are described, which relate to the control of additive dispensers to provide defined amounts of one or more additive compounds to water to produce customized water. A given additive dispenser may include multiple inputs and/or outputs. Predefined water profiles may be stored in memory. A given water profile may define the amounts of additives to be delivered by the additive dispensers to achieve desired water characteristics. A controller may determine actual water characteristics of input water based on corresponding sensor data, and may compare the actual water characteristics to desired water characteristics in order to determine the amount of additive or additives that should be delivered to the input water to achieve the desired water characteristics. The additive dispensers may be network-enabled and may include transceivers configured to receive instructions related to production of customized water from a user device.

A smart inductive heating appliance includes an interface for interacting with a package intelligence and communication module on a smart package. The smart heating appliance may also detect and charge chargeable devices inductively. A number of data sets may be utilized to enhance control of heating/cooking and to enhance safety. A thermodynamic load profile of the package may include detailed data correlations established in a package testing step and utilized to control heating of the package as well as to validate and authenticate the package.