EP3215442B1

EP3215442B1 - Capsule for the preparation of beverages, particularly turkish coffee and the like

Info

Publication number: EP3215442B1
Application number: EP14816397.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Pasquale PASTORE; Giovanni GIURGOLA
Original assignee: Giurgola Stampi Srl
Current assignee: Giurgola Stampi Srl
Priority date: 2014-11-06
Filing date: 2014-11-06
Publication date: 2019-02-13
Anticipated expiration: 2034-11-06
Also published as: EP3215442A1; WO2016071739A1

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a capsule suitable to contain powdered products for the preparation of beverages, particularly though not exclusively suitable to contain powdered coffee for the preparation of Turkish coffee and the like.

PRIOR ART

Turkish coffee, which is mainly consumed in the Middle East area, is prepared in a typical jug made of copper and brass and provided with a long handle.
For the preparation of Turkish coffee, very fine ground coffee should be used.
The traditional manual preparation provides for the powder of coffee and sugar, in suitable doses, to be poured in the jug along with a suitable amount of water; the compound is then mixed until the sugar is melted; at this stage, the jug is heated up on a heat source until the coffee reaches the boiling point and the jug is then removed for a few moments from the heat source; the jug is then brought back to the heat source and the coffee is brought to the boiling point once again. At this stage, the Turkish coffee is ready and is poured in the cup, where it presents itself with the characteristic of the coffee powder on the bottom and coffee froth on the surface.
While Turkish coffee is very appreciated, it is undoubtedly complicated and time-consuming to prepare.
A number of different automated systems have been proposed for preparing Turkish coffee. For example, reference is made to international applications No. WO2011/007266 and N. WO2012/125032 .
These automated systems provide for suitable machines using single-dose disposable capsules containing very fine coffee powder. The machines provide to release the coffee powder from the capsule and bring the coffee to the boil in various manners, and deliver the coffee into the cup thus making Turkish coffee.
These known automated systems use capsules resulting to be quite complex in terms of construction and operation. And the machines also result to be quite complex in terms of construction and operation.
Furthermore, the Turkish coffee prepared using these automated systems is not qualitatively comparable with the Turkish coffee prepared in the traditional manual manner.
WO2012125032 relates to the preparation of a Turkish coffee beverage, wherein the cartridge is provided with inside nozzles directing jet of water into internal walls shaped such that a swirling motion of the ground roasted coffee in the chamber is caused when water is introduced into the cartridge.
WO2012042487 relates to a system for preparing a beverage starting from an infusion product contained in an interchange capsule, wherein the cartridge is provided with valves on the bottom and ribs on internal walls such that the turbulence of the water inside the cartridge is encouraged, in order to involve as much granular material as possible in the percolation operation.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a capsule for the preparation of Turkish coffee which is simple in terms of construction and operation.
A further object of the invention is that the capsule allows preparing a Turkish coffee that is qualitatively comparable to the Turkish coffee prepared in the traditional manual manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This object is achieved by means of a capsule for the preparation of beverages, particularly Turkish coffee, in accordance with claim 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to better appreciate the invention, an exemplary and non-limiting embodiment thereof is described herein below, as illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a capsule for the preparation of Turkish coffee according to the invention;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the capsule in Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the capsule in Fig. 1;
Fig.4 is a top perspective view of an element of the capsule in Fig.1;
Fig. 5 is a perspective bottom view of the element in Fig. 4;
Fig. 6 is a perspective bottom view of the capsule in Fig. 1;
Fig.7 is a partial front view of a machine, schematically illustrated, for the preparation of Turkish coffee to which the capsule of Fig. 1 is applied;
Fig.8 shows in a bottom perspective view a detail of the machine of Fig.7 in a capsule loading configuration;
Fig. 9 is a front view of the detail of Fig. 8 in the coffee delivery configuration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The capsule illustrated in Figs. 1-6, generally designated with 10, comprises a cup-shaped container 11 and a flat circular lid 12.
Both the container 11 and the lid 12 can be made of plastic material, such as polypropylene, by means of injection moulding, or the like.
The container 11 has a circumferential side wall 13, a round bottom 14 and a tapered circumferential wall 15 joining the side wall 13 and the bottom 14. On the bottom 14, a series of through apertures 16 is provided close to each other, which are arranged as a mesh throughout an entire circular central area of the bottom 14. These apertures 16 can have circular, square, rectangular shape, or other geometry, and put the inside of the container 11 in communication with the outside through the bottom 14.
Preferably, each aperture 16 in the bottom 14 has an area ranging between 0,25mm² and 2,5mm². Preferably, all the apertures 16 occupy the surface of the bottom 14 according to a percentage ranging between 30% and 60%.
In the lid 12, a series of four notches 17 is provided with a recess facing the inside of the lid 12. The notches 17 are sequentially annularly arranged near the edge of the lid 12 and have a substantially triangular prismatic shape and a curve profile. Each notch 17 has a bottom 18 that is inclined relative to the lid 12 plane; at the lower end of the inclined bottom 18, a through aperture 19 is provided which is suitable to put the outside and the inside of the container 11 in communication with each other; the aperture 19 can be either rectangular, as in the figures, or square, circular, or have another geometry.
Preferably, the inclination of the bottom 18 of each notch 17 relative to the lid 12 plane ranges between 10° and 45°. Preferably, each aperture 19 of the lid 12 has an area ranging between 0,3mm² and 2mm².
The lid 12 is fixed to the container 11 by means of thermal welding, ultrasound welding, or the like, such as in the example illustrated herein. Alternatively, the lid 12 can be mechanically fixed to the container 11 by providing suitable coupling profiles at the lid edge and container edge.
The container 11 is intended to contain very fine coffee powder, not illustrated, and optionally a sweetener, such as sugar, both suitably pressed in the container 11. After the lid 12 has been applied to the container 11, the coffee powder remains thereby enclosed in the capsule 10.
The capsule 10 described and illustrated herein is of the single-dose, disposable type.
In Figs.7-9, a machine is partially and generically illustrated, designated with 100, on which the capsule 10 containing the coffee powder for the preparation of Turkish coffee can be used.
The machine 100 comprises a capsule-holder 101 and a water delivery head 102. The capsule-holder 101 can be turned between an open position away from the delivery head 102 and a closed position in which the capsule-holder 101 is aligned with the delivery head 102.
The machine 100 further comprises other components not illustrated herein, such as a water tank, a water heating unit, a pump to deliver the pressurized heated water to the delivery head 102, and others.
The procedure for the preparation of Turkish coffee is the following.
The capsule 10 is inserted into the open capsule-holder 101, such as illustrated in Figs. 7, 8; the capsule-holder 101 is then closed, as illustrated in Fig. 9. The lid 12 of the capsule 10 should face the delivery head 102.
At this stage, the machine 100 is operated to provide pressurized hot water to the capsule 10 through the delivery head 102.
Preferably, the water temperature ranges between 90°C and 95°C. Preferably, the water pressure is about 9 bar.
The pressurized hot water is conveyed into the capsule 10 through the notches 17 in the lid 12. The water flows along the inclined bottoms 18 of the notches 17 while increasing its speed and penetrates into the capsule 10 through the apertures 19 at the end of the inclined bottoms 19. As designated by the arrows in Fig. 5, the water enters the capsule 10 according to an accelerated rotary motion and moves within the latter according to a swirling motion while being pressurized from the lid 12 to the bottom 14 of the capsule 10 thereby dragging the coffee powder therewith. The water with the coffee powder exits from the bottom 14 of the capsule 10 through the apertures 16 in order to be conveyed into a cup, not illustrated.
A Turkish coffee is thus obtained, i.e. a quite dense coffee and with a sediment of coffee on the bottom.
The capsule described and illustrated herein is constructionally simple and operationally effective.
The machine suitable to be used with these capsules is simple and can be easily found on the market.
The preparation of the Turkish coffee with said capsule requires elementary operations and a very short time, as may be understood from what has been described above.
Furthermore, the Turkish coffee prepared as described above is qualitatively comparable with Turkish coffee prepared in the traditional manual manner.
In terms of packaging, the container lid and bottom can be sealed by means of thermoplastic film.
The capsule can be packaged in an envelope either under vacuum or controlled atmosphere (for example, nitrogen can be blown into the envelope).
It is understood that variations and/or additions can be made to what has been described and illustrated above.
The configuration of the capsule container and lid can be changed according to different requirements.
The configuration and number of notches of the capsule lid can also be changed according to different requirements. For example, the notches can be rectilinear rather than curved, as far as they are annularly arranged along the lid.
The capsule described and illustrated above is particularly suitable to accommodate very fine powdered coffee for the preparation of Turkish coffee. At the same time, with this capsule, coffees similar to Turkish coffee can be prepared, such as Greek coffee and Arabian coffee.
However, it cannot be excluded that this capsule can accommodate other types of powdered products for the preparation of other types of beverages.

Claims

A capsule (10) for the preparation of beverages, particularly Turkish coffee and the like, comprising a container (11) and a lid (12) for closing the container, the container (11) being suitable to accommodate a powdered product, the making of the beverage being carried out by means of pressurized hot water passing both through the lid (12) and the inside of the container (11) and the beverage being delivered through the bottom (14) of the container, characterized in that water conveying means (17) and apertures (19) for the water to pass from the outside to the inside of the container (11) are provided in the lid (12), the water conveying means (17) being annularly arranged along the lid (12) and associated with the apertures (19) in order to create a swirling motion of the water within the container (11), wherein said water conveying means comprise a series of notches (17) with a recess facing the inside of the lid (12), and wherein each notch (17) has an inclined bottom (18) relative to the profile of the surface of the lid (12) and at the lower end of the inclined bottom (18) at least one through aperture (19) is provided, which is suitable to put the inside of the container (11) in communication with the outside.
The capsule according to claim 1, wherein the notches (17) are sequentially annularly arranged near the edge of the lid (12) and have a substantially triangular prismatic shape and a curve profile.
The capsule according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the inclination of the bottom (18) of each notch (17) ranges between 10° and 45°.
The capsule according to any preceding claim , wherein each aperture (19) of the lid (12) has an area ranging between 0,3mm² and 2mm².
The capsule according to any preceding claim, wherein on the bottom (14) of the container (11) one or more through apertures (16) is provided for the delivery of the beverage from the bottom (14) of the container (11).
The capsule according to claim 5, wherein on the bottom (14) of the container (11) a plurality of through apertures (16) are provided close to each other.
The capsule according to claim 5 or 6, wherein for the preparation of Turkish coffee each aperture (16) of the bottom (14) has an area ranging between 0,25mm² and 2,5mm².
The capsule according to any of claims 5,6,7, wherein the apertures (16) occupy the surface of the bottom (14) according to a percentage ranging between 30% and 60%.
A method for the preparation of Turkish coffee by means of one capsule (10) containing coffee powder according to any preceding claim, wherein:
- pressurized hot water is fed into the capsule (10),

- a water swirling pathway is caused within the capsule (10) from the lid (12) to the bottom (14) of the container (11),

- the hot water with the coffee powder is delivered outside the capsule (10) through the bottom (14) of the container (11) at the end of the swirling pathway of the water in the capsule (10).
The method according to claim 9, wherein the water temperature ranges between 90°C and 95°C and the water pressure is about 9 bar.