Patent ID: 6453798
Filing Date: 2002-09-24
Classification: A47J

Abstract:
In a beverage brewing apparatus for preparing a beverage from an aqueous medium and a particulate beverage material with an automatic brewing cycle comprising delivering particulate beverage material and aqueous medium to a brew vessel and withdrawing beverage from said brew vessel to a dispensing station, said apparatus comprising particulate beverage material storage means, particulate beverage material delivery means for delivering particulate beverage material from said storage means to said brew vessel, aqueous medium delivery means for delivering aqueous medium to said brew vessel, beverage withdrawal means for withdrawing beverage from said brew vessel and delivering beverage to a beverage dispensing station and control means for controlling said particulate beverage material delivery means, said aqueous medium delivery means and said beverage withdrawal means, the control means being configured to induce said automatic brewing cycle which includes the delivery of particulate beverage material from the particulate beverage material storage means to the brew vessel,the improvement wherein said control means is able to provide a semi-automatic brewing cycle wherein the particulate beverage material delivery means is inactive and said semi-automatic brewing cycle comprises delivering aqueous medium to said brew vessel and withdrawing beverage from said brew vessel to said dispensing station, and said apparatus further comprises selection means in communication with said control means for allowing a user to select between said automatic brewing cycle and said semi-automatic brewing cycle, manual particulate beverage material introduction means, separate from said particulate beverage material delivery means, for a user to manually introduce particulate beverage material into said brew vessel for said semi-automatic brewing cycle, and brew cycle initiation means in communication with said control means for initiating said semi-automatic brewing cycle.