WO2004050503A1

WO2004050503A1 - A bottle having an indentation for holding a tea bag

Info

Publication number: WO2004050503A1
Application number: PCT/US2002/038160
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rang Kim
Original assignee: Rang Kim
Priority date: 2002-11-27
Filing date: 2002-11-27
Publication date: 2004-06-17

Abstract

The present invention is a bottle (100) for holding a tea bag (108)is provided with an indentation (102) having a label (104) wrapped there around.

Description

A BOTTLE HAVING AN INDENTATION FOR HOLDING A TEA BAG

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is related to a bottle for storing beverages, and particularly, to a bottle having an indentation for holding a tea bag.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are may different types of beverages available in the market today that are being distributed for consumption, such as, for example, carbonated beverages, water, tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages, juices, energy drinks, and the like. Plastic or glass bottles are typically used to store beverages for distribution in commerce.

When it comes to teas, there are a wide variety of teas available in the world market. Particularly in East Asian countries, such as Korea, Japan and China, there are hundreds or even thousands of different kinds of teas that a consumer may choose to drink. While different types of teas have been available in dried and/or powered form, often in a tea bag, when teas are distributed as soft drinks, they are typically first brewed or otherwise dissolved in water and bottled in liquid form.

Due to the wide variety of teas available in the market, it would not be commercially viable to make a tea product in liquid form for each and every type of tea in the market. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an apparatus and method for allowing easy packaging of wide variety of tea products for commercial distribution.

SUMMARY In an exemplary embodiment according to the present invention, a bottle for holding a tea bag is provided. The bottle includes: an opening suitable for filling the bottle with beverage and for pouring out the beverage from the bottle; and a generally cylindrical wall around the opening, said generally cylindrical wall having an indentation suitable for holding the tea bag. In another exemplary embodiment according to the present invention, a beverage product is provided. The beverage product includes: a bottle for holding a bag of at least partially soluble product for human consumption, said bottle including: an opening suitable for filling the bottle with beverage and for pouring out the beverage from the bottle; and a generally cylindrical wall around the opening, said generally cylindrical wall having an indentation suitable for holding said bag of at least partially soluble product for human consumption; a beverage filling the bottle at least partially; said bag of at least partially soluble product for human consumption, said bag being made of liquid permeable material so that said at least partially soluble product can be dissolved in the beverage, said bag being held in the indentation.

In yet another exemplary embodiment according to the present invention, a method of packaging a tea product using a bottle having an indentation on its generally cylindrical outer wall for holding a tea bag is provided. The method includes: filling said bottle with drinking water through an opening of the bottle; placing the tea bag inside the indentation; and placing a label around the generally cylindrical outer wall of the bottle, thereby holding the tea bag within the indentation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects of the invention may be understood by reference to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a bottle having an indentation in an exemplary embodiment according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side view of the bottle having an indentation of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a front view of a bottle 100 having an indentation 102 in an exemplary embodiment according to the present invention. The bottle 100 has a generally cylindrical form, and is tapered so that the circumference of the bottle near the opening at the top of the bottle is less than the circumference of the bottle in the mid-section of the bottle. Thus, the wall around the opening of the bottle 100 may be referred to as a generally cylindrical wall. The bottles may have other shapes in other embodiments.

The bottle may be made of plastic, glass and/or any other material suitable for storing beverage (e.g., water) for distribution in a stream of commerce. In its plastic form, for example, the bottle 100 may be made of polyester compounds such as polyethylene terephthalate, and may have multiple layers.

The bottle, for example, may be made using standard molding techniques, such as blow molding, modified slightly to provide the indentation 102 for holding or mounting a tea bag. The . indentation 102 may also be referred to as an indented portion, a depressed portion, a depression, a slot, an opening, or any other term to describe such indentation. Those skilled in the art would know how to manufacture such bottles given the disclosure of the exemplary embodiments provided herein. A label 104 should wrap at least partially around the bottle to enclose the indentation 102 so as to keep a tea bag 108 within the indentation from falling out. For example, the label 104 may be glued, bonded, taped, or otherwise fastened to the bottle 100.

The tea bag, for example, may have dimensions of approximately 4 cm width by 5 cm length. In other embodiments, the tea bags may be smaller or larger. Further, tea bags may not completely fit inside the indentation, but may instead protrude out of the indentation so that the label 104 may not be placed completely flush to the outer cylindrical surface of the bottle 100.

In an exemplary embodiment, the indentation 102 is deep enough so that the tea bag 108 can be placed completely within the indentation 102 so that the label 104 can be flush mounted onto the bottle 100. For example, the indentation may be between approximately 1 cm to 3 cm in depth, and the depth may depend on the thickness of the tea bag 108. The indentation may have sufficiently large dimensions to snugly hold a tea bag or may be just enough to tightly fit a single tea bag. The tea bag may be enclosed in an outer bag, which may have printed thereon the tea name and/or other pertinent information such as ingredients, nutritional facts, and the like. The outer bag, for example, may have dimensions of approximately 5 cm width by 6 cm length. The depth of the indentation should also account for the thickness of the outer bag, if such outer bag is used. The outer bag should be removed before inserting the tea bag 108 in the water for dissolving or brewing the tea. The label 104 may be made of plastic or any other suitable material. The label 104, for example, may have printed thereon a type of the tea contained in the tea bag 108, and may provide other pertinent information, such as, for example, brand name, ingredients, nutritional facts, and the like. The label 104 may have at least one perforation 106 to facilitate taking off the label to access the tea bag enclosed thereunder.

In other embodiments, at least a portion of the label 104 may be transparent or see-through such that a consumer may be able to view the tea bag 108 through the label 104. In such cases, the tea bag 108 may have printed thereon the name of the tea and/or other pertinent information for the consumer to view through the label.

The consumer may take off the label, take out the tea bag enclosed therein (and remove the outer bag if there is one), and submerge the tea bag 108 at least partially in the beverage (e.g., water) in the bottle 100. The tea bag 108 may have a length of cord 110 and a tag 112 attached thereto for hanging through the opening from the top of the bottle 100. For example, when the bottle is closed with a bottle cap, the cord 110 and or the tag 112 may be nudged between the bottle cap and the portion of the bottle around the opening to allow for tea bag removal without using a long slender device. The tea bag 108 should contain tea that is brewable or soluble in water at room temperature (e.g., 25°C) or in cold water. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, the tea should be ready to drink after approximately three to five minutes when inserted into the bottle containing drinking water. In other embodiments, the tea should be sufficiently dissolved or brewed enough for drinking in one minute or less. In still other embodiments, the indented portion of the bottle may carry regular tea or other drinks in powder form that should typically be used with hot water. The time required to dissolve the tea for drinking may vary without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the bottle 100 of FIG. 1. The side view more clearly illustrates the indentation 102 of the bottle 100. The indentation 102, for example, may have a depth of between approximately 1 cm and approximately 3 cm, or other suitable depths. For example, the depth of the indentation may vary depending on the thickness of the tea bag 108. Further, the outer bag when used may be provided to have some thickness so that the tea bag 108 in the outer bag is held somewhat tightly between the label 104 and the inner surface of the indentation 102. The width and length dimensions of the indentation 102 may be any suitable dimensions, and may be selected so as to match the dimensions of the tea bag 108 or the outer bag. However, in order to accommodate tea bags having different sizes, the depth and/or the width and length dimensions of the indentation 102 may be selected to be sufficiently large to accommodate the largest foreseeable tea bag. In other embodiments, the bottle 100 may have multiple indentations so that the consumer may choose between different types of teas, each contained in a tea bag in a corresponding indentation. For example, instead of submerging the tea bag(s) in water inside the bottle 100, the water may be poured into one or more cups to brew the tea inside the cups when there are multiple tea bags available. Further, a single indentation may also contain multiple tea bags having same or different dimensions.

In case the bottle 100 is capable of holding multiple tea bags, the label 104 may have printed thereon the names, ingredients, nutritional facts, and/or other pertinent information about each of the multiple tea bags. At least a portion of the label 104 may be transparent or see-through to show the tea bags held within the indentation 102.

The indentation 102 as illustrated in FIGs. 1 and 2 are rectangular in shape and have slanted walls around the opening. In other embodiments, the indentation 102 may have a circular or any other shape, and the walls may not be slanted, but form substantially right angle with respect to the vertical center axis of the bottle 100. Although this invention has been described in certain specific exemplary embodiments, many additional modifications and variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Thus, the present embodiments of the invention should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention to be deteπnined by the appended claims and their equivalents. For example, such indentation for holding a tea bag may be formed on bottles and/or other containers made of other materials, such as, aluminum, steel, ceramic, china, paper, and the like. Further, even though the invention has been described primarily in reference to tea bags, the indentation on the bottle may be used to hold other beverages in powdered/dried form, such as coffee, cocoa, milk, and the like.

Claims

I Claim:

1. A bottle for holding a tea bag, said bottle comprising: an opening suitable for filling the bottle with beverage and for pouring out the beverage from the bottle; and a generally cylindrical wall around the opening, said generally cylindrical wall having an indentation suitable for holding the tea bag.

2. The bottle of claim 1, further comprising a label wrapped at least partially around at least a portion of the generally cylindrical wall, said label being suitable for holding the tea bag inside the indentation.

3. The bottle of claim 2, wherein the label has a perforation formed thereon to enable a consumer to remove it by tearing along the perforation to access the tea bag.

4. The bottle of claim 1, wherein said indentation has a depth of between approximately 1 cm and approximately 3 cm.

5. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the width of the indentation is between approximately 4 cm and approximately 8 cm.

6. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the width of the indentation is between approximately 5 cm and approximately 10 cm.

7. The bottle of claim 1, wherein said tea bag contains tea suitable for being brewed in water at 25°C or lower temperature.

8. The bottle of claim 2, wherein the label has printed thereon at least one selected from a group consisting of a tea name, ingredients, brand name, and nutritional facts.

9. The bottle of claim 1 , wherein the bottle is made of plastic or glass.

10. The bottle of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the label is transparent so that a consumer can view the tea bag enclosed thereunder.

11. The bottle of claim 1 , wherein said indentation comprises a plurality of indentations, each indentation being suitable for holding a tea bag.

12. The bottle of claim 1, wherein said indentation is sufficiently large to hold a plurality of tea bags.

13. The bottle of claim 1, wherein said indentation is just large enough to tightly fit a single tea bag.

14. The bottle of claim 2, wherein the label is flush mounted onto an outside surface of the bottle.

15. The bottle of claim 2, wherein the label is mounted over the indentation such that the portion of the label over the tea bag is protruding over an outer surface of the bottle.

16. A beverage product, said beverage product comprising: a bottle for holding a bag of at least partially soluble product for human consumption, said bottle comprising: an opening suitable for filling the bottle with beverage and for pouring out the beverage from the bottle; and a generally cylindrical wall around the opening, said generally cylindrical wall having an indentation suitable for holding said bag of at least partially soluble product for human consumption; a beverage filling the bottle at least partially; said bag of at least partially soluble product for human consumption, said bag being made of liquid permeable material so that said at least partially soluble product can be dissolved in the beverage, said bag being held in the indentation.

17. The beverage product of claim 16, further comprising a label that at least partially wraps around an outer generally cylindrical surface of the bottle, said label being capable of holding said bag of at least partially soluble product within the indentation.

18. The beverage product of claim 16, wherein the beverage comprises drinking water and said bag of at least partially soluble product comprises a tea bag.

19. A method of packaging a tea product using a bottle having an indentation on its generally cylindrical outer wall for holding a tea bag, said method comprising: filling said bottle with drinking water through an opening of the bottle; placing the tea bag inside the indentation; and placing a label around the generally cylindrical outer wall of the bottle, thereby holding the tea bag within the indentation.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: removing the label to access the tea bag; removing the tea bag from the indentation; and inserting the tea bag into the bottle through the opening, thereby submerging the tea bag at least partially in the drinking water.