Single-use means for preparing a beverage

Abstract

A single-use means for preparing a beverage from an infusible product, containing a bendable sheet-like base with a designated bend line, and a moisture-permeable bag for brewing a product, wherein the bag has an upper portion attached by one side to the sheet-like base, and an unattached lower portion, wherein the sheet-like base and the bag are designed and mutually arranged such that the sheet-like base can cover a vessel containing a liquid, in which the bag is immersed during the brewing of a product, and such that the product can be squeezed after brewing by bending the sheet-like base and pressing the bag from two opposing sides using the bent sheet-like base, wherein to allow more careful squeezing of an infusion from the product in the bag after brewing, the region in which the attached side of the upper portion of the bag is attached to the sheet-like base is situated along a line that intersects the bend line of the sheet-like base, wherein the line along which the attachment region of the bag is situated substantially coincides with the bend of the bag in its suspended state on the base during use.

Claims

1. A single-use infusion package for preparing a beverage from an infusible product, the single-use infusion package comprising: a bendable flat base which has only one designated bend line, wherein the designated bend line extends through the bendable flat base and divides the bendable flat base into two substantially equal parts situated on both sides of the designated bend line, and a bag for insertion of the infusible product, made of fluid-permeable material, wherein the bag has an unattached lower portion and an upper portion attached by one side to an underside of the bendable flat base along an attachment line that once intersects the designated bend line, the upper portion is open for filling the bag with the infusible product, and the attached one side of the upper portion of the bag is capable of forming a bend that coincides with the attachment line upon suspension of the bag during use; and wherein the bendable flat base does not have an opening, and is capable of bending along the designated bend line for covering lateral edges of the bag and pressing the bag by two opposing sides of the bendable flat base to squeeze liquid from the bag after brewing.

2. The single-use infusion package of claim 1, wherein the bag contains the infusible product and is sealed for retention of the infusible product.

3. The single-use infusion package of claim 1, wherein the bag has substantially a rectangular form.

4. The single-use infusion package of claim 3, wherein the unattached lower portion of the bag has an edge with a middle area extending downwards with respect to corner areas of the unattached lower portion.

5. The single-use infusion package of claim 1, wherein the bendable flat base is made of cardboard or laminated material or plastic.

6. The single-use infusion package of claim 1, wherein the attachment line intersects the designated bend line substantially transversely.

7. The single-use infusion package of claim 1, wherein the attachment line intersects the designated bend line slantwise.

8. The single-use infusion package of claim 1, wherein the bendable flat base is provided with an edge projection for manipulations with the bendable flat base during the brewing.

9. The single-use infusion package of claim 8, wherein the bendable flat base is provided with a cutout for a spoon during the brewing.

10. The single-use infusion package of claim 9, wherein the edge projection and the cutout are situated on the opposing edges of the bendable flat base, and the shape of the cutout is identical to the shape of the edge projection.

11. The single-use infusion package of claim 1, wherein the designated bend line of the bendable flat base is a scored line.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) This invention is illustrated by accompanying drawings, where:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a single-use means for preparing a beverage according to the invention, where a bag for an infusible product is attached to a sheet-like base substantially transversely to a bend line of the sheet-like base.

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a single-use means, similar to the view in FIG. 1, where there is shown a bag with an upper portion attached to the sheet-like base along a line directed cornerwise, i.e. at an angle to the direction which is transverse to the bend line.

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a single-use means similar to that shown in FIG. 1, where a bag attached to the sheet-like base has an open (non-sealed) upper portion. The sheet-like base is bent for opening the said upper portion with formation of a throat for filling the bag.

(5) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a single-use means according to this invention in the process of preparing a beverage in a vessel.

(6) FIG. 5A-B are schematic views illustrating stages of squeezing the bag with the help of the sheet-like base, where on FIG. 5A there is shown beginning of the squeezing, and on FIG. 5B—a middle stage of this process.

LIST OF REFERENCES

(7) 1—single-use means for preparing a beverage 2—sheet-like base 3—bag 4—infusible product 5—bend line 6—upper portion of the bag 7—lower portion of the bag 8—lateral edge of the bag 9—non-sealed side of an open upper portion of the bag 10—attachment region where the upper portion of the bag is attached to the base 11—edge projection 12—edge cutout 13—bend of the bag in its suspension state

(8) Embodiments of the Invention Embodiment

(9) FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of the proposed single-use means for preparing a beverage, designated in whole by reference 1, which contains a sheet-like base 2 and a bag 3 for insertion of an infusible product 4, attached to the said sheet-like base.

(10) The sealed bag 3 may contain any product suitable for brewing in a liquid for the purpose of preparing a beverage, for example, such as tea, coffee, herb, or other similar product suitable for obtaining an infusion from it.

(11) For brewing a product in the bag 3 a user pours an appropriate liquid, usually hot, for example, such as boiled water, into an appropriate vessel, usually such as a cup or a glass, and covers such a vessel with the sheet-like base 2, such that the bag 3 in its suspended state is immersed in the said liquid.

(12) The sheet-like base 2 is provided with a designated, e.g. scored, bend line 5, extending through the sheet-like base substantially straightforwardly, such that the bend line 5 divides the sheet-like base 2 into two preferably substantially equal parts situated on both sides of the bend line 5. The sheet-like base may be made of material appropriate for food products, such as plastic, cardboard or laminated (multilayer) material, which is sufficiently strong and rigid, such that the sheet-like base could maintain its flatness during manipulations with the singe-use means, without any noticeable deformation. The sheet-like base may have different geometric form, but preferably it is substantially rectangular and may have rounded corners, as shown in FIG. 1. The bag 3 may be sealed and contain a product 4 (shown in FIG. 5) that is subject to brewing in a liquid, or may be non-sealed in its upper portion 6 (see FIG. 3) for filling the bag with a desired infusible product 4, but in any case it has an upper portion 6 attached by one side to the sheet-like base along a line that intersects the bend line 5 designated through the sheet-like base. The bag 3 has also a lower portion 7 that is not attached to the sheet-like base, and lateral edges 8. The unattached lower portion 7 and the lateral edges 8 of the bag are closed or sealed to retain the product in the bag.

(13) The upper portion 6 of the bag preferably is attached to the sheet-like base approximately in its middle, and preferably it has such a size that does not allow the bag edges to go beyond the sheet-like base 2 during use. Though in FIG. 1 the lower portion 7 goes downwards beyond an edge of the sheet-like base, but during the use, i.e. in the suspended state and, in particular, during the squeezing, the lower portion of the bag will not go beyond edges of the sheet-like base. Though in FIG. 1 the upper portion 6 of the bag intersects the bend line 5 of the sheet-like base substantially transversely, the upper portion 6 of the bag may be attached cornerwise, i.e. at an angle to the shown transverse direction (see FIG. 2).

(14) On one of the edges of the sheet-like base, as shown in FIG. 1, there may be provided an edge projection 11 for convenient manipulation with the sheet-like base during brewing, such that a users fingers are always in a safe area without any contact with steam or a hot vessel. In course of efficient edge-to-edge cutting of a plurality of the sheet-like bases with the said edge projection on the other edge of each sheet-like base, which is opposite to the edge with the projection 11, there will be provided an edge cutout 12 of a counter form, which is convenient to use when a spoon is placed into the vessel for stirring, such that the spoon stem could fit in the edge cutout and could not prevent from laying the sheet-like base on the vessel rim when the bag with a product is immersed in a liquid.

(15) FIG. 2 schematically shows an example of attachment of the upper portion of the bag cornerwise with respect to the bend line of the sheet-like base. In the shown embodiment the attachment region 10 is situated along a line situated at an acute angle to the bend line 5 and substantially coinciding with the bend 13 of the bag in its suspended state. Though in FIG. 2 there is shown the attachment region 10 of triangular form, it is clear that the attachment region may be in the form of a strip having the same width along the whole length thereof and situated cornerwise with respect to the bend lime 5 of the sheet-like base. FIG. 2 also shows that the lower portion 7 of the bag may have a convex form to increase the effect described above in the section “Technical result”.

(16) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the single-use means of FIG. 1, where the bag 3 attached to the sheet-like base 2 has an open upper portion 6 with a non-sealed side 9. The sheet-like base 2 is bent to show opening of the upper portion 6 with formation of a throat by the non-sealed side 9 for filling the bag. The upper portion is attached in the attachment region designated by reference 10.

(17) FIG. 4 shows laying of the sheet-like base 2 on a rim of the vessel with a liquid. As a result, when the vessel with a liquid is covered by the sheet-like base 2, the bag 3 with a product is immersed in the liquid in a suspended state. At the same time, since the bag is hanged on the sheet-like base by its upper portion attached by one side to the sheet-like base, during the brewing the attached upper portion is bent substantially at right angle to the rest of the bag 3. The bag bend 13 may be previously designated on the bag material, but this is not obligatory, since the bag is made of deformable material and in its suspended state it easily bends down from the attachment region. Due to this in the embodiment with the open upper portion of the bag, as shown in FIG. 3, the non-sealed side 9 of the open upper portion will tightly adjoin the attachment region 10 from the other side of the bag, attached to the sheet-like base, providing thereby closure of the bag throat during the brewing.

(18) FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate the process of squeezing of an infusion from the wet product 4 in the bag 3 with the help of the sheet-like base 2. For squeezing the infusion from the wet product in the bag a user raises slightly the sheet-like base and, holding it in such a way that the bag 3 is situated over the vessel, bends the sheet-like base 2 along the bend line 5. Due to the fact that the upper portion 6 of the bag is attached along the line intersecting the bend line 5 designated on the sheet-like base, its parts situated on both sides of the bend line 5 approach each other and first press the attached upper portion of the bag (see FIG. 5A), such that a width of the upper portion of the bag is decreased, and then contact upper areas of the lateral edges of the bag, such that the bag with the wet infusible product takes on a form tapering off upwards on either side, and the lower portion 7 (a bottom of the bag) takes on a convex form (see FIG. 5B), even if in the initial state of the bag its lower portion 7 does not have a convex form which is initially provided in the embodiment of the single-use means according to the invention with a bag having its lower portion 7 with a middle area extending downwards with respect to corner areas of the said lower portion.

(19) Thus, the operation of pressing the bag with a wet product in the single-use means for preparing a beverage according to this invention allows a user to obtain a narrower and more careful stream of infusion flowing from the bag bottom during the squeezing, than that in case the attachment region of the upper portion of the bag is situated in parallel or coincides with the bend line of the sheet-like base, as explained in the section “Technical result”.