RU2829357C2 - Method of making container (embodiments), method of preparing beverage and container for preparing beverage - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: food industry.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to food industry. Disclosed container with beverage ingredient for use in beverage preparation device contains pieces of pressed powder or granules of beverage ingredient. Said chunks contain at least 5 wt.% of fat. Beverage ingredient contains an amount of dust making less than 3 wt.% of the total amount of the beverage ingredient in the container. Dust represents beverage ingredient pieces with size less than 150 mcm. Also disclosed are versions of the method of making a container with a beverage ingredient, as well as a method for preparing the beverage. Beverage preparation method involves provision of the said container with a beverage ingredient. Then, fluid is transferred from the container and dissolved and/or suspended in a fluid medium such that the fluid medium at the outlet of the container contains at least a portion of the dissolved and / or suspended beverage ingredient. At least a portion of the solution or suspension of the beverage ingredient is collected in the second container.

EFFECT: invention is aimed at increasing the solubility of beverage ingredients in a limited volume of containers for beverage ingredients; increase in the amount of the powdered beverage ingredient, which can be added to the beverage ingredients container of a given volume, and/or reducing the volume or one or more dimensions of the container for the beverage ingredients while maintaining the same amount of the beverage ingredient contained therein.

17 cl, 4 dwg, 5 tbl, 3 ex

Description

Field of application of the invention

The present invention relates to containers adapted to be installed in a beverage preparation device, containing pieces of pressed beverage ingredient, methods for their manufacture and methods for their use in beverage preparation.

Prerequisites for the creation of an invention

As is known to those skilled in the art, when preparing a beverage from a powdered ingredient, a problem with the solubility of the powder may arise, resulting in a grainy texture of the beverage or a low concentration of the beverage and an undesirable residual sediment of the wetted powder. If a person skilled in the art has to deal with a problem with the solubility of a powder, he or she may use one of a number of options to solve the problem, including, for example, changing the type or mixture of solvent, increasing the temperature or volume of the solvent, applying a shear force, or increasing the contact time of the powder with the solvent. Some of these options are of limited use in certain circumstances; for example, in the presence of milk powder, the effect of increasing the temperature may reduce solubility. It is also known that the physical properties of the powder can dramatically affect its solubility. Powders with the same chemical structure but with different physical properties, such as, for example, density, particle size, particle size distribution, or porosity, may have significantly different solubility. It is known that in some application examples, such as containers for use in beverage preparation devices, such diverse solubility control solution options are limited/restricted or unavailable.

A variety of beverage preparation systems are known in the art. Such systems typically comprise a beverage preparation device and a beverage ingredient container capable of being used with the beverage preparation device. The beverage ingredient containers may be in the form of sachets, soft sachets, semi-rigid sachets, rigid sachets, capsules, disks, and tablets in a polymer or aluminum shell and may contain extractable and/or soluble beverage ingredients. Beverage preparation devices typically comprise a water source, a heat source, and a pump that delivers heated water through the beverage ingredient container into a cup.

Essentially, during beverage preparation, the consumer places beverage ingredient containers into the beverage preparation device.

A standard beverage preparation device is configured to supply a predetermined volume and/or flow rate of water into a beverage ingredient container to dissolve, suspend and/or extract part or all of the beverage ingredient contained therein, followed by dispensing a desired volume of beverage with a desired solids content. Essentially, the amount of water supplied to the beverage ingredient container is determined by a predetermined timed activation of the water supply pump or a predetermined threshold value for the flow meter; in either case, the volume of water passing through the beverage ingredient container is limited.

In the systems known in the art, in the case of solubility of the beverage ingredient contained in the beverage ingredient container, after the desired volume of water has been supplied by the beverage preparation device, some residual amount of the beverage ingredient often remains in the beverage ingredient container. As a result, a beverage is often obtained with a smaller than desired amount of dissolved beverage ingredient and/or with waste beverage ingredient remaining in the beverage ingredient container after the beverage has been prepared. A known method for solving this problem is to add an excess of beverage ingredient to the beverage ingredient container so that even if there is a residue, a sufficient amount of beverage ingredient is dissolved in the desired volume of water and a sufficient amount of beverage ingredient is contained in the prepared beverage. This increases the solids content of the beverage, but increases the amount of waste beverage ingredients remaining in the beverage ingredient container and significantly complicates the packaging of the excess beverage ingredients in containers of a given size used for each system. In addition, this effect has an upper practical limit. Above the threshold, adding more powdered beverage ingredient will not affect the solids content of the resulting beverage or may even reduce the solubility of the bulk ingredient by limiting the headspace within the mixing container.

Additionally, it is known that if beverage ingredient containers are stored improperly or for many months prior to use, after the beverage ingredient has been extracted, dissolved, or suspended, the amount of residue in that beverage ingredient container may increase.

It would be preferable to provide beverage ingredient formats that can be tolerated during the manufacturing processes required to fill beverage ingredient containers without being substantially broken down or crushed to form significant quantities of small particles (“fines”).

Those skilled in the art also know how to change the physical properties of beverage ingredients to affect their solubility, but all known solutions for improving solubility have some other characteristic that negatively affects the desired properties when used in a beverage preparation system. For example, known agglomeration techniques increase the solubility of beverage powders and therefore may have the effect of reducing residues in beverage ingredient containers; however, the same known agglomerated beverage ingredient powders have a reduced density, which means that it is not possible to simply add a sufficient mass of beverage ingredient to a relatively small volume beverage ingredient container to obtain a beverage of the desired volume with the desired solids content. Moreover, such known agglomerated powders may also be incompatible with the methods used to manufacture beverage ingredient containers, such that their increased brittleness causes the agglomerated powders to break down during manufacturing and processing, thereby increasing the proportion of fines and thereby reducing solubility, which in turn increases dust formation and interferes with container sealing.

High levels of fines (>15%) and low porosity can also result in significant dust generation on filling lines, requiring frequent line cleaning and reducing efficiency.

In addition, known powdered beverage ingredients may lose solubility during the shelf life of a commercial product, and thus, during a typical storage period of several months, residue levels may increase above acceptable levels.

It is known that such shortcomings are, in particular, associated with those ingredients of the drink that contain a certain amount of fat.

Known powders include those described in the following documents: WO2016/014503, WO2011/063322, WO2011/039027, WO2009/103592, WO2004/064585. Each of the listed documents contains one or more of the above-described disadvantages, such as low porosity, high percentage of fine fractions, suboptimal particle size, etc. Moreover, it is known that the properties of the fluid used to dissolve or transfer beverage ingredients into the prepared beverage can affect the amount of beverage ingredient in the prepared beverage. Fluid parameters, such as, without limitation, temperature, pressure, flow rate and/or aeration, can be adjusted by adjusting the parameters and/or components in the beverage preparation device. In particular, the efficiency of beverage preparation devices that operate at relatively low fluid pressures (i.e. below approximately 5-10 bar) is impaired by the low solubility of dry beverages compared to devices operating at higher pressures (i.e. above approximately 10 bar).

The aim of the embodiments of the present invention is to achieve an optimal combination of properties of a beverage ingredient in combination with optimal properties of a fluid supplied by a beverage preparation device in order to maximize the amount of beverage ingredient carried by the fluid into the prepared beverage. Another aim of the embodiments of the present invention is to achieve this result in beverage preparation devices that prepare a range of alternative beverages using a range of different beverage ingredients and/or beverage ingredient containers.

It would be advantageous to provide a beverage ingredient container containing a soluble beverage ingredient that results in less residue being formed after use in a beverage preparation device.

The aim of embodiments of the present invention is to increase the solubility of beverage ingredients in a limited volume of beverage ingredient containers. Furthermore, the aim of embodiments of the invention is to increase the amount of powdered beverage ingredient that can be added to a beverage ingredient container of a given volume and/or to decrease the volume or one or more dimensions of a beverage ingredient container while maintaining the same amount of beverage ingredient contained therein.

It would also be advantageous to provide a fat-containing beverage ingredient for use in beverage containers of the type described herein that has fewer problems associated with storage, shelf life, residue formation and poor solubility.

Thus, the aim of the embodiments of the invention is to eliminate or reduce the disadvantage inherent in the prior art.

Statement of the essence of the invention

According to the first aspect of the invention, a container is proposed, which is designed to be installed in a device for preparing a beverage, containing pieces of pressed powder or granules of beverage ingredients.

The term "compressed" means that the granules or powder particles are pressed together to form larger pieces.

In some embodiments, each piece of beverage ingredient has a largest dimension of at least 1.5 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, or 5 mm. In some embodiments, each piece of beverage ingredient has a largest dimension of no more than 20 mm, 19 mm, 18 mm, 17 mm, 16 mm, or 15 mm. In some embodiments, each piece of beverage ingredient has a largest dimension of 1.5 mm to 20 mm, 2 mm to 20 mm, 2 mm to 18 mm, or 2 mm to 15 mm.

Such large particle sizes provide increased space within the container for fluid flow and turbulence generation to facilitate dissolution/suspension of the beverage ingredient. In addition, embodiments with such particle sizes help increase the wetting front of the beverage ingredient particle and prevent the formation of a solid compressed layer of beverage ingredient, which may be difficult to dissolve, especially when the powder contains fat.

In some embodiments, at least two pieces of the beverage ingredient have substantially the same size and/or shape. In some preferred embodiments, the variation in the largest size among all pieces of the beverage ingredient inside the container is less than 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5% or 9% of the largest piece. In some preferred embodiments, the variation in the largest size among all pieces of the beverage ingredient in the container is no more than 20%, 18%, 16%, 15% or 10% of the largest piece. In some preferred embodiments, the variation in the largest size among all pieces of the beverage ingredient inside the container is from 1% to 20%, from 1% to 15%, from 1% to 10% or from 2% to 10% of the largest piece. It should be understood that the beverage ingredient pieces will likely contain a small amount of pieces that have been broken up during packaging or transportation, as well as dust that has formed, which are excluded from the maximum and minimum size selection for the purpose of this measurement. In further embodiments, each piece is substantially the same size and/or shape. Uniformity of shape among the pieces has the additional advantage of stable dissolution/suspension and more space between the ingredient pieces for solvent penetration.

In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient container contains 10 to 1000, 10 to 500, or 10 to 300 pieces of beverage ingredient.

This number of pieces provides the additional benefit of packaging efficiency, proper concentration of the finished drink and weight of the container contents.

In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of beverage ingredient, has a density of at least 0.5 g/ ^cm3 , 0.6 g/ ^cm3 , 0.7 g/ ^cm3 , or 0.8 g/ ^cm3 . In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of beverage ingredient, has a density of no more than 2 g/ ^cm3 , 1.5 g/ ^cm3 , 1.4 g/ ^cm3 , 1.3 g/ ^cm3 , or 1.2 g/ ^cm3 . In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of beverage ingredient, has a density of from 0.5 g/ ^cm3 to 2 g/ ^cm3 , from 0.5 g/ ^cm3 to 1.5 g/ ^cm3 , from 0.6 g/ ^cm3 to 1.4 g/ ^cm3 , or from 0.7 g/ ^cm3 to 1.3 g/ ^cm3 . In preferred embodiments, all of the pieces have substantially the same density.

Density values within these ranges provide the additional benefits of optimized packing density in a limited container volume designed for installation in a beverage preparation device, optimized headspace for liquid flow and solubility, and reduced beverage ingredient residue. Uniform density among the pieces has the additional benefit of ensuring stable dissolution/suspension.

In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of the beverage ingredient, has a mass of at least 0.08 g, 0.1 g, 0.12 g, or 0.15 g. In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of the beverage ingredient, has a mass of no more than 0.55 g, 0.5 g, or 0.45 g. In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each beverage ingredient, has a mass of 0.08 g to 0.55 g, 0.1 g to 0.5 g, or 0.12 g to 0.45 g. In preferred embodiments, all pieces have substantially the same mass.

These weight ranges provide the additional benefit of ensuring optimum packing density in the limited volume of a container designed to fit into a beverage preparation device. The uniformity of weight among the pieces has the additional benefit of ensuring stable dissolution/suspension.

In preferred embodiments, at least one of the pieces of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of the beverage ingredient, comprises fat, sugar, sweetener, milk powder, instant coffee, dairy whitener, non-dairy whitener and/or chocolate powder. In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of the beverage ingredient, is milk powder, dairy whitener, non-dairy whitener and/or chocolate powder. In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of the beverage ingredient, comprises at least 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9% or 10% by weight of fat. In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of the beverage ingredient, comprises no more than 70%, 60%, 50%, 30% or 20% by weight of fat. In some embodiments, at least one of the pieces of beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of beverage ingredient, comprises from 5% to 25 wt. %, 70 wt. % fat, preferably from 10% to 25 wt. %; from 5% to 20 wt. % or from 10% to 20 wt. % fat. In embodiments in which at least one of the pieces of beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of beverage ingredient, comprises chocolate powder; the fat content of the powder is at least 4%, 4.5%, 5%, 5.5% or 6 wt. %, and/or no more than 9%, 8.5%, 8%, 7.5% or 7 wt. %, and/or from 4% to 9 wt. %; from 4% to 8 wt. %; from 4% to 7 wt. %; from 5% to 9 wt. %; from 5% to 8 wt. % or from 6% to 8% by weight of fat. In further embodiments, wherein at least one beverage ingredient, or preferably each beverage ingredient, comprises dry milk, the fat content of the powder is at least 10%, 11% or 12% by weight, and/or no more than 30%, 25%, 22% or 20% by weight of fat, and/or from 10% to 25% by weight, from 10% to 20% by weight, from 12% to 25% by weight, or from 12% to 20% by weight of fat. In further embodiments, wherein at least one beverage ingredient, or preferably each beverage ingredient, comprises a dairy whitener powder or a non-dairy whitener powder, the fat content of the powder is at least 25% by weight, and/or no more than 70% by weight of fat, and/or from 25% to 70% by weight of fat.

It is known to those skilled in the art that dry beverages that contain fat in the amounts described herein are characterized by lower solubility in water. A particular advantage of embodiments of the present invention with such fat content is sufficient solubility to prepare a beverage with an appropriate level of solids and a low amount of beverage ingredient residues.

In some embodiments, the water activity of at least one piece of the beverage ingredient, or preferably each piece of the beverage ingredient, is less than 0.45, 0.40, 0.39, 0.38 or less than 0.37, which can be estimated by a standard dew point measurement method using an Aqua Lab 3 TE Series, and in preferred embodiments it is less than 0.35 or less than 0.32, and most preferably from 0.20 to 0.30. During storage, the water activity of the beverage ingredient preferably remains at a level of less than 0.45. In other embodiments, each of the pieces has substantially the same water activity. Uniformity of water activity among the pieces has the additional advantages of ensuring stable dissolution/suspension and stable shelf life of the product.

Low water activity embodiments have the additional benefit of providing excellent solubility after storage and stable product characteristics over shelf life.

In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient comprises an amount of dust that is less than 3 wt.%, 2 wt.%, 1 wt.%, or less than 0.5 wt.% of the total amount of beverage ingredient in the container. Dust is defined as pieces of beverage ingredient that are significantly smaller than pieces of powdered beverage ingredient, such as less than 500 μm, 250 μm, or 150 μm.

Embodiments with such dust levels have the particular advantage of providing improved uniformity of solubility throughout the beverage ingredient during use.

In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient container configured to be installed in the beverage preparation device is selected from a capsule, a disk, a tablet, a sachet, a semi-rigid sachet, a filter bag, a bag, a cartridge. In preferred embodiments, the volume of the beverage ingredient container is from 15 ml to 80 ml or from 20 ml to 65 ml. In more preferred embodiments, the beverage ingredient container configured to be installed in the beverage preparation device comprises a portion configured to be read by the beverage preparation device.

Embodiments of such container volumes have the additional advantages of ensuring compatibility with beverage preparation devices and the ability of the capsule to communicate with the device to optimize at least one parameter of the final beverage, such as the % of dry beverage suspended/dissolved therein.

In some embodiments, the pieces of powder or granules of the beverage ingredient occupy at least 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75% or 80% and/or no more than 95% or 90% of the total volume of the beverage ingredient container. In some preferred embodiments, the pieces of powder or granules of the beverage ingredient occupy from 45% to 95%, or from 55% to 95%, or from 65% to 95%, or from 75% to 95%, or from 45% to 90%, or from 55% to 90%, or from 65% to 90%, or from 75% to 90% of the total volume of the beverage ingredient container.

In some embodiments, the powdered beverage particles or granules that comprise the beverage ingredient pieces have a median particle size, sometimes referred to as D50, of at least 200, 225, 250, 275 microns and/or no more than 900, 800, 700, 600, 550, 500 or 450 microns. In preferred embodiments, the median particle size is greater than 250 microns.

In some preferred embodiments, the powdered beverage particles or granules that comprise the beverage ingredient pieces have a median particle size of 50 to 600, 100 to 600 μm; 100 to 400 μm; or especially 100 to 300 μm. The median particle size can be measured by laser diffraction (e.g., using Sympatec Helos equipment).

Beverage ingredient pieces consisting of particles of these sizes provide an optimal balance of powder or granule flowability during processing of pressed beverage ingredient pieces, fragility in packaging and solubility in use.

In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient powder or granules comprise chocolate powder, in other embodiments, the beverage ingredient powder or granules comprise milk powder. In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient pieces comprising the chocolate powder or granules have a bulk density of at least 620 g/L; 640 g/L, or 660 g/L. In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient pieces comprising the chocolate powder or granules have a bulk density of no more than 800 g/L, 750 g/L, or 720 g/L. In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient pieces comprising the chocolate powder or granules have a bulk density of 620 g/L to 800 g/L; 640 g/L to 750 g/L; or 660 g/L to 720 g/L.

In embodiments wherein the beverage ingredient powder or granules comprise dry milk, the bulk density of the beverage ingredient pieces is at least 520 g/L; 540 g/L, or 550 g/L. In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient pieces comprising dry milk or granules have a bulk density of no more than 800 g/L, 750 g/L, or 720 g/L. In some embodiments, the beverage ingredient pieces comprising dry milk or granules have a bulk density of 520 g/L to 800 g/L; 540 g/L to 750 g/L, or 550 g/L to 700 g/L.

Such density values provide the additional benefit of an excellent balance between solubility and packing density within a container designed to be installed in a device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for preparing a container with a beverage ingredient according to the first aspect of the present invention, comprising the following steps:

a) providing a mass of pressed powder or granules of a beverage ingredient;

b) breaking up a mass of pressed powder or granules of a beverage ingredient into pieces of pressed powder or granules,

c) sifting the pieces formed in step b); and

d) adding pieces of the beverage ingredient of step b) into a container adapted to be installed in a beverage preparation device.

In some embodiments, the container is then sealed, preferably by a hermetically sealed method. A heat-sealed lid has the particular advantage of being easy to pierce to extract the contents of the container using a beverage preparation device.

In some embodiments, the pressed mass of beverage ingredient powder or granules is obtained by passing the beverage ingredient powder or granules between opposing rollers. In some embodiments, the force applied between the opposing rollers is at least 0.5; 1 or 1.5 tons. In some embodiments, the force applied between the opposing rollers is no more than 5.5 or 5 tons. In some embodiments, the force applied between the opposing rollers is from 0.5 tons to 5 tons or from 1.5 tons to 5.5 tons.

Such values of pressing force have the additional advantage of providing a further optimized balance of solubility and packing density when loading into a limited volume of a container designed for installation in a beverage preparation device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for preparing a container with a beverage ingredient according to the first aspect of the present invention, comprising the following steps:

a) providing powder or granules of a beverage ingredient;

b) pressing the beverage ingredient powder or granules into individual pieces of pressed powder or granules, and;

c) adding pieces of the beverage ingredient of step b) into a container adapted to be installed in a beverage preparation device.

In some embodiments, the container is then sealed, preferably by a hermetically sealed method. A heat-sealed lid has the particular advantage of being easy to pierce to extract the contents of the container using a beverage preparation device.

In some embodiments, the force used to compress the beverage ingredient in step b) is at least 0.8 kN, 1 kN, or 1.2 kN. In some embodiments, the force used to compress the beverage ingredient in step b) is no more than 2.5 kN, 2.2 kN, or 2 kN. In some embodiments, the force used to compress the beverage ingredient in step b) is from 0.8 kN to 2.5 kN or from 1 kN to 2.5 kN.

Such values of pressing force have the additional advantage of providing a further optimized balance of solubility and packing density when loading into a limited volume of a container designed for installation in a beverage preparation device.

In some embodiments, the pressing speed in step b) is at least 15 mm/min, 20 mm/min, or 25 mm/min. In some embodiments, the pressing speed in step b) is no more than 100 mm/min, 75 mm/min, or 50 mm/min. In some embodiments, the pressing speed in step b) is from 15 mm/min to 100 mm/min or from 15 mm/min to 50 mm/min.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for preparing a beverage comprising the following steps:

a) preparing a container for a beverage ingredient according to the first aspect of the present invention;

b) transferring the fluid from the container and dissolving and/or suspending at least a portion or at least some of the pieces in the fluid such that the fluid upon exiting the container contains at least a portion of the dissolved and/or suspended beverage ingredient, and

c) collecting at least a portion of the beverage ingredient solution or suspension in a second container.

In some embodiments, the amount of beverage ingredient dissolved and/or suspended in the fluid is greater than 75 wt.%, 80 wt.%, 85 wt.%, or 90 wt.% of the amount of beverage ingredient pieces present in the container prior to beverage preparation.

In some embodiments, the container after beverage preparation contains a residue that is less than 25 wt.%, 20 wt.%, 15 wt.%, or 10 wt.% of the amount of beverage material in the container before beverage preparation.

In some embodiments, the volume of fluid supplied in step b) is at least 10 ml, 25 ml, or at least 50 ml. The volume of fluid supplied in step b) may be, for example, from 50 ml to 300 ml.

In some embodiments, the fluid supplied to step b) is supplied at a pressure of less than 10 bar, 9 bar, 8 bar, 7 bar, 6 bar, or preferably less than 5 bar.

Detailed description of the invention

For a better understanding of the invention, embodiments of the invention will be described below, solely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows images of the containers of the invention in the form of t-discs, from Example 1, before applying the lid and before brewing;

Fig. 2 shows images of the residues in the t-disk from Example 1 after brewing;

Fig. 3 shows images of the inventive containers in the form of t-discs, from Example 3, before applying the lid and before brewing; and

Fig. 4 shows images of the residues in the t-disks from Example 3 after brewing.

The figures indicate the same or identical components with the same numbers.

As shown in Fig. 1, five containers adapted to be installed in the beverage preparation device (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) ("t-discs") filled with pieces of pressed chocolate powder according to the invention are depicted clockwise, starting from the top left: the first filled t-disc (1) contains the body of a large t-disc (100) and pieces of pressed powder (11); the second filled t-disc (3) contains the body of a large t-disc (100) and pieces of pressed powder (13); the third filled t-disc (5) contains the body of a large t-disc (100) and pieces of pressed powder (15); the fourth filled t-disc (7) contains the body of a small t-disc (200) and pieces of pressed powder (17); and the fifth filled t-disk (9) contains the body of the small t-disk (200) and pieces of pressed powder (19).

As shown in Fig. 2, five containers adapted to be installed in the beverage preparation device (21, 23, 25, 27, 29) of Fig. 1 are shown after use with the foil lid partially removed to demonstrate the relative amount of residue inside them. Moving clockwise through the images from the top left: the first filled t-disc shown in Fig. 1 after use (21) contains the body of the large t-disc (100) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (31); the second filled t-disc shown in Fig. 1 after use (23) contains the body of the large t-disc (100) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (33); the third filled t-disc shown in Fig. 1 after use (25) contains the body of the large t-disc (100) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (35); the fourth filled t-disk shown in Fig. 1, after use (27) contains the body of the small t-disk (200) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (37); and the fifth filled t-disk shown in Fig. 1, after use (29) contains the body of the small t-disk (200) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (39).

Fig. 3 shows three containers adapted to be installed in a beverage preparation device (41, 43, 45), which are filled with alternative pieces of pressed chocolate powder according to the invention. Transition through the images from left to right: the sixth filled t-disc (41) comprises the body of the large t-disc (100) and alternative pieces of pressed powder (51); the seventh filled t-disc (43) comprises the body of the small t-disc (200) and alternative pieces of pressed powder (53); and the eighth filled t-disc (45) comprises the body of the small t-disc (200) and alternative pieces of pressed powder (55).

As shown in Fig. 4, three containers adapted to be installed in the beverage preparation device (41, 43, 45), which are filled with alternative pieces of pressed chocolate powder from Fig. 3, are shown after use with a partially removed foil lid to demonstrate the relative amount of residue inside them. The transition through the images from left to right: the sixth filled t-disc shown in Fig. 3, after use (61) contains the body of the large t-disc (100) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (71); the seventh filled t-disc shown in Fig. 3, after use (63) contains the body of the small t-disc (200) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (53); and the eighth filled t-disc shown in Fig. 3, after use (65) contains the body of the small t-disc (200) and the wet residue of the pressed powder (75).

The large t-disk housings (100) in all examples have an internal volume of about 56 ml and the small t-disk housings (200) have an internal volume of about 25 ml.

Example 1

An embodiment of a container adapted to be installed in a device for preparing a beverage containing pieces of pressed chocolate powder according to the first aspect of the invention, obtained by the method according to the second aspect of the present invention, was manufactured and tested as indicated below.

A control chocolate powder containing 42% sucrose, 22% skim milk powder, 10% whole milk powder, 9% cocoa powder, 3% coconut oil, 6% glucose syrup solids, 5% sweet whey powder and some additional minor ingredients such as flavourings were provided. The control chocolate powder had a median particle size of 180 μm and other physical properties as listed in Table 1.

Sample Bulk density (g/l) Layer porosity Water activity Control chocolate powder 600 0.4 0.371 Pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention 690 0.525 0.352

Table 1. Chocolate powders

A portion of the control chocolate powder was passed between two opposing rollers, each 20 mm wide and 200 mm in diameter, to form a sheet of pressed chocolate powder. The rollers rotated at 10 rpm and the force applied between them was approximately 1 ton. The sheet of pressed chocolate powder was then broken in a dry mixer and the product was sieved through a sieve with an aperture size of 1.8 mm. The product that passed the sieve was sorted and reprocessed in the process. Pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention (11, 13, 15, 17, 19) remained on the sieve.

Portions of the pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention (11, 13, 15, 17, 19) and separately portions of the control chocolate powder were loaded into the large and small t-discs (100, 200) of a standard Tassimo coffee maker (RTM), brewed according to the standard Milka (RTM) hot chocolate programs using the large and small disc on the frame 6 of the Tassimo coffee maker and the average residue on the discs was measured after five repetitions as indicated in Table 2. The residues (31, 33, 35, 37, 39) were dried in a vacuum dryer before residue measurement.

The Tassimo (RTM) device on the 6-frame provided water heated to a temperature of 85°C to 95°C, with a target beverage volume of 160 ml to 235 ml.

Test No. Sample T-disk size Filling weight (g) Average % dry residue after brewing Control Control chocolate powder Big 30 12 Control Control chocolate powder Small 11.5 6 1 Pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention Big 30.25 8,10 2 Pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention Big 38.15 10.62 3 Pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention Big 35.41 4.91 4 Pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention Small 11.63 2.41 5 Pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention Small 17 1.94

Table 2. Brewing characteristics of control chocolate powder and pressed chocolate powder

As shown in Fig. 1, the first filled t-disc (1) was used in test 1; the second filled t-disc (3) was used in test 2; the third filled t-disc (5) was used in test 3; the fourth filled t-disc (7) was used in test 4; and the fifth filled t-disc (9) was used in test 5. Table 2 shows the t-discs (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) filled with the pressed chocolate powder of the present invention at different fill weights before brewing.

Fig. 2 shows t-disks (21, 23, 25, 27, 29) in the open position and after brewing to demonstrate the relative amount of residue on each disk and correspond to the t-disks shown in Fig. 1 (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, respectively). Fig. 2 shows the residue on the disk after test 1 (31), the residue on the disk after test 2 (33), the residue on the disk after test 3 (35), the residue on the disk after test 4 (37), and the residue on the disk after test 5 (39).

It was shown that at the same fill weight, the pieces of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention produced less residue on the disc after brewing than the control product. Even with increasing fill weight, the pressed product of the present invention produced less residue, which demonstrates the advantage of the present invention over the control as a means of reducing the size of the disc required for a given volume of beverage, or increasing the maximum size of beverage that can be prepared, or increasing the concentration of a given beverage.

Example 2

An embodiment of a container adapted to be installed in a device for preparing a beverage containing pieces of pressed dry milk according to the first aspect of the invention, obtained by the method according to the second aspect of the present invention, was manufactured and tested in the same way as the chocolate powder from example 1.

The control milk powder contained 64% skim milk powder, 27.5% sugar, and 8.25% cream powder (total fat content 7.9%). The milk powder was processed in the same manner as the chocolate powder of Example 1 to produce the pressed milk powder pieces of the present invention.

Portions of the inventive pressed milk powder pieces and separate portions of the control milk powder were loaded into the large t-discs of a standard Tassimo coffee maker (RTM), brewed according to the standard milk programs using the large disc on the frame 6 of the Tassimo coffee maker (RTM), and the average residue on the discs was measured after five repetitions, as indicated in Table 3. The residue was dried in a vacuum dryer before measurements were taken.

Test No. Sample T-disk size Filling weight (g) Average % dry residue after brewing Control Control dry milk Big 30 8 6 The pieces of pressed dry milk of the present invention Big 30.2 6.2 7 The pieces of pressed dry milk of the present invention Big 38.15 7.6

Table 3. Brewing characteristics of control dry milk and pressed dry milk

It was shown that at the same filling weight, the pieces of pressed dry milk of the present invention yielded less residue on the disc after brewing than the control product. Even with increasing filling weight, the pressed product of the present invention yielded less residue, which demonstrates the advantage of the present invention over the control as a means of reducing the size of the disc required for a given volume of beverage, or increasing the maximum size of beverage that can be prepared, or increasing the concentration of a given beverage.

Example 3

An embodiment of a container adapted to be installed in a device for preparing a beverage containing pieces of pressed chocolate powder according to the third aspect of the invention, obtained by the method according to the second aspect of the present invention, was manufactured and tested as indicated below.

A control chocolate powder from Example 1 containing 42% sucrose, 22% skim milk powder, 10% whole milk powder, 9% cocoa powder, 3% coconut oil, 6% glucose syrup solids, 5% sweet whey powder and some additional minor ingredients such as flavourings was provided. The control chocolate powder had a median particle size of 180 µm and other physical properties as indicated in Table 1.

A portion of the control chocolate powder was passed between two opposing rollers having opposing cavities to form compacted powder pieces. The cavities were generally disc-shaped, 10 mm in diameter and 1.25 mm or 2.25 mm deep (to form corresponding pieces of 2.5 mm or 4.5 mm thick), in turn to form two batches of pieces of alternative compacted pieces of the chocolate powder of the present invention with different sizes. The rollers rotated at a speed of 30 mm/min, and the force applied between them was approximately 1.5 kN. The resulting alternative compacted pieces of the chocolate powder of the present invention had the physical properties as indicated in Table 4.

Sample Diameter (mm) Height (mm) Piece weight (g) Alternative Pressed Chocolate Powder Pieces of the Present Invention - Batch 1 10 4.5 0.35 Alternative Pressed Chocolate Powder Pieces of the Present Invention - Batch 2 10 2.5 0.2

Table 4. Physical properties of alternative batches of pressed chocolate powder of the present invention.

Each of the two lots of the pressed chocolate powder pieces of the present invention and a separate portion of the control bulk chocolate powder were loaded into the large and small t-discs (100, 200 respectively) of a standard Tassimo coffee maker (RTM), brewed according to the standard Milka (RTM) hot chocolate programs using the large and small disc on the frame 6 of the Tassimo coffee maker (RTM) and the average residue on the discs was measured after five repetitions as indicated in Table 5. The residues (71, 73, 75) were dried in a vacuum dryer before each residue measurement.

The Tassimo (RTM) device on the 6-frame provided water heated to a temperature of 85°C to 95°C, with a target beverage volume of 160 ml to 235 ml.

Test No. Sample T-disk size Filling weight (g) Average % dry residue after brewing Control Control chocolate powder Big 30 12 Control Control chocolate powder Small 11.5 6 8 Alternative Pressed Chocolate Powder Pieces of the Present Invention - Batch 1 Big 30.1 10.5 9 Alternative Pressed Chocolate Powder Pieces of the Present Invention - Batch 1 Small 11.68 5.2 10 Alternative Pressed Chocolate Powder Pieces of the Present Invention - Batch 2 Big 30.1 1.85 11 Alternative Pressed Chocolate Powder Pieces of the Present Invention - Batch 2 Small 13 2.46

Table 5. Brewing characteristics of control chocolate powder and alternative pressed chocolate powder

As shown in Fig. 3, the sixth filled t-disc (41) was used in test 8; the seventh filled t-disc (43) was used in test 9 and the eighth filled t-disc (45) was used in test 11. Shown are the t-discs (41, 43, 45) filled with different fill weights as indicated in Table 5, before brewing alternative pieces of pressed chocolate powder from either Batch 1 or Batch 2 of the present invention in accordance with Table 4.

Fig. 4 shows t-disks (61, 63, 65) in the open position and after brewing to demonstrate the relative amount of residue on each disk, which corresponds to the t-disks shown in Fig. 3 (41, 43, 45, respectively). Fig. 4 shows the residue on the disk after test 8 (61), the residue on the disk after test 9 (63), the residue on the disk after test 11 (65).

The alternative pressed chocolate powder pieces of the present invention from Batch 1 with an individual piece weight of 0.35 g were shown to produce less residue on the disc after brewing than the control product.

The alternative pressed chocolate powder pieces of the present invention from Batch 2 with a piece weight of 0.2 g were shown to produce significantly less residue on the disc after brewing than the control product, and less residue than the Batch 1 example using 0.35 g pieces. This is believed to be due to an improvement in the surface area to volume ratio due to the inclusion of a larger number of small pieces of pressed powder.

The above embodiments are described by way of example only. Various variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (17)

1. A beverage ingredient container for use in a beverage preparation device, comprising pieces of pressed powder or granules of the beverage ingredient, characterized in that the pieces contain at least 5% by weight of fat, the beverage ingredient contains an amount of dust that is less than 3% by weight of the total amount of beverage ingredient in the container, wherein the dust is pieces of the beverage ingredient less than 150 µm in size. 2. The container of claim 1, wherein at least one piece of the beverage ingredient has a largest dimension of at least 1.5 mm. 3. A container according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the variation in the largest dimension of a piece of beverage ingredient within the container is less than 10% of the largest piece. 4. A container according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the pieces of beverage ingredient has a density of from 0.5 to 2 g/ ^cm3 . 5. A container according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one piece of beverage ingredient has a mass of at least 0.08 g. 6. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least two pieces of beverage ingredient are uniform in at least one of size, shape, density or mass. 7. The container of claim 6, wherein all pieces of the beverage ingredient are uniform in at least one of size, shape, density, or mass. 8. A container according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the particles of powdered beverage or the granules that comprise the pieces of beverage ingredient have a median particle size of from 50 to 600 microns. 9. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the beverage ingredient pieces comprises at least one ingredient selected from fat, sugar, sweetener, milk powder, instant coffee, milk creamer, non-dairy creamer, or chocolate powder. 10. A container according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the beverage ingredient container has a capacity of from 15 to 80 ml. 11. A method for producing a container with a beverage ingredient according to any of the preceding paragraphs 1-10, comprising the following steps: a) providing a mass of pressed powder or granules of a beverage ingredient; b) breaking up a mass of pressed powder or granules of a beverage ingredient into pieces, c) sifting the pieces formed in step b), and d) adding pieces of the beverage ingredient from step b) into a container adapted to be installed in a beverage preparation device. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the pressed mass of powder or granules of the beverage ingredient in step a) is obtained by passing the powder or granules of the beverage ingredient between opposing rollers. 13. A method for producing a container with a beverage ingredient according to any of the preceding paragraphs 1-10, comprising the following steps: a) providing powder or granules of a beverage ingredient; b) pressing the powder or granules of the beverage ingredient into individual pieces and c) adding pieces of the beverage ingredient of step b) into a container adapted to be installed in a beverage preparation device. 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the force used to press the beverage ingredient in step b) is from 0.8 to 2.5 kN. 15. A method for preparing a drink, including the following stages: a) providing a container with a beverage ingredient according to any one of paragraphs 1-10; b) transferring the fluid from the container and dissolving and/or suspending at least a portion of the pieces in the fluid such that the fluid upon exiting the container contains at least a portion of the dissolved and/or suspended beverage ingredient, and c) collecting at least a portion of the beverage ingredient solution or suspension in a second container. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein after the beverage is prepared, the container contains a residue of beverage ingredient that is less than 25% by weight of the amount of beverage material in the container before the beverage is prepared. 17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the fluid supplied in step b) is supplied under a pressure of less than 10 bar.