US 6,182,555 · Granted 2001-02-06

The Single-Serve Coffee Brewer Patent That Redefined Kitchen Convenience

Imagine a machine that brews one perfect cup of coffee or tea fresh, right in front of you through a window, and lets you control whether it's hot or cold. This patent covers the whole system—from storing dry coffee to mixing in flavorings and water—so you get a custom drink made to order instead of reheating yesterday's pot.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a brewing apparatus that makes single-serving beverages by combining stored dry coffee or tea, water, and optional flavor additives in a controlled sequence. What's protected here is the specific combination of a housing with a viewing window, separate storage compartments for dry ingredients and flavorings, a brewer unit, and a method where the concentrate gets diluted to drinking strength either in the cup or within the machine itself. Any machine that brews a single serving fresh on demand using this general architecture would fall within the patent's scope.

Why it matters

This patent arrived in 2001 at a turning point in home beverage culture. Single-serve brewing was still novel—the convenience of making one perfect cup without waste or leftover stale coffee represented a genuine shift from traditional drip machines and instant packets. By patenting the complete system including the viewing window, ingredient storage, and dilution method, Red River Tea Company staked out broad territory in what would become the fast-growing at-home specialty beverage market. The patent's focus on fresh brewing and customization through flavorings positioned it ahead of consumer demand for premium, on-demand drinks.

Real-world use

Every time someone fills a single-serve pod machine, watches coffee brew through a little window, and gets a custom hot or iced drink in under a minute, they're interacting with the core ideas this patent locked down.

Original USPTO abstract

A brewing machine freshly brews a single-serving of coffee or tea to be served hot or cold. The machine preferably includes a housing assembly, with a window therein to permit the viewing of the brewing of a fresh serving of coffee or tea, a water supply, a dry coffee or tea storage area, a brewer, and a flavor additive storage area. The coffee or tea is preferably brewed in a condensed form which becomes diluted to drinking strength by the addition of hot or cool water, and/or by the addition of hot or cool flavorings. The cool drink can subsequently be served over ice to provide a cold serving of iced coffee or tea. Mixing the various ingredients to obtain the final cup of coffee or tea preferably occurs in the user's cup. Preferred methods of making a freshly brewed single-serving of coffee or tea are disclosed.

Patent details

Publication number: US 6,182,555
Filing date: 1999-04-07
Grant date: 2001-02-06
Assignee: Red River Tea Company
Inventor(s): SCHEER RICK, FARRIS JEFF
CPC class: A47J31/40

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