JPH04224719A - Coffee maker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to roast coffee beans even during extraction by providing a temporary storage tank which receives roasted beams which are discharged from a roaster, and a blower to cool the roasted beans. CONSTITUTION:A temporary storage tank 20 which receives roasted coffee beans which drop from a roaster 10 is provided diagonally under the roaster 10, and a blower 30 which sends air to the temporary storage tank 20 is attached. Also, an extracting unit 40 which jointly works as a coffee mill is provided under the temporary storage tank 20, and a hot water pouring unit 50 which pours a hot water to the extracting unit 40, and a coffee server 60 which receives coffee liquid which is strained by the extracting unit are provided. The temporary storage tank 20 has a double structure, and the roasted beans are received by a storage basket 22 with a coarse mesh, and the roasted beans are cooled in a short time by sending air from the blower 30 to the storage basket 22. By this method, cooling of the roasted beans can be quickly performed in the temporary storage tank 20, and at the same time, the roaster 10 and the extracting unit 40 which jointly works as a mill can be operated individually.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention involves roasting green coffee beans,
This invention relates to a coffee maker that can obtain coffee through grinding, extraction, etc.

0002

[Prior Art] The applicant of this application has so far filed a patent application
No. 4697, Japanese Patent Application No. 50240, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-15.
No. 0267 has provided a coffee maker that can fully automatically produce coffee from green coffee beans. These coffee makers include a roaster that roasts green coffee beans, an extractor that also serves as a mill that grinds coffee, extracts and filters coffee from the ground coffee beans, and an extractor that also serves as a mill. A hot water pourer pours high-temperature water into the extractor that also serves as a mill, and a coffee server that receives filtered coffee liquid extracted by the extractor that also serves as a mill.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional coffee maker, roasting, cooling, pulverization, extraction filtration, and reception by the coffee server are performed in a series of operations, and at least until the extraction filtration is finished, the next operation is not carried out. It was impossible. For this reason, it was not possible to roast the next batch during extraction, resulting in poor efficiency when making multiple cups of coffee. On the other hand, in conventional coffee makers, hot water is poured into the extractor using a water pourer so that the hot water is uniformly poured onto the upper surface of the coffee beans stacked inside the extractor. In particular, when extracting with an extractor that doubles as a mill with a rotary cutter attached near the bottom, the lower part of the lamination below the rotary cutter tends to become dense, so if you pour uniformly, the lower part of the lamination becomes a bottleneck. Therefore, it is difficult for the extract to pass through the filter and the extraction and filtration process takes time. Similarly, there was a problem that the extract overflowed from the extractor. Moreover, the extraction itself was not in a state to extract ideal coffee.

[0004] Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks,
To provide a coffee maker capable of efficiently making many cups of coffee from green beans. Another object of the present invention is to provide a coffee maker that can quickly extract and filter coffee with good flavor even when using an extractor that also serves as a mill.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the coffee maker of the present invention includes a roaster for roasting green coffee beans, and a roaster for roasting green coffee beans discharged from the roaster after roasting is completed. a temporary storage tank that receives beans, a blower that sends air into the temporary storage tank to cool the beans received in the temporary storage tank, and cooled roasted beans discharged from the temporary storage tank. an extractor that also serves as a mill for receiving and pulverizing the coffee beans, extracting coffee liquid from the ground coffee beans and filtering it; a pouring device that pours high-temperature water into the extractor that also serves as a mill; The first feature is that a coffee server that receives coffee liquid is placed in one case. In addition to the first feature described above, the coffee maker of the present invention has a series of operations from roasting using a roaster to ventilation cooling in a temporary storage tank, and from discharging beans from the temporary storage tank to extraction that also functions as a mill. The second feature is that the series of operations from crushing in the vessel to extraction and filtration can be operated and operated individually. Further, the coffee maker of the present invention roasts green coffee beans, cools them by blowing air,
This is a coffee maker that can carry out the entire process from grinding to extraction and filtration with high-temperature water. The third feature is that the process is limited to a portion of the upper surface of the beans.

[0006]

[Operation] According to the first feature of the present invention, the beans roasted in the roaster are temporarily stored in a storage tank where they are cooled by air. From the temporary storage tank, it enters an extractor that also serves as a mill, where it is crushed, extracted, and filtered. Without a temporary storage tank, roasted beans would have to be placed directly into a mill/extractor and cooled, making it impossible to perform roasting in parallel with extraction. If they were to be carried out in parallel, the beans would have to remain in the roaster even after roasting, and the important cooling of the beans would not be possible, making it impossible to obtain good-tasting coffee. By providing a temporary storage tank, roasting can be performed even during extraction using a mill/extractor. Extraction can also be carried out simultaneously during roasting. In addition, roasted beans can be quickly and powerfully cooled in a temporary storage tank.

According to the second feature of the present invention, the series of operations from roasting in the roaster to ventilation cooling in the temporary storage tank, and from discharging the beans from the temporary storage tank to the mill/extractor By individually operating the series of operations from pulverization to extraction and filtration, it is possible to roast green coffee beans for the next time during extraction, which has a great time-saving effect. Therefore, many cups of coffee can be made in a short time.

[0008] According to the third feature of the present invention, the hot water is poured by the water pourer onto a partial area of the upper surface of the coffee beans (ground) stacked in the mill/extractor. , the amount of hot water poured into a certain area increases, and the hot water first moves downward from that area, spreads to the bottom of the stack, and then moistens from the bottom of the stack to the top. At this time, the laminated powder is appropriately floated, and extraction is performed uniformly from the entire laminated powder. By uniformly extracting coffee from the entire stack of coffee beans, it is possible to obtain good-tasting coffee. In addition, the hot water moistens from below and lifts the coffee bean powder, allowing smooth filtration through the filtration filter section, allowing extraction and filtration to be carried out in a short time. If hot water is poured uniformly over the top of the stack, the amount of hot water poured into each part will be small, so the top of the stack will become wet, and the fine and dense layer at the bottom of the stack won't lift up properly, making it difficult for filtration to occur smoothly. Extraction and filtration takes time due to overflow. Also, the extraction is not uniform throughout the stack.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a coffee maker showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B in FIG. A roaster 10 is provided in the upper part of the outer case 1, and a temporary storage tank 20 for receiving roasted beans falling from the roaster 10 is provided diagonally below the roaster 10. A blower 30 is attached to the temporary storage tank 20. Further, an extractor 40 that also serves as a mill is provided below the temporary storage tank 20, and a water pourer 50 that pours high-temperature water into the extractor 40 that also serves as a mill is provided, and also receives extracted and filtered coffee liquid. A coffee server 60 is placed.

The roaster 10 is a device for roasting green coffee beans therein, and a ring-shaped far-infrared heater 12 is arranged in the upper part of the internal space of a circular container 11, and rotates along the inner bottom surface. A stirring blade 13 is arranged. 14 is a smoke and deodorizing filter plate, 15 is a stirring blade motor, 16 is a lid for a green bean inlet, and 17 is a door for discharging roasted beans. The door 1
7 is opened and closed by a solenoid 18. Reference numeral 19 denotes a temperature sensor provided in the roaster 10, and the sensor 19 detects the roasting state.

The temporary storage tank 20 is also clearly shown in perspective view in FIG. It has a double structure, with two outer walls
A storage basket 22 made of coarse mesh is provided inside the storage basket 1. Roasted beans discharged and dropped from the roaster 10 are received into this storage basket 22. A discharge port 22a is provided at the lowest part of the storage basket 22, and when a slide plate 24 is moved by a solenoid 23, the discharge port 22a is opened.
2a is opened and closed. The air blower 30 is connected to the outer wall 2.
1 and its outlet faces the storage basket 22. As a result, the beans in the storage basket 22 are cooled down to room temperature in a short time (for example, 2 to 3 minutes) by the air from the blower 30.

[0012] Generally, it is said that it is best to leave coffee beans overnight after roasting. The reason for this is that if the moisture is not removed properly, a grassy, grassy smell will be mixed into the aroma, and tannins will turn into pyrogallolic acid, which causes harshness and cloudiness. Furthermore, even if the coffee is completely roasted, the above phenomenon will always occur if it is made into coffee immediately. Cooling by the temporary storage tank 20 and blower 30 is essential to completely prevent these phenomena and obtain delicious coffee. By dropping the roasted beans into the temporary storage tank 20 and cooling them to room temperature in 2 to 3 minutes, the aroma is outstanding, and when combined with the grinding and extraction by the extractor 40 that also functions as a mill (described later), the flavor, acidity, Produces delicious coffee with just the right amount of bitterness.

As clearly shown in the perspective view of FIG. 5, the extractor 40 which also serves as a mill is equipped with a rotary cutter 42 for the mill at the lower part of the inside of a cylindrical mill case 41, and a filter 43 is placed below it. There is. Further, below the filtration filter 43 is a coffee liquid outlet path 44. This lead-out path 44
Coffee liquid falls into the coffee server 60 from the drop port 45 at the tip of the coffee server 60. Note that the drop opening 45 may be provided with drip prevention means. 46 is a mill motor that rotates the rotary cutter 42. At the upper part of the mill case 41, there is a prevention plate 47 to prevent beans from flying out during milling.
48 are provided.

The water pourer 50 includes a cartridge type water tank 51 shown in FIG. It has a water pourer heater 54 that heats and exchanges heat with water tank 5.
1 is turned into high-temperature water by the heater 54 and poured into the pouring port 52.
It is naturally transported to the point where it is poured into an extractor 40 which also serves as a mill.

The pouring spout 52 is located at a position deviating outward from the center of the extractor 40 which also serves as a mill, and as shown in FIGS. The coffee beans are dropped in a limited area D on the upper surface of the ground coffee beans stacked inside. That is, Figure 6
To further explain with reference to the explanatory diagram, the beans are dropped into the extractor 40 which also serves as a mill and are crushed by the rotary cutter 42. It is in a state of Further, the middle layer M has medium grains, and the upper layer U has coarsely ground grains. In terms of taste, the lower layer L is dark, has a strong bitter taste, is dark in color, and produces a sticky liquid. A thin, bitter liquid that stings the tongue is extracted from the upper layer U. Also, from the middle class M, the taste is somewhere between those,
A highly acidic liquid is extracted. When hot water is evenly poured onto the top surface of the beans stacked in this way, the lower layer gets in the way and makes it difficult for the liquid to filter downward from the filtration filter 43.
Extraction filtration takes time and overflow occurs. Also, the layers of the stack do not mix with each other during extraction, resulting in poor coffee taste.

In the present invention, hot water is dropped onto a partial region D of the upper surface of the stack without being dispersed, and the dropped hot water permeates downward and reaches the lower layer L. Then, after it spreads laterally and wets the entire lower layer L, the hot water rises from the lower layer L to the middle layer M and then to the upper layer U by adding more hot water, causing the entire laminated portion to float. This allows the powder in each layer to be mixed together and extracted evenly from the whole. Therefore, when filtration is complete, the surface is flat, somewhat glossy and shiny (indicating complete extraction), and the bubbles have completely disappeared. By pouring hot water into the stack, the lower layer L of the stack is wetted first, and the entire stack is lifted up, so that extraction and filtration can be smoothly completed in a short time. In addition, the powders in each layer are mixed and extracted together evenly, resulting in a delicious coffee that is mixed and extracted from each layer.

The operation of the device is controlled by a microcomputer (
This is performed by a built-in controller (hereinafter referred to as microcomputer) 70. 1 and 7, the microcomputer 70 includes a fully automatic switch 81 of the operation panel 80, a first switch 82, a second switch 83, a roasting degree adjustment section 84, and a roasting temperature sensor of the roaster 10. By inputting signals from 19, etc., the roasting heater 12, stirring blade 13, solenoid 18
, the blower 30, the solenoid 23, the rotary cutter 42, the water pourer heater 54, and the like. It also outputs the driving status to the display unit 90.

The operation by the microcomputer 70 is a fully automatic operation that performs a series of operations from roasting green beans to extraction filtration, and a fully automatic operation that performs a series of operations from roasting green beans to extraction filtration, and from roasting green beans by the roaster 10 to blowing air in the temporary storage tank 20. A first operation that causes a series of operations to be performed up to ventilation cooling by the container 30, and a second operation that causes a series of operations to be performed from discharging beans from the temporary storage tank 20 to crushing and extraction filtration in an extractor 40 that also serves as a mill. I am able to drive the car in a second way. That is, with reference to FIG.
0, it is determined whether the fully automatic switch 81 is turned on (step 101), and if not, the process proceeds to step 102, and if the first switch 82 is turned on, the program of flow 1 shown in FIG. 9 is selected. The first operation is started (step 103). Also, if the second switch 83 is turned on, the
The program of flow 2 shown in 0 is selected and the second operation is started (step 104). Further, if the fully automatic switch 81 is on in step 101, flow 1 and flow 2 are selected sequentially to start fully automatic operation (step 105).
.

A program for the first operation (shown as flow 1 in FIG. 9) and a program for the second operation (shown as flow 2 in FIG. 10) are stored in advance in the microcomputer 70. The flow of the first operation program is as shown in FIG.
5 is issued (step 111), then the temperature sensor 19 detects a temperature above a certain level (step 112),
When roasting is completed, a command is issued to turn on the solenoid 18 of the roaster 10 (step 113). Then, after a certain period of time (the time required for the rotary blade 13 to drop the beans into the temporary storage tank 20, 5 to 7 seconds) has elapsed (step 114),
Issues a command to turn off the roasting heater 12, motor 15, and solenoid 18, and issues a command to turn on the blower 30 for a certain period of time (
Step 115). The on time of the blower 30 is predetermined as 2 to 3 minutes. As described above, the roasting of green beans, cooling in the temporary storage tank 20, and operation in storage are performed. Note that in step 112 described above, roasting may be controlled by time. The degree of roasting can be determined by operating the roasting degree adjusting section 84, changing the temperature determined by the sensor 19, or changing the roasting time.

As shown in FIG. 10, the flow of the second operation program begins by instructing the solenoid 23 of the temporary storage tank 20 to be turned on for a certain period of time (step 121). As a result, beans fall from the temporary storage tank 20 into the extractor 40 which also serves as a mill. Next, the rotary cutter 42 is commanded to be turned on (step 122). The beans are properly ground after a certain period of time (for example, 15 seconds), so as the time elapses (step 12)
3) Turn off the rotary cutter 42 and turn off the water pourer heater 5.
4 is turned on (step 124). As a result, heated high-temperature water is poured from the water tank 51 through the pipe line 53 into the extractor 40 which also serves as a mill. When the temperature sensor or water switch (not shown) detects that the water in the water tank 51 has run out, the water pouring is completed (step 1).
25), the water pourer heater 54 is commanded to turn off.

[0021] The first switch 82 and the second switch 83
By making good use of this, operations from roasting to cooling the next batch of beans can be performed while the second switch 83 is in the process of crushing and extracting the beans. For example, it is possible to make 12 cups at a time. If you make it fully automatically, you can make 36 cups per hour (you can make it 3 times), but if you operate the first and second switches separately, you can make 72 cups per hour.

[0022]

Effects of the Invention The present invention consists of the above configuration, and claim 1
According to the coffee maker described in , instead of putting roasted beans directly into an extractor that also serves as a mill, they can be put into a temporary storage tank where they can be cooled and temporarily stored. Therefore, the important beans can be exclusively cooled in the temporary storage tank, and the cooling can be done quickly and sufficiently. Furthermore, the presence of the temporary storage tank eliminates the need to necessarily link the operation of the roaster and the extractor that also serves as a mill, making it possible to operate both separately. Furthermore, according to the coffee maker according to claim 2, the operation from roasting to cooling and the operation from grinding beans to extraction and filtration can be performed simultaneously, which has a time-saving effect when making multiple cups of coffee. is large. In other words, a large number of coffees can be made efficiently in a short period of time. Further, according to the coffee maker according to claim 3, since the region in which high-temperature water is poured into the extractor that also serves as a mill is limited to a part of the upper surface of the coffee beans, the poured hot water flows into the lower layer of the laminated layer. It can easily reach the lower layers, wet the lower layer first, lift the entire layer, and extract uniformly from each layer. Therefore, extraction and filtration can be carried out smoothly in a short period of time, and good-tasting coffee can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of a coffee maker of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partially cross-sectional perspective view of the temporary storage tank.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an extractor that also serves as a mill.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the state of extraction and filtration in an extractor that also serves as a mill.

FIG. 7 is a control block diagram by a microcomputer.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a control operation by a microcomputer.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a first operation program stored in the microcomputer.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a second operation program stored in the microcomputer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Exterior case 10 Roaster 20 Temporary storage tank 30　Blower 40　Extractor that can also be used as a mill 50 Water pourer 60 Coffee server 70 Microcomputer 80 Operation panel 81 Fully automatic switch 82 First switch 83 Second switch

Claims (3)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A roaster for roasting green coffee beans, a temporary storage tank for receiving the roasted beans discharged from the roaster upon completion of roasting, and a temporary storage tank for receiving the roasted beans discharged from the roaster upon completion of roasting; A blower blows air into a temporary storage tank to cool the beans; and a blower receives the cooled roasted beans discharged from the temporary storage tank, and after pulverizing the roasted beans, extracts coffee liquid from the pulverized coffee beans. It is characterized by arranging in one case an extractor that also serves as a mill for extracting and filtering, a water pourer that pours high-temperature water into the extractor that also serves as a mill, and a coffee server that receives the extracted and filtered coffee liquid. coffee maker. [Claim 2] A series of operations from roasting in a roaster to ventilation cooling in a temporary storage tank, and a series of operations from discharging beans from the temporary storage tank to pulverization in a mill-extractor and extraction filtration. 2. The coffee maker according to claim 1, wherein the coffee maker is configured to be able to be operated individually. [Claim 3] A coffee maker that can carry out the entire process of roasting green coffee beans, cooling them with air, pulverizing them, and extracting and filtering them with high-temperature water, and which includes an extractor that also serves as a mill. A coffee maker characterized in that the region into which high-temperature water is poured is limited to a part of the upper surface of ground coffee beans stacked in an extractor.