The present disclosure provides a beverage dispenser and a beverage brewing method. The beverage dispenser is formed with a liquid chamber, a brewing chamber, a heating chamber that can heat up liquid, and a pressure chamber that can pressurize the liquid. The liquid chamber, the heating chamber, the pressure chamber, and the brewing chamber form a circulating liquid circuit, in which the liquid formed in the liquid chamber enters into the heating chamber. The liquid is heated in the heating chamber and then enters into the pressure chamber. The liquid is pressurized in the pressure chamber and then enters into the brewing chamber, and then flows out of the brewing chamber and enters into the liquid chamber. The beverage dispenser and the beverage brewing method provided in the present disclosure overcomes the drawbacks of manually adding hot water and manually pressurizing for producing beverage.

The present invention discloses an apparatus (1) for preparing beverages, in particular aromatic beverages such as espresso coffee and similar, from the brewing of a single portion (2) of a respective edible substance, whereby said apparatus (1) comprises a portion collection disposition (3) adapted for collecting said single portion (2) of edible substance and a beverage discharge (5), and is advantageously configured so as to simplify the actuation of respective portion collection disposition (3), and to be operated in portable manner, for example in the form of a compact apparatus, recipient, or transported, for example in the form of backpack, or trolley, along a given distance autonomously relative to external energy sources.

The present invention further discloses a process for distribution of beverages by means of a beverage preparation apparatus.

A brew module for use with a refrigerator appliance is provided. The brew module includes a brewing body removably mounted to a dispensing assembly of the refrigerator appliance. The brewing body defines a brew chamber configured to receive a brew pod and a flow of heated water from the dispensing assembly to mix with contents of the brew pod to create a beverage. Electrical contacts positioned on the brew module electrically couple the brew module and the dispensing assembly, e.g., to power a user interface panel and/or communicate data such as pod type, a desired temperature and volume of water, etc.

Various embodiments of pressure regulated beverage cartridges are disclosed. In some embodiments, a system includes a cartridge and a beverage preparation machine. The cartridge and machine can be configured such that, when the cartridge is received in the machine, a pressure of less than a limit value is maintained in the cartridge during the beverage preparation process, which can improve the flavor of certain beverages, such as brewed coffee beverages.

A liquid dispensing apparatus for dispensing water and a flavored beverage. The dispensing apparatus may dispense chilled drinking water, hot drinking water and/or ambient temperature drinking water. The dispensing apparatus may further dispense a chilled, ambient temperature and/or hot flavored beverage. The flavored beverage may be coffee, tea, hot chocolate or another flavored beverage. The dispensing apparatus may include a replaceable five (5) gallon water bottle stored in a lower portion of the dispensing apparatus or an external source of water. Preferably, the liquid dispensing apparatus dispenses chilled drinking water and hot coffee from a replaceable five (5) gallon water bottle stored in a lower portion of the dispensing apparatus wherein the replaceable five (5) gallon water bottle is stored in an upright orientation, i.e., the discharge port of the replaceable five (5) gallon water bottle is oriented above a bottom of the replaceable five (5) gallon water bottle.

A beverage machine that brews beverages from a beverage pod is described. The pod is container with a top surface and a bottom surface connected by a sidewall that form a cylinder. The pod contains whole brewing elements that can be ground into sub-elements by the brewing system for brewing into a beverage. The pod is actuatable between an open state and a closed state by a breaking system of the beverage machine. In the closed state the brewing elements are contained and in the open state the elements are released. The pod includes a failure mechanism on the sidewall that is engineered to fail when the pod is actuated by a breaking mechanism of the beverage machine. When actuated the failure mechanism fails such that the beverage pod can be pulled into a top portion and a bottom portion to release the brewing elements.

A system for preparing beverage, including a second exchangeable capsule, and arranged for optionally including a first exchangeable capsule. The second capsule is larger than the first capsule. The system also includes an apparatus with a first brew chamber part and a second brew chamber part forming a brew chamber for selectively holding one of the capsules and a fluid dispensing device for supplying fluid under pressure to the first brew chamber part. The first brew chamber part has a cavity for selectively holding the first or second capsule. The first brew chamber part may include a first volume not occupied by the first exchangeable capsule when holding this capsule. The first brew chamber part may include a second volume not occupied by the second exchangeable capsule when holding this capsule. The invention further relates to a brew chamber assembly, an apparatus, a set of capsules, a method of preparing a beverage, a capsule, and several adapters.

An apparatus for making a beverage including an infusion chamber for a capsule containing a food substance, an insertion opening for inserting the capsule into the apparatus, a transfer channel for transferring the capsule from the insertion opening to the infusion chamber, an image acquisition device to acquire at least one image of a portion of the capsule. The image acquisition device includes an optical sensor facing an image capture zone in which, in use, said capsule is located or passes. A viewing window, made of transparent material, is interposed between the optical sensor and the image capture zone. A heating element for heating the viewing window is applied to, or incorporated in, the viewing window.

System for preparing a quantity of beverage suitable for consumption, the system comprising an exchangeable capsule (4A, 4B) having a cup-shaped body (6A, 6B) and a lid (12A, 12B) and comprising an apparatus. The apparatus comprises a first brew chamber part (18) having a cavity for holding the exchangeable capsule (4A, 4B) and a second brew chamber part (20) for closing the first brew chamber part (18) to form a brew chamber (16). The second brew chamber part (20) has a sealing member (36, 37) for providing a liquid sealing engagement between the second brew chamber part (20) and the lid (12A, 12B) of the exchangeable capsule (4A, 4B). The sealing member (36, 37) comprises an air purge groove (40) forming an air purge opening between the sealing member (36, 37) and the lid (12A, 12B) of the capsule for allowing air in the brew chamber (16) to escape to an exterior of the apparatus while pressurised liquid is supplied into the brewing chamber (16) for preparing the beverage.

The invention concerns a beverage preparation machine (1) comprising a fluid system comprising a fluid source (2), a pump (3), a heating element (4), at least two container holders (7a, 7b) adapted for receiving ingredient containers (11, 17), a control unit (8) for controlling the fluid system to prepare a beverage by mixing fluid with the beverage ingredient contained in the containers to produce a mixed beverage component in each of the containers, wherein the control unit is further arranged to dispense part or whole of the mixed components sequentially or simultaneously to produce the beverage, wherein the container holders (7a, 7b) differ from one another for holding containers of different sizes and/or types and, and wherein it further comprises separate fluid injection interfaces (9a, 9b) having different structural and kinematic configurations, and arranged for independently delivering fluid in one of the corresponding ingredient containers; each interface being connected to the fluid system and being adapted to a different container.