Beverage precursor and method of making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11116236-B2
Application number	US-201716475703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2017
Priority date	Jan 9, 2017
Publication date	Sep 14, 2021
Grant date	Sep 14, 2021

Abstract

The invention provides porous tea granules including leaf tea particles and binder, wherein at least 50% by weight of the leaf tea particles have a particle size of 100 μm to 300 μm; the binder is a tea-based binder including tea solids; the tea granules including binder in an amount of 1 to 40% by dry weight; and the porous tea granules have a D[4,3] of more than 350 μm.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Porous tea granules comprising leaf tea particles and binder, wherein:
at least 50% by weight of the leaf tea particles have a particle size of 100 μm to 300 μm;
the binder is a tea-based binder comprising tea solids;
the tea granules comprise binder in an amount of 1 to 40% by dry weight; and
the porous tea granules have a D[4,3] of more than 350 μm.

2. The porous tea granules as claimed in claim 1 wherein the binder is a tea extract or a tea juice.

3. The porous tea granules as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the tea granules comprise binder in an amount of 10 to 25% by dry weight.

4. The porous tea granules as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the leaf tea particles are ground leaf tea particles.

5. The porous tea granules as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the leaf tea having a particle size of 100 μm to 300 μm is black leaf tea.

6. The porous tea granules as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the porous tea granules have a D[4,3] of more than 450 μm.

7. A beverage precursor comprising the porous tea granules as claimed in claim 1 .

8. The beverage precursor as claimed in claim 7 wherein the beverage precursor additionally comprises leaf tea wherein at least 90% by weight of the leaf tea has a particle size of −5+30 mesh.

9. The beverage precursor as claimed in claim 8 wherein the weight ratio of porous tea granules to leaf tea is from 5:1 to 1:5.

10. The beverage precursor as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the beverage precursor is packaged in an infusion packet.

11. The beverage precursor as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the beverage precursor has a mass of 1 g to 4 g.

12. A process for manufacturing porous tea granules, the process comprising the steps of:
(a) providing leaf tea;
(b) grinding and/or sieving the leaf tea such that at least 50% by weight of the leaf tea has a particle size of 100 to 300 am;
(c) forming a mixture comprising the leaf tea obtained in step (b) and binder;
(d) forming porous granules from the mixture by low-shear granulation;
wherein the porous tea granules have a D[4,3] of more than 350 am and wherein the binder is a tea-based binder comprising tea solids.

13. The process as claimed in claim 12 wherein steps (c) and (d) are performed simultaneously.

14. The process for manufacturing a beverage precursor wherein porous tea granules as claimed in claim 1 are combined with leaf tea, wherein at least 90% by weight of the leaf tea has a particle size of −5+30 mesh.

15. The process as claimed in claim 14 wherein the beverage precursor is packaged in an infusion packet.

Assignees

• Conopco Inc Dba Unilever
• Conopco Inc

Inventors

• Ansari Mansoor Ahmed
• Ormerod Andrew Paul
• Rajapandian Benjamin Jesukumar

Classifications

• A23F3/32

  Agglomerating, flaking or tabletting {or granulating} · CPC title

• A23F3/40

  Tea flavour; Tea oil; Flavouring of tea or tea extract (synthetic tea flavours A23L27/20) · CPC title

• A23F3/14 Primary

  Tea preparations, e.g. using additives (flavouring A23F3/40) · CPC title

• A23V2002/00

  Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs · CPC title

• A23F3/16

  Tea extraction; Tea extracts; Treating tea extract; Making instant tea · CPC title