Assembly for use in a coffee machine for preparing coffee, container and pouch of said assembly

Abstract

The assembly for use in a coffee machine comprises a container having a bowl-shaped inner space bounded by a bottom having at least one outlet opening and at least one vertical sidewall. The assembly further comprises a pill-shaped pouch manufactured from filtering paper and filled with ground coffee, accommodated in the inner space of the container. The pouch extends over the bottom to a position adjacent the vertical sidewall. In the bottom, a number of channel-shaped grooves are provided, extending in radial direction of the container to the outlet opening. The grooves extend from a position located at a distance from the sidewall in the direction of the outlet opening. This prevents bypass.

1 . An assembly for use in a coffee machine for preparing coffee, comprising a container having a bowl-shaped inner space bounded by a bottom having at least one outlet opening and at least one vertical sidewall and, included in the inner space of the container, a pill-shaped pouch manufactured from filtering paper and filled with ground coffee, which pouch rests on the bottom and extends over the bottom to a position adjacent the vertical sidewall, while provided in the bottom are a number of channel-shaped grooves extending in radial direction of the bowl-shaped inner space to the outlet opening and, in use, hot water is fed under pressure to a top side of the container by means of the coffee machine, causing the hot water to be pressed from a top side of the pouch through the pouch for extracting the ground coffee included in the pouch, the coffee extract formed flowing from a bottom side of the pouch and from the container via the outlet, characterized in that each of said grooves extends from a position located at a distance from the sidewall in a direction away from the sidewall.  
     
     
         2 . An assembly according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the channel-shaped grooves extend in radial direction of the bowl-shaped inner space to the outlet opening, each of said grooves extending from the position located at a distance from the sidewall in the direction of the outlet opening.  
     
     
         3 . An assembly according to  claim 2 , characterized in that the smallest distance between each of said grooves on one side and the vertical sidewall on the other is greater than 10% of a maximum diameter of the inner space of the container.  
     
     
         4 . An assembly according to  claim 3 , characterized in that the smallest distance between each of said grooves on one side and the vertical sidewall on the other is at least substantially equal to 20% of the maximum diameter of the inner space of the container.  
     
     
         5 . An assembly according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the bottom is provided with a number of vertical projections arranged at regular distances relative to each other, said grooves being formed by the interspaces formed between the vertical projections.  
     
     
         6 . An assembly according to  claim 5 , characterized in that the vertical projections are substantially cylindrical.  
     
     
         7 . An assembly according to  claim 5  or  6 , characterized in that the projections are arranged in rows and columns relative to each other.  
     
     
         8 . An assembly according to any one of preceding claims  5 - 7 , characterized in that at the bottom side of the projections, the interspaces formed between the projections cover 75-94% of the total area of the bottom that is provided with projections.  
     
     
         9 . An assembly according to any one of preceding claims  5 - 8 , characterized in that the projections have their top sides provided with round tips.  
     
     
         10 . An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bottom consists of an outer horizontally directed annular bottom part bounding the sidewall and an inner saucer-shaped bottom part bounding an inner edge of the annular bottom part, the saucer-shaped bottom part adjacent the annular bottom part sloping downwards in a direction away from the sidewall.  
     
     
         11 . An assembly according to  claim 10 , characterized in that the grooves extend in the saucer-shaped bottom part.  
     
     
         12 . An assembly according to  claim 11 , characterized in that each of the grooves extends from a position located at a distance from the inner edge of the annular bottom part in the direction of the outlet opening.  
     
     
         13 . An assembly according to  claim 12 , characterized in that the smallest direction between each of said grooves on one side and the inner edge of the annular bottom part on the other is greater than 10% of a maximum diameter of the annular bottom part.  
     
     
         14 . An assembly according to any one of preceding claims  2 - 4 , characterized in that the grooves have a rectangular cross section.  
     
     
         15 . An assembly according to claims  10 - 13 , characterized in that in the center of the saucer-shaped bottom part, a recess is provided, the outlet opening being located in a bottom of the recess.  
     
     
         16 . An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a bottom of the pouch has a shape substantially corresponding to the shape of the bottom of the container.  
     
     
         17 . An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the pouch comprises a disk-shaped top sheet and a disk-shaped bottom sheet which are interconnected adjacent their longitudinal edges, the interconnected parts of the top and bottom sheets forming an annular sealing seam.  
     
     
         18 . An assembly according to claims  10  and  17 , characterized in that dimensions of the bottom disk-shaped sheet from a center of the sheet to the annular sealing seam correspond to dimensions of the saucer-shaped bottom part.  
     
     
         19 . An assembly according to  claim 18 , characterized in that the annular sealing seam has dimensions substantially corresponding to the dimensions of the annular bottom part.  
     
     
         20 . An assembly according to any one of preceding claims  17 - 19 , characterized in that the diameter of the inner space of the container is approximately equal to 74 mm and that the diameter of the pouch is approximately equal to 74 mm.  
     
     
         21 . An assembly according to any one of preceding claims  17 - 20 , characterized in that the diameter of the inner space of the container is approximately equal to 74 mm and that the diameter of a coffee bed formed in the pouch is approximately equal to 61 mm.  
     
     
         22 . An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inner space of the container is cylindrical, an axial axis of the inner space being at least substantially vertically directed.  
     
     
         23 . A pouch suitable for use in the assembly according to  claim 20  or  21 .  
     
     
         24 . A container suitable for use in the assembly according to any one of preceding claims  1 - 22 .