A filter cup (100) holds ground coffee within a portafilter for attachment to an espresso machine to extract a dose of coffee. The filter cup (100) has a body (102) including a floor (104) with a plurality of perforations (106), a sidewall (108) extending upwardly from the floor (104) to a rim (110) to define a cavity for holding the ground coffee, and a magnet (114) attached to the body (102) for producing a magnetic field.

An appliance for making a beverage, the appliance comprising: a plurality of heating components for heating a liquid, and a power management system, wherein the power management system comprises: an energy storage device, wherein at least a first function of the appliance requires simultaneous operation of a first heating component and a second heating component of the plurality of heating components, and wherein at least the first heating component comprises a first heater element and a second heater element, where the first heater element is powered using mains power, and the second heater element is powered using the energy storage device.

The invention relates to a computer program executable on a computer (4) for assisting the preparation of infant formula in an infant feeding container using an electronic scale (2) arranged in communication with the computer. The invention also relates to an electronic scale (2) for assisting the preparation of infant formula comprising a communication module (16) arranged to communicate with the computer (4) hosting the computer program.

A beverage maker and a method for operating a beverage maker are provided. The beverage maker comprises a sensor of a 1st category which provides only one individual measuring value S1 at a specific time, a sensor of a 2nd category which provides a plurality of measuring values S2 at a specific time, a data memory and a control unit. The control unit is configured to compare the measuring values S2 with target values which are stored in the data memory and, based on this comparison, to trigger or not to trigger at least one event. If the comparison does not lead to an event being triggered, detection of at least one measuring value S1 is effected by the control unit, the measuring value S1 being used to assign the measuring values S2 to at least one event and to store these measuring values S2 as target values for the assigned event in the data memory.

A device for producing foam, particularly of a liquid such as milk, coffee, or the like, includes a liquid source, a source of air or another gas, a mixing device in fluid communication with the liquid source and air source adapted to mix the liquid coming from the liquid source with the air coming from the air source to generate a foam of the liquid. The device further includes a duct in fluid communication with the mixing device downstream of the mixing device, with the foam flowing along the duct in a flow direction.

The device includes a foam sensor associated with the duct and having a radiation source adapted to generate a radiation which strikes the duct along an irradiation direction incident to the flow direction.

The foam sensor further: includes a first photodiode placed on the irradiation direction or a second photodiode placed along a diffusion direction.

A drip filter coffee making device has a filter basket with a lid. The lid supports a water dispenser for wetting grounds in the filter basket. The basket is removable from a body of the device. The lid may have a dampened opening motion, biased into an open position by a spring.

A method to prepare a beverage in a machine for preparing beverages, including: receiving through a user interface associated with a control and command unit the selection of a type of beverage to be prepared selected between a beverage obtained by infusion, or hot water; disenabling the commands of said user interface not related to the type of beverage selected, and enabling the commands correlated to the type of beverage selected, in order to allow the selection by the user of further specific organoleptic characteristics for the type of beverage selected; receiving and verifying the characteristics selected and conditioning the various functioning factors of said machine in relation to the specific selected characteristics and the operating parameters provided for the specific selected beverage.

A monitoring system for an apparatus for making beverages is provided, comprising a sensor unit having at least one sensor to determine current sensor data of a beverage production environment, a processing unit to determine current feature data from the current sensor data and a monitoring unit adapted to determine a current beverage production state by comparing the current feature data with reference feature data of a reference beverage production process. A control unit is adapted for controlling actuators in dependence of a current beverage production state determined by the monitoring unit.

Apparatus, method and storage medium associated with a beverage dispensing apparatus are disclosed herein. In embodiments, a beverage dispensing apparatus may include a dispenser to dispense a beverage into a beverage container placed underneath the dispenser; one or more sensors to sense and collect depth data associated with the beverage container; and a controller coupled to the dispenser and the one or more sensors to control the dispenser's dispensation of the beverage, in accordance with a capacity of the beverage container inferred based at least in part on the collected depth data associated with the beverage container. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed.

A beverage machine with a holder including front and side walls around an opening where beverage material is held to form a beverage where the walls slope downwardly and inwardly toward the opening. A peripheral wall may extend upwardly from the opening and form a trough around the opening with the front and side walls.