United States Patent (19) 11, 3,879,565 Einstman Et Al
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United States Patent (19) 11, 3,879,565 Einstman et al. (45) Apr. 22, 1975 54 COFFEE BREWING BAG AND METHOD 3,607,299 9, 1971 Bolt..................................... 99/77. Heusinkveld........................ 99.177.1 75) Inventors: William J. Einstman, Port Chester, 3,640,727 21 1972 N.Y.; Warren C. Rehman, OTHER PUBLICATIONS Montvale, N.J.; Frank M. Plant, National Academy of Sciences, Chemicals Used in Beacon, N.Y. Food Processing, 1965, p. 21. 73) Assignee: General Foods Corporation, White Plains, N.Y. Primary Examiner-Frank W. Lutter Assistant Evanniner-Neil F. Greenblum 22 Filed: Oct. 5, 1971 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Thomas R. Savoie; Daniel 21 Appl. No.: 186,804 J. Donovan; Bruno P. Struzzi 52 U.S. Cl..................... 426/302; 426/78; 426/96; 57) ABSTRACT 426/193; 426/329; 426/394 Roasted and ground coffee is packaged in a brewing (51 Int. Cl. .............................................. A23f 1/08 bag for use in brewing a cup of coffee in the same 58 Field of Search .................. 99/65, 71, 68, 77.1 : manner that the ordinary tea bag is used to brew a cup 426/77, 433, 302,329, 394, 78, 193, 96 of tea. An effective amount of a defoaming agent such as silicones is added to the coffee to disperse foam 56 References Cited generated within the bag and to improve the rate of UNITED STATES PATENTS extraction of the coffee material. A bag volume of 3,386,834 6, 1968 Noiset et al....................... 426/77 X from 1.9 to 2.2 times the volume of coffee avoids the 3.420,675 ll 1969 Costas.................................. 99.177.1 necessity of a defoaming agent. 351 1,666 51970 Hudson et al........................ 99.177.1 3,518,344 6, 1970 Welsh ct al...................... 99/77. X 2 Claims, No Drawings 3,879,565 2 COFFEE BREWING BAG AND METHOD The bag material may be comprised of a thin, porous filter paper, preferably coated on at least a portion of BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION one side with a thermoplastic material which will be This invention is directed to an improved coffee come adhesive upon being subjected to heat and pres product in the form of roasted and ground coffee, plus sure, thus enabling formation of the bag by a heat seal a defoaming agent in a brewing bag. More particularly ing operation. Conventional tea bag material has this invention pertains to coffee brewing bags which proven satisfactory for use in this invention. It is also will produce a coffee beverage having flavor and aroma possible to use for the coffee infusion bag of this inven characteristics comparable to those normally associ tion material which has a porosity somewhat greater ated with freshly brewed coffee and which will produce 10 than conventional tea bag material; however, care such a coffee beverage within a time period (about 2 should be taken to prevent excessive amounts of insolu minutes) comparable to that normally employed for tea ble coffee material from passing through the bag mate bags. rial. Screening and/or pelletizing the roasted and It has long been desired to provide the consumer with ground coffee may be employed to reduce the amount a coffee bag which might be used in the same fashion 15 of fine coffee material present within the infusion bag. as the conventional and popular tea bag and which The roasted and ground coffee material used in this would produce a high quality coffee beverage. Previous invention may be any single variety of coffee, but is attempts of merely placing roast and ground coffee in usually a blend of different varieties. The blend may be lieu of tea into standard filter paper infusion bags have formulated either before or after roasting and/or grind not proven successful. Among the difficulties encoun ing. Obviously the coffee may be decaffeinated or un tered is that considerably more coffee than tea is re decaffeinated. quired in a filter paper bag in order to produce a cup DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED of quality coffee beverage, and that the time required EMBODIMENT to produce a flavorful cup of coffee beverage is consid According to this invention a new product, com erably longer than that for tea. prised of roasted and ground coffee and a defoaming We have found that another problem with placing agent, is packaged in a filter paper infusion bag. This conventional roasted and ground coffee into filter invention overcomes the difficulties encountered with paper bags is that the coffee, when contacted with hot prior art coffee bag, and permits the production of a water, releases relatively large amounts of gas, mostly 30 quality coffee beverage, in a manner similar to that carbon dioxide, which is trapped within the bag. This used for conventional tea bag, within a time period of entrapped gas is noticeable as an unsightly white about 2 minutes. yellow foam within the bag which tends to cause the It has been found that the defoaming agent should be bag to float to the surface of the coffee cup providing relatively uniformly coated or plated onto at least a an unpleasant appearance to the consumer. This en portion of the roasted and ground coffee before the trapped gas also tends to retard extraction of the coffee coffee is packaged within the infusion bag. Merely material by apparently preventing good contact be coating the infusion bag material with the defoaming tween the coffee and the extracting liquid. Additionally agent has not proven successful for the purpose of this the floating bag may also tend to reduce extraction of invention. the coffee as compared to a bag which remains sub 40 It has also proven desirable to remove from the merged beneath the extracting liquid. roasted and ground coffee fine particles having a size Attempts to increase the porosity of the infusion bags less than about 40 U.S. mesh (about 420 microns) in in order to permit escape of the gas have not proven order to reduce both dust escaping from the bag during successful because the increased porosity also permits handling and insoluble sediment occurring in the cup increased amounts of coffee grounds to escape thereby of brewed beverage. Removal of this fine material may producing an unsightly accumulation of sediment in the be done by conventional screening techniques. Cup. Surprisingly, it has been found that it may be desir able to permit some sediment to occur within the SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION brewed beverage in order to satisfy the preference of It has now been discovered that roasted and ground 50 some consumers who are accustomed to observing sed coffee plus an effective amount of a defoaming agent iment in fresh brewed coffee beverages. Amounts of can be packaged in a filter paper infusion bag such that sediment up to about 300 milligrams (mgs.) per 6 a good quality brewed coffee beverage will be obtained ounces of coffee beverage have been found to be ac within about 2 minutes when the bag is combined with 55 ceptable, with amounts of about 100 to 200 mgs, per hot water. 6 ounces being a desirable level. The ievel of cup sedi In general, the present invention contemplates infu ment may be adjusted by varying the porosity of the in sion bags of the type normally associated with the term fusion bag material and/or the screening level for the tea bags. This article may correspond to infusion bags roasted and ground coffee. of the type such as that illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. The defoaming agent, although functioning within 2,571, 138 issued to Irmscher. Obviously infusion bags 60 the infusion bag, must be edible since a portion of this of varying designs may be employed in this invention, material will pass through the bag into the brewed bev such as the "flow-through' bag of U.S. Pat. No. erage. Usually effective amounts of the edible defoam 2,593,608; however, care should be taken to produce ing agent are spray plated on to the surface of the a bag of minimum volume, such that the bag may be roasted and ground coffee as a dilute dispersion or an combined with sufficient hot water in a small brewing emulsion. This technique will permit a small quantity of container, such as a conventional six ounce coffee cup, the defoaming agent to be spread relatively uniformly to produce a desired quantity of coffee beverage. over the roast and ground coffee material. Alterna 3,879,565 3 4 tively, only a portion of the coffee material may be ground coffee, the coffee volume being the volume be coated with the defoaming agent with this coated por fore the coffee is wetted. Presence of the defoaming tion then being throughly mixed with the remaining agent enables the smaller bags of this invention to be coffee. made from filter paper infusion bag material which has The defoaming agents useful in this invention should 5 sufficiently low porosity that less than 300 mgs., and be a material acceptable for use in foods, such as di preferably less than 200 mgs. of coffee sediment will be methyl-polysiloxane (see 21 C.F.R. 12.1099). The de found per 6 ounces of coffee beverage. foaming agent may be suspended or dissolved in a car As a result of this invention it has additionally been rier or emulsified in a liquid medium with the aid of determined that the requirements of a single cup brew suitable emulsifiers. Aqueous emulsions of dimethyl 10 ing bag of producing a flavorful cup of coffee with an polysiloxane have proven especially useful in this in extraction time of about two minutes and with a sedi vention.