This application claims priority of US provisional application 61/141 ,316 filed on December 30, 2008 and is included herein in its entirety by reference.

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

[001] The present invention relates to a product and method of providing a fluid beverage product. In particular the present invention relates to an instant product for dissolving in hot or cold water comprising a pelletized form of a spray dried product, especially a rooibos tea product.

Description of Related Art

[002] The production of coffee, tea, and other caffeinated and non-caffeinated plant extracts, such as rooibos tea, as hot and cold beverages is popular around the world. In the United States, coffee shops which sell a variety of these drinks, in addition to coffee, have become a regular fixture in most shopping areas.

[003] Typically, the plant product is steeped in very hot water for a period of time to produce an infusion. The hot water infusion is drunk as a hot beverage but can also be cooled to produce a cold or iced beverage. When the beverage is consumed by large numbers of people at a store, or the like, it is easy to keep a pot of hot beverage prepared for customers. For less frequently consumed products, it is more difficult to prepare a per customer product without an often inconvenient portion of time passing before the product is prepared.

[004] Instant tea and coffee preparations have been used for sometime as a means for quickly preparing a hot or cold beverage. However, a standardized prepared beverage requires that the exact amount of instantized powder be measured. In addition, frequently many of the dissolved solids have been removed from such products because of the tendency for these products to precipitate out. This is especially true when dissolved in cold water.

[005] A number of different methods for delivering a tea or coffee product are known. For example, US patent application 2002/0197379 published December 26, 2002 to George et al. discloses a concentrated cold water soluble tea product. The process involves both a concentration step and decreaming the tea extract. The final result is a powdered tea drink.

[006] In US patent application 2003/0203071 published October 30, 2003 to Ganesan et al. there is disclosed a process for manufacturing a black leaf tea that is infusible in hot or cold water. The tea leaves must be pretreated with a solubilising compound to encourage them to be soluble from about 5 to about 100 degrees centigrade. [007] There is a need for an instantized tea or coffee type product with measure precision that yields an acceptable result when dissolved in either cold or hot water.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[008] The present invention relates to providing a plant based drink concentrate tablet. Particularly by taking a spray dried form of a plant drink such as rooibos tea and combining it with effervescent, binders and disintegrants. A quick dissolving tablet which is soluble in hot or cold water is produced.

[009] In particular the present invention relates to a single serving tablet for preparing a plant based drink comprising: a) a single serving of a spray dried plant based drink powder; b) an effervescing agent; c) a binding agent; and d) a disintegrant.

[010] In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a cold water soluble plant based drink tablet comprising: a) obtaining a spray dried powder concentrate of a plant based drink; b) mixing the concentrate with an effervescing agent, a binding agent and a disintegrant; c) tableting the mix. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[011] While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure of such embodiments is to be considered as an example of the principles and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described. In the description below, like reference numerals are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of the drawings. This detailed description defines the meaning of the terms used herein and specifically describes embodiments in order for those skilled in the art to practice the invention.

[012] The terms "a" or "an", as used herein, are defined as one or as more than one. The term "plurality", as used herein, is defined as two or as more than two. The term "another", as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms "including" and/or "having", as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term "coupled", as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.

[013] Reference throughout this document to "one embodiment", "certain embodiments", and "an embodiment" or similar terms means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of such phrases or in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments without limitation.

[014] The term "or" as used herein is to be interpreted as an inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, "A, B or C" means any of the following: "A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C". An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.

[015] The drawings featured in the figures are for the purpose of illustrating certain convenient embodiments of the present invention, and are not to be considered as limitation thereto. Term "means" preceding a present participle of an operation indicates a desired function for which there is one or more embodiments, i.e., one or more methods, devices, or apparatuses for achieving the desired function and that one skilled in the art could select from these, or their equivalent, in view of the disclosure herein and use of the term "means" is not intended to be limiting.

[016] As used herein "plant based drink" refers to a water extract of caffeinated and non-caffeinated plant materials that are considered teas and coffee type drinks. This includes leaf teas, rooibos and other herbal teas and coffees. [017] Rooibos tea is the tea leaf obtained from Aspalathus linearis in both green and red forms. The term "plant based drink" also includes a product of the blending of two or more of any of the above tea or coffee type products. [018] Tea or coffee can be extracted in hot water. The plant material is preferably from fresh product, however, any plant material designed for making a tea, herbal tea or a coffee is usable. The extraction with water having a temperature from around 60 degrees C to about 100 degrees C is accomplished for a period of about 2 to 10 minutes. On a larger scale this can be carried out in a steam jacketed vessel with appropriate agitation. The plant material is separated from the aqueous extraction. This can be accomplished by filtration or use of a screw press and then passing hot liquid through a centrifuge to remove fines.

[019] A single serving of a spray dried, plant based drink is turned into a powder by conventional spray dry techniques. For example, rooibos tea is brewed in the normal manner for brewing tea and the liquid tea extraction spray dried to a granular or pelletized form. Such a form is instantly soluble in either hot or cold water.This process of drying is a one step rapid process and eliminates additional processing. The liquid feed is pumped through an atomizer device that produces fine droplets into the main drying chamber. Atomizers vary with rotary, single fluid, two-fluid, and ultrasonic designs. These different styles have different advantages and disadvantages depending on the application of the spray drying required. In some instances a spray nozzle is used in place of an atomizer for a different dispersion rate. The hot drying gas can be passed as a co-current or counter-current flow to the atomizer direction. The co-current flow enables the particles to have a lower residence time within the system and the particle separator (typically a cyclone device) operates more efficiently. The counter-current flow method enables a greater residence time of the particles in the chamber and is usually paired with a fluidized bed system. The hot drying gas can be passed as a co-current or counter-current flow to the atomizer direction. The co-current flow enables the particles to have a lower residence time within the system and the particle separator (typically a cyclone device) operates more efficiently. The counter-current flow method enables a greater residence time of the particles in the chamber and is usually paired with a fluidized bed system. In the particular example of a rooibos powder approximately 300 to I OOOmg would constitute a single serving of rooibos powder.

[020] The Phrase "cold water soluble" as used herein means that the tablet dissolves in chilled water after a very short infusion time of less than 2 minutes at or above 5 degrees Centigrade.

[021] Effervescing agents are those agents which generate a gas such as carbon dioxide. They are useful in that not only do they aid in the dispersion of the drink powder from the tablet form into cold water, but they produce a cream or head associated with drinks such as espresso. Accordingly, selecting an agent properly can turn the drink into an espresso type drink or just a drink having a visual foam head. Examples of such effervescent agents include sodium bicarbonate but other compositions are known in the art. [022] Binding agents are well known in the art. They are selected for their compression properties and aid in allowing the ingredients to bind together to form a tablet. Tablets prepared by conventional means with acceptable excipients, such as binding agents (e.g., pregelatinised maize starch, polyvinylpyrrolidone or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose); fillers (e.g., lactose, microcrystalline cellulose or calcium hydrogen phosphate); lubricants (e.g., magnesium stearate, talc or silica); disintegrants (e.g., potato starch, microcrystalline cellulose or sodium starch glycolate); or wetting agents (e.g., sodium lauryl sulphate). The tablets may be coated by methods well known in the art. Some agents, such as microcrystalline cellulose, can act as both the binding agent and as a disintegrant.

[023] Other ingredients can also be added to the mixture before tablet formulation. Acidifiers such as citric acid. Flow agents such as silicon dioxide and ingredients used primarily as fillers such as magnesium stearate. In one embodiment of the invention a heat and or cold stable sweetener or artificial sweetener is added. In one embodiment the sweetener is sucralose. Sucralose is approximately 600 times as sweet as sucrose, twice as sweet as saccharin and four times as sweet as aspartame and unlike aspartame it can be used in a broad range of temperatures and pH conditions and has a long shelf life.

[024] During formation of the tablet, the ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Enough of the mixture is isolated such that a single dose of drink powder is contained within the mix. In one embodiment the amount is between about 300 and IOOOmg in another between about 500mg and 800mgs of powder, for example, rooibos powder. The mix is tableted according to normal, regularly accepted methods to produce initially an uncoated friable tablet. The tablet, because of its friable nature, quickly disintegrates and with the addition of the disintegrant, easily dissolves in cold water.

[025] Once a tablet of the present invention is made, the tablets can be collected and either placed in a container or individually blister packed to protect them from premature disintegration. In use, a tablet is placed in a glass or cup with an appropriate amount of water and the tablet is allowed to effervesce and dissolve to form a liquid drink, such as an espresso drink, tea drink, or the like.

Examples

Example 1 Preparation of Extracted Plant Material and Stray Dried Powder [026] A quantity of water is brought to boil a and a single serving of rooibos tea (Aspalathus Linearis herba) in the form of sticks and leaves is steeped in the water for a period of a couple minutes or more, as necessary, to prepare water based herbal rooibos tea.

[027] The liquid tea is then spray dried using conventional techniques to produce a fine hygroscopic powder with a reddish brown color. Analysis of the powder indicates it is instantly soluble in cold and hot water and has moisture content of less that about 5.0% m/m. Storage requirements are that it be kept at about 10 to 25 degrees Celsius under dry conditions. Example 2 Preparation of a Tablet

[028] A single serving of rooibos powder prepared in Example 1 is mixed with sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, microcrystalline cellulose, Aerosil (flow agent), magnesium stearate and sucralose to form a well distributed mixture. The mixture is lightly pelletized to form a single friable table containing a single serving. The table crushes easily under the pressure of the fingers and dissolves quickly upon placement into hot or cold water to yield a single serving hot or cold rooibos drink.

[029] Clearly the examples are not intended to be limiting and other formulations of herbal and regular teas and coffees are within the skill of the art in view of this particular disclosure. The claims are thus to be so interpreted.