OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention refers to a scoop system made of food grade plastic or aluminium,
simple or double, to fill with ground and pressed coffee and to be placed in a porta-scoop
of an espresso coffee maker to make a cup of coffee.
[0002] The object of the invention is to obtain, in the simplest, cleanest and easiest manner
a cup of espresso coffee. Since the scoop object of the invention is a disposable
scoop, the process only requires it to be placed in the porta-scoop of the coffee
maker filled with ground and pressed coffee, which avoids having to manually calculate
the dose of coffee and also the noise of the coffee grinder when grinding the whole
bean.
[0003] Another noteworthy fact of the invention is that, since the disposable scoop already
incorporates the ground and pressed coffee dose, and will only be used once, the next
cup of coffee will not be tainted with used coffee grounds remnants from the previous
use, as it is usually the case in the traditional coffee making system that comprises
a fixed metal scoop that is reloaded with the coffee dose every time a cup of coffee
is going to be made.
[0004] The object of the invention is also to resolve the problem of mixed flavours. Since
there are already several flavours of espresso bean being marketed, making coffee
in coffee makers that have only a fixed scoop as means to feed the new dose of coffee
for every cup make entails the risk of the flavours mixing, since the waiters at commercial
establishments when making a new cup dispose of the grounds of the previous cup by
dumping the used grounds out, and therefore residues of previous doses remain in the
scoop, and therefore the possibility of different flavours mixing exist, ruling out
the obtention of an optimum, pure, cup of coffee as can be obtained with the disposable
scoop for ground and pressed coffee for espresso coffee makers.
[0005] The problem of mixing different coffees in the scoop pertains also to mixing caffeinated
and decaffeinated varieties in the espresso maker. When the customer asks for a cup
of decaffeinated coffee at a commercial establishment, the waiter or operator simply
puts manually the requested coffee dose in the same scoop used to make caffeinated
varieties. The present invention also solves this potential problem.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is a well known fact that metal scoops that fit the porta-scoop of conventional
espresso making machines are only cleaned at the end of every work shift, and sometime
less often. This modus operandi leads to the mixing of flavours, and the subsequent
lack of hygiene and lessened quality of the next cup of coffee brewed with said espresso
machine.
[0007] Although the conventional espresso brewing system can make a cup of espresso coffee,
they have certain problems that are reflected in the following instances:
[0008] When the waiter or operator extracts the porta-scoop from the coffee maker containing
the grounds of the previous brewing, they usual way of disposing of said used grounds
are by knocking the porta-scoop against a bar provided to that effect in the container
provided as disposal drawer for said used grounds. Because the fixes scoop has been
exposed to the heat generated by the motor of the coffee making machine, the coffee
grounds hardened, leaving residue or remnants adhered to the fixed metal scoop, that
can only be eliminated if the waiters or operators were to wash the scoop after every
use, a hygienic routine that is seldom done. This problem would be solved by using
the disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop filled with ground
and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso coffee makers, since
each coffee cup will be made with a new scoop and dose, and therefore the aforementioned
disadvantages of the conventional system such as lack of hygiene, mixing of flavours
and of caffeinated and decaffeinated varieties of coffee would have been overcome,
while obtaining every time an optimum cup of coffee having the best of qualities and
with the assurance that no coffee grounds previously used have been brewed again.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention refers to the creation of a food grade plastic or aluminium
scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso
coffee makers in such a manner that the operator only has to place said system in
the porta-scoop of the espresso coffee maker, remove it after it that cup-dose has
been brewed and place a brand new scoop for the next cup, avoiding thus the problems
mentioned above, since the disposable nature of the scoop of the present invention
is made such (disposable and one use only) to precisely avoid the mixing of flavours,
residues of previous coffees brewed that is the norm with the traditional brewing
system.
[0010] The scoop or coffee ground receptacle is made in disposable one use only food grade
plastic or aluminium that has in its lower base a porous structure covered by a porous
paper filter over which the ground and pressed coffee is poured and packed in the
pre-measured single or double dose. The upper part has a porous plastic cover or a
porous filter paper. When the pressure water jet sent by the espresso coffee maker
enters through this upper part of the scoop, the coffee is brewed inside the scoop
and exits through the porous paper filter placed at the bottom of the scoop, pouring
directly onto the cup placed below.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] To further illuminate the description already provided, and to help gain a better
understanding of the characteristics of the present invention, and according to a
preferred example of a practical embodiment of the present invention, the following
three figures are attached as integrated part of said description. These three figures
show the outline and the perspective of the disposable one use only plastic or aluminium
scoop filled with ground and pressed coffee according to the object of the present
invention.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0012] Looking at the attached Figures, it can be seen that the present invention comprises
a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop (1) provided with
a porous filter in its lower part (2) filled with ground and pressed coffee (3) and
provided with an upper lid and upper porous filter (4).
1. System comprising a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop
filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso
coffee makers and intended for the infusion or brewing of one single or double dose
of espresso coffee with the purpose of obtaining an optimum cup of coffee devoid of
the flavour of the coffee grounds previously used to brew other earlier cups of coffee.
2. System comprising a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop
filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso
coffee makers, that can be used also empty, without the ground and pressed coffee
already incorporated to the scoop, and can be filled with fresh ground coffee direct
from the coffee mill and disposed of after each successive brew.
3. System comprising a disposable one use only food grade plastic or aluminium scoop
filled with ground and pressed coffee ready to fit into the porta-scoop of espresso
coffee makers that fits in industrial and household coffee-making machines equally.