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Hot coffee in a hurry
January 29, 2014
2 Min Read
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Hot coffee in a hurry
The self-heating Cafe2Go coffee beverage kit, includes everything needed to enjoy a hot cup of coffee anytime, anywhere. Serving 18 beverages in minutes, the kit was designed and manufactured by Innotech Products, Ltd. (www.heatermeals.com/cafe2go). It includes a Truetech flameless ration heater, which is approved by the U.S. Army to heat MREs. To heat the coffee, remove a service caddy or paperboard cup, creamer, sugar, coffee carrier and a clear pouch filled with salt water/activator solution from the top of the Cafe2Go box and reclose the kit. Place the Cafe2Go box on its side, remove the water spout and add 1 gal of water. If preparing the All Coffee kit, add the coffee pouch (if using the Cafe2Go Variety Pack, add coffee, tea, or hot cocoa later). Secure the water spout. Tear-off the top of the heater bag and pour the enclosed salt water packet into the beverage heater pouch wrapped around the water bag inside the Cafe2Go box.The patented heater comprises a powdered iron and magnesium alloy and an activator solution in a clear pouch of salt water. The pouch is made by Pactech (www.pactechpackaging.com) using 48-ga PET/5.5-mil LLDPE containing 14 oz of salt water. When combined, the biodegradable, nontoxic components create an exothermic reaction, releasing heat and steam. In 20 minutes, the temperature of the water increases to 100 deg F, and, in 30 minutes, there is a 120-deg temperature rise from the original temperature of the water, according to Dave Blandford, marketing director at Innotech.
The package acts like a bag-in-box, with its self-contained tapping spout connected to a large film liner bag and heater bag, which is used to hold the activator solution. The heater is designed to keep the beverage warm for almost one hr. Cafe2Go was approximately a year in development and production started in October 2009. The kits are currently available directly from Innotech; and the co. is in discussions to expand distribution. The outer box is provided by Boutwell Owens & Co. Inc. (www.boutwellowens.com), which produces and prints the outer corrugated box; the spouted tapper is from Hedwin Corp. (www.hedwin.com). The water bladder is fabricated by Truetech Inc. (www.heatermeals.com) of 1-mil nylon and 4-mil LLDPE.
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