US 2,003,145,736 · Filed 2002-02-07

The Single-Serve Pod System That Sparked a Beverage Revolution

Imagine a little sealed cartridge holding ground coffee or tea that you drop into a machine. Hot pressurized water shoots into it, brews your drink instantly, and you get a fresh cup every time. This patent covers the core idea behind those convenient single-serve beverage systems.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a beverage system where hot, pressurized water is injected directly into a sealed cartridge containing pre-measured beverage material like ground coffee or tea leaves. What's protected here is the specific design of the cartridge with its seal, combined with the injection method that forces hot water through the material to extract flavor. Anyone making a competing single-serve pod system that uses this cartridge-and-injection approach without a license would potentially infringe.

Why it matters

This patent represents the foundational technology behind the entire single-serve beverage pod industry. By securing the cartridge design and pressurized injection method, it locked down a huge commercial category that transformed how millions of people brew coffee and tea at home. The patent creates a barrier to entry for competitors, allowing the patent holder to either license the technology widely or keep it proprietary.

Real-world use

Every time someone drops a coffee pod into their single-serve brewer and watches hot water spray through it in seconds, they're using technology covered by this patent's core claims.

Original USPTO abstract

A beverage system for brewing a beverage from a beverage material and a source of hot, pressurized water. The beverage system may include a cartridge with the beverage material therein. The cartridge may include a seal positioned about the beverage material. The beverage system also may include an injection system for injecting the hot, pressurized water into the cartridge so as to brew the beverage from the beverage material.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,003,145,736
Filing date: 2002-02-07
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Green Charles Bradley
Inventor(s): GREEN CHARLES BRADLEY
CPC class: A47J31/3642

View original record on Google Patents →

Want to file your own patent?

If you're designing a new kitchen gadget or brewing system, use our free patent scanner to see what's already locked down in your category before you build a prototype.

Free patentability scan