Brewed iced tea or non-carbonated drink dispenser

Abstract

A beverage dispensing apparatus includes a mixing chamber for mixing hot water, a beverage concentrate and cold water, as well as one or more additives. The hot water and cold water are supplied at a predetermined flow rate at a predetermined proportion, regardless of the pressure of the water supply. A water heater supplies the hot water within a specified pressure range and without significant entrapped air.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 402,944, filed Apr. 1, 2003 and claims priority thereto.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to beverage forming and dispensing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to beverage forming and dispensing systems for effectively preparing a beverage mixture from concentrate, and even more particularly to beverage forming and dispensing systems for effectively preparing a tea beverage mixture from concentrate. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Beverages formed from concentrates are enjoyed around the world. An important advantage of forming a beverage from a concentrate is that only the concentrate need be shipped to the dispensing site; any available water supply at the site can be used to form the bulk of the final mixed product. An advantage in forming traditionally brewed drinks, such as...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] The present invention can also provide a method and apparatus that effectively mix a beverage concentrate and diluting water.

[0013] Further, the present invention can provide a method and apparatus that provide a residence time for the mixing of hot water and beverage concentrate.

[0015] In addition, the present invention can provide a hot water heating unit that can rapidly heat water and dispense it at a relatively low pressure without significant variation of flow rate during dispensing and without significant entrapment of air bubbles.

[0016] Moreover, the present invention can provide a beverage mixing apparatus that can maintain a predetermined flow rate and a predetermined proportion of hot and cold water regardless of pressure variations in the water source.

[0017] Further, the present invention can provide a beverage mixing apparatus that can reliably mix the various components of the resulting beverage.

Problems solved by technology

However, in this beverage-making appliance, the concentrate must first be brewed and the ratio of the cold water and hot water concentrate is not precisely metered.

Accordingly, the cold water and hot concentrate may stratify in the reservoir and not mix sufficiently.

Because the diluting water is supplied after a complete batch of tea concentrate is brewed, the resulting mixture may stratify and not mix sufficiently.

However, more complicated structure and greater power consumption is necessary to effect agitation.

Additionally, conventional leaf tea urns are costly to clean and operate, and are subject to undesirable and even dangerous growth of bacteria inside the urn.

However, since there is no brewing step, the finished tea product does not have the same visual and taste quality as real, fresh-brewed iced tea.

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