JPH10137123A - Green tea beverage making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a green tea beverage production machine capable of always supplying high-quality products even when preserving and preserving green tea beverage leached from tea leaves in advance with hot water and enabling efficient sales and supply. SOLUTION: A storage device for preserving a predetermined amount of green tea beverage which has been leached in advance and storing the green tea beverage in a predetermined amount, discharging means for discharging the green tea beverage in the storage device, and changing the color of the green tea beverage in the storage device. Detecting means for detecting, and a control means for injecting a certain amount of the green tea beverage in the storage based on a predetermined sales command into a cup, the control means based on the output of the detecting means, the color of the green tea beverage When the variation amount of the green tea beverage deviates from a predetermined reference value, the discharging unit discards the green tea beverage in the storage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a green tea beverage producing machine having a preservation function, and more particularly, to measuring the color change of a green tea beverage leached from tea leaves using hot water immediately after leaching and after storage. Green tea beverage production that measures the degree of deterioration of the green tea beverage, decides whether to store or discard the green tea beverage, and can always provide high-quality green tea beverages, and enables efficient sales and provision. It is about the machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Green tea has been popular as a favorite beverage for a long time, and the demand for green tea beverages, which are sugar-free beverages, has recently been increasing due to the rise in health consciousness. However, when green tea beverages are stored at high temperatures, quality degradation such as taste and aroma occurs in a short period of time. Therefore, it is difficult to prepare green tea beverages in a delicious state and prepare for mass demand. Therefore, a green tea beverage server capable of producing, storing, and selling a large amount of green tea beverages is required.

[0003] With respect to coffee beverages, see JP-A-1-23
Japanese Patent No. 7899 discloses a device that stores a large amount of coffee liquid extracted from raw materials and can drink the extracted coffee without waiting even if the demand for the extracted coffee is concentrated in a short period of time. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-67778, it is determined whether or not the stored coffee liquid has deteriorated.
H, a function of discarding the deteriorated coffee liquid is disclosed. However, there is no such proposal for green tea beverages yet, and the preserved green tea beverage (leaching solution)
There is a strong need for a green tea beverage production machine that has a system that determines whether or not it has deteriorated and that discards the deteriorated leachate, and that can always provide good quality green tea beverages.

[0004]

Accordingly, the present invention is based on the conventional situation described above, and is always suitable for a case where a green tea beverage leached from tea leaves in advance is kept warm by using hot water, stored in a predetermined amount, and supplied. It is an object of the present invention to provide a green tea beverage production machine that can provide high-quality products and can provide efficient sales.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies in order to solve the above problems, and as a result, the color of a green tea beverage immediately after leaching from tea leaves using hot water changes during storage ( (Yellowing, browning), for example, the color of a green tea beverage is measured using a combination of a light source and an optical sensor, and the amount of change is calculated, and the amount of change in the color is determined from a predetermined reference value. When it deviates, it is determined that the quality of the green tea beverage has deteriorated, and if the deteriorated green tea beverage is discarded, it has been found that a high quality green tea beverage can always be provided, and the present invention has been achieved.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in a green tea beverage manufacturing machine for injecting a green tea beverage leached from tea leaves into a cup using hot water and selling the green tea beverage, the green tea beverage leached in advance is kept warm. A storage device for storing a predetermined amount, discharging means for discharging the green tea beverage in the storage device, detection means for detecting a change in color of the green tea beverage in the storage device, and the storage based on a predetermined sales command Control means for injecting a certain amount of the green tea beverage in the container into the cup, the control means based on the output of the detection means, the amount of change in the color of the green tea beverage deviated from a predetermined reference value In this case, the green tea beverage production machine is characterized in that the discharging means discards the green tea beverage in the storage.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the green tea beverage producing machine according to the first aspect, the amount of light transmitted through the green tea beverage immediately after leaching from the tea leaves using hot water is measured, and the value is represented by A.
Then, when the amount of light transmitted through the green tea beverage after storing the green tea beverage for a certain time is measured and the value is set to B, the change amount (AB) is within a predetermined reference value. In this case, the storage of the green tea beverage is continued, and on the other hand, when the variation (AB) exceeds a predetermined reference value, the green tea beverage is determined to be deteriorated and is discarded. .

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the internal configuration of the green tea beverage production machine of the present invention. The green tea beverage manufacturing machine 1 sells and provides cups by leaching tea leaves with hot water. Inside the green tea beverage production machine 1, a hot water tank 2, a tea leaf discharging device 3, a brewer 4, a paper filter 5, a storage device 6, and the like are installed.

The hot water tank 2 is supplied with water by a water supply pipe 8 provided with a water supply electromagnetic valve 7. The water supply solenoid valve 7 is controlled to be opened and closed by a float switch 9 for detecting the water level in the hot water tank 2, whereby the water level in the hot water tank 2 is always kept constant. A heater 10 is mounted in the hot water tank 2, and the water in the hot water tank 2 is heated by the heating of the heater 10, and is constantly turned into hot water of about + 63 ° C. or more (for example, 70 ° C. to 90 ° C.). The hot water in the hot water tank 2 is supplied to the brewer 4 by a hot water supply pipe 12 having a hot water supply electromagnetic valve 11 interposed.

[0010] Tea leaves as a raw material are stored in the tea leaf carrying-out device 3, and are supplied into the leaching device 4 by a predetermined amount as shown by an arrow in the drawing by a carry-out device 13 attached below the tea leaves.

The leaching device 4 is constituted by a vertically movable chamber 15 located above a funnel 14 attached to the upper end of the storage device 6. The paper filter 5 is inserted between the chamber 15 and the funnel 14. The paper filter 5 is wound in a roll shape, and the paper filter 5 pulled out of the roll by the feed roller 16 is connected to the chamber 15 and the funnel 14.
, And is discarded in the waste container 17 via the feed roller 16.

The storage device 6 includes a stainless steel tank 19 having an upper end communicating with the funnel 14 and a lower end communicating with a discharge pipe 18 serving as discharge means, and a heat insulating material 20 provided around the tank 19. , A heater 19 for heating the tank 19. This warming heater 21
Is to control the stored tea in the tank 19 by using the thermocouple 22 and always keep the temperature at about + 63 ° C. or higher (for example, 70 ° C. to 90 ° C.). The discharge pipe 18 is provided with a discharge electromagnetic valve 23.

Further, a blue LED lamp (wavelength 47) as a light source as a detecting means for detecting a color on the side of the tank 19 is provided.
On the side opposite to the (0 nm) 24, an optical sensor (highly sensitive to blue light) 25 is provided. There is no particular limitation on the method of providing the detection means for detecting the color on the side of the tank 19, and for example,
A method of forming holes opposing each other on the side wall of the tank 19 with a transparent member such as glass, and providing a blue LED lamp 24 on one side of the hole and an optical sensor 25 on the side of the other hole. Can be. Then, the blue light from the light source was transmitted through the preserved tea in the tank 19, and the amount of light was detected by the optical sensor 25 installed on the opposite side. Optical sensor 2
5 outputs an electrical signal corresponding to the deterioration of the preserved tea.
The output is input to a control device 26 as control means constituted by a general-purpose microcomputer. The position where the blue LED lamp 24 as a light source and the optical sensor 25 are attached is not limited to the above position of the tank 19, but may be at the bottom of the tank 19, or the discharge pipe 18 upstream of the discharge electromagnetic valve 23.
May be.

The discharge pipe 18 is opened above a cup holder 27 made of a saw blade, and the cup 28 is discharged from the cup supply device (not shown) to the cup receiver 27 for each sale. Further, a waste container 29 is disposed below the cup receiver 27.

Next, the operation of the green tea beverage production machine 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 2 shows a program of the control device 26. After the power is turned on, the control device 26 collects the tea leaves in step S1 to collect, for example,
Decide to brew 6 cups. Next, the control device 26 lowers the chamber 15 of the infusion device 4 in step S2 to sandwich the paper filter 5 with the funnel 14, and operates the unloader 13 of the tea leaf unloading device 3 to operate 26 tea leaves. Is discharged into the chamber 15 of the brewer 4, and the hot water supply electromagnetic valve 11 is opened, and 26 cups of hot water is dropped from the hot water tank 2 onto the tea leaves in the chamber 15 and immersed for a predetermined time. By the supply of the hot water, 2 leaves from the tea leaves in the chamber 15.
Since six cups of green tea beverage are infused, the control device 26 opens the valve 32 in step S3 to store the green tea beverage in the storage device 6.
In the tank 19. After the leaching, the chamber 15 of the brewer 4 is raised, the paper filter 5 is moved by a predetermined amount by the feed roller 16, and the tea leaf waste is discarded in the waste container 17.

Next, in step S4, the control device 26 determines whether or not the customer has paid money, and has selected a green tea beverage as a product and issued a predetermined sales command.
When there is a sales command, the control device 26 discharges the cup 28 from the cup supply device (not shown) to the cup receiver 27, and proceeds to step S5 to open the discharge electromagnetic valve 23, and the green tea stored in the tank 19 A drink is poured into the cup 28 through the discharge pipe 18 as shown.

After the sale is completed, the controller 26 proceeds to step S6 to determine whether or not the green tea beverage in the tank 19 of the storage device 6 is empty and sold out. Proceeds to step S9 to store and calculate data relating to sales, and then proceeds to step S1 to execute leaching and storage of the tea leaves again. At this time, in step S9, based on the sales situation until the green tea beverage is sold out, for example, if sales are performed frequently, the amount of tea leaves leached next time is increased, and conversely, sales are not performed frequently. In the situation, the amount of tea leaves leached next time is reduced to minimize the amount of green tea beverage to be discarded as described later.

Here, if the green tea beverage is stored in the tank 19 of the storage device 6, the control device 26 proceeds to step S7.
Then, the condition for discarding the green tea beverage stored in the storage 6 is determined. In this case, for example, the blue light from the light source 24 is transmitted continuously or every predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds or 1 minute) to the stored green tea beverage, and the light amount is detected by the optical sensor 25 installed on the opposite side. An electric signal corresponding to the deterioration of the stored tea is output from the optical sensor 25 to the control device 26.

In the control device 26, a reference value of the amount of change in the color of the preserved tea that can be sold (this is predetermined in accordance with the type of green tea beverage, etc.) is set in advance.
Based on the output from 5, it is determined whether or not the amount of change in the color of the stored tea in the tank 19 is out of this reference value, that is, whether or not it can withstand sales. When the amount of light transmitted through the green tea beverage immediately after is measured and the value is set to A, and the amount of light transmitted through the stored tea after storing the green tea beverage for a certain time is measured and the value is set to B, If the amount (AB) is within the predetermined reference value, the storage of the green tea beverage is continued, while if the amount of change (AB) exceeds the predetermined reference value, the green tea beverage is stored. Judge that the preserved tea has deteriorated and discard it.] If it does not deviate from the reference value, the process returns to step S4, and the same operation is repeated thereafter.

On the other hand, if the stored tea in the tank 19 has deteriorated due to the lapse of time from the leaching and has deteriorated to a level that cannot be sold, the control device 26 proceeds to step S.
From 7, the process proceeds to step S <b> 8, where the discharge electromagnetic valve 30 is opened and all the stored tea stored in the tank 19 of the storage device 6 is discarded in the waste container 31. Thereafter, the process returns to step S1 to resume the leaching and storage of the tea leaves. Before restarting the infusion and storage of the tea leaves, another hot water supply solenoid valve 33 of the hot water tank 2 is opened and hot water is supplied to the tank 1 via the line 34.
It is preferable that the inner surface of the tank 19 be rinsed cleanly by jetting it from a rinse shower nozzle 35 provided in the nozzle 9.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to directly determine the degree of deterioration of the stored tea from the amount of change in the color of the stored tea stored in the storage 6 and discard the stored tea. It is possible to prevent the situation from happening, and to sell a stable and high quality green tea beverage at all times.

[0022]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. (Embodiment 1) First, using the green tea beverage manufacturing machine of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, 1000 cc of hot water (hot water temperature 90 ° C.) heated and boiled in a hot water tank 2 and a discharge device of a tea leaf discharge device 3 13
To drop 25g of green tea (sencha) into the brewer 4,
Immerse for 1-2 minutes. After immersion, the valve 32 was opened and stored in the tank 19 of the storage device 6. Around the tank 19, a heater 21 for keeping the green tea infusate warm, a thermocouple 22 for measuring hot water temperature and controlling ON / OFF of the heater 21 and a heat insulating material 20 are provided. A blue LED lamp (wavelength 470 nm, light emitting material is SiC) 24 as a light source and a convex lens (not shown) are provided on the side of the tank 19 so that the stored tea in the tank 19 transmits blue light.
An optical sensor (highly sensitive to blue light) 25 is provided on the opposite side surface of the tank 19 so that the light sensor 25 can detect the amount of blue light transmitted through the stored tea.
An electric signal corresponding to the deterioration of the stored tea is output from the optical sensor 25 to the control device 26.

FIG. 3 shows that the green tea infusion was stored at 90 ° C. (A: immediately after infusion, B: 1 hour later, C: 2 hours later,
And D: after 4 hours) shows the relationship between the absorbance and the wavelength.
As shown in FIG. 3, when the green tea infusion is stored at a high temperature, the absorbance around 470 nm increases with time. That is, since the absorbance near 470 nm increases with time, when the transmitted light amount is detected by the optical sensor 25,
As the time elapses, the green tea infusate deteriorates and changes color, and the amount of transmitted light decreases.

When the green tea infusion was stored at 90 ° C., the storage time [0 minutes (initial), 1 to 120 minutes] and the amount of transmitted light detected by the optical sensor 25 [the amount of transmitted light is the current value of the optical sensor 25 (ΜA), this current value (μA)
A) are shown in Table 1, and these results are compared with the results of the sensory test. In the sensory test, 10 panel members had the green tea infusate stored as described above drink, and the sensory test results were shown as a percentage (%) of the number of persons judged to be delicious and suitable for drinking.

[0025]

[Table 1]

From the above results, the above green tea infusion was heated to 90 ° C.
It can be seen that when the sample is stored in the above manner, the result of the sensory test decreases in the storage time of 20 to 30 minutes. Therefore, in the case of the above green tea infusion,
Initial value (910 μA) of the current value (μA) of the optical sensor 25
Discard when the difference from the value exceeds about 100 (μA), or
Alternatively, if the storage time is discarded after about 20 minutes, the deteriorated green tea beverage is not supplied.

(Example 2) A storage test of the above green tea infusion was performed at a storage temperature (75 ° C and 60 ° C) in the same manner as in Example 1. Even at the storage temperature (75 ° C., 60 ° C.), the sensory test results when the difference between the current value (μA) of the optical sensor 25 and the initial value exceeds about 100 (μA) as in the case of the first embodiment. Fell. Therefore, also in this case, if the difference from the initial value of the current value (μA) of the optical sensor 25 exceeds about 100 (μA), the deteriorated green tea beverage will not be supplied.

[0028]

According to the green tea beverage production machine of the present invention, it is possible to always supply good quality products even if the green tea beverage leached from tea leaves in advance is kept warm and stored in a predetermined amount using hot water. , And efficient sales can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of a green tea beverage production machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a program of a control device.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between absorbance and wavelength when a green tea infusion is stored at 90 ° C.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 green tea beverage production machine 2 hot water tank 3 tea leaf discharge device 4 infusion device 5 paper filter 6 storage device 7 water supply solenoid valve 8 water supply pipe 9 float switch 10 heater 11, 33 hot water supply electromagnetic valve 12 hot water supply pipe 13 exporter 14 funnel 15 chamber 16 Feed roller 17 Casing container 18 Discharge pipe 19 Tank 20 Insulation material 21 Insulation heater 22 Thermocouple 23, 30 Discharge electromagnetic valve 24 Blue LED lamp of light source 25 Optical sensor 26 Controller 27 Cup receiver 28 Cup 29, 31 Waste container 32 Valve 34 Line 35 Rinse shower nozzle

Continued on the front page (72) Koji Takeda, Inventor 2-5-2-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Souichi Matsuzoe 2-5-5-1 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A green tea beverage manufacturing machine for injecting green tea beverage leached from tea leaves into cups using hot water and selling the green tea beverage. Discharging means for discharging the green tea beverage in the container, detecting means for detecting a change in the color of the green tea beverage in the storage, and a certain amount of the green tea beverage in the storage based on a predetermined sales command. Control means for injecting into the cup, the control means based on the output of the detection means,
A green tea beverage production machine, wherein the discharging unit discards the green tea beverage in the storage device when the amount of color change of the green tea beverage deviates from a predetermined reference value. 2. The amount of light passing through the green tea beverage immediately after leaching from the tea leaves using hot water is measured, and the value is defined as A. The amount of light passing through the green tea beverage after storing the green tea beverage for a certain time Is measured, and the value is set to B. When the variation (AB) is within a predetermined reference value, the green tea beverage is kept stored, while the variation (AB) is 2. The green tea beverage is judged to be degraded and discarded when it exceeds a predetermined reference value.
The green tea beverage production machine according to the above.