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Pouch system blazes new beverage trail

A unique flexible-pouch package is an essential component of the new Esio hot/cold drink system for home or office. To supply final, filled product, the package provider adds complete co-packing capabilities.

Pw 6659 Esio Pouches

According to its creator, conversations around the water cooler have become much more interesting since the January launch of the new Esio Beverage System from Esio Beverage Co. LLC of Mesa, AZ. An on-demand drink system that provides hot or cold beverages from a selection of 13 concentrate varieties, the Esio Beverage System relies on an innovative pouch with a self-sealing fitment and a disposable pump, along with a custom water dispenser engineered by the company to act as a veritable beverage fountain.

Esio Beverage Co. was founded in 2005 by Frank Leonesio, who is also the founder and CEO of bottled water company O Premium Waters. Leonesio licensed the patented dispensing technology, which Esio calls drop’n drink™, from intellectual property provider Intelligent Coffee Co. (www.iccinnovations.com) to create the Esio Beverage System.

Relates Esio Beverage president Lyle Myers, “We developed the Esio Beverage System to provide the consumer with a fast, easy, convenient, and green [see sidebar below] way to get all of their noncarbonated beverages. There really is no other beverage system on the market today that provides both hot and cold beverages at the touch of a button.” Drink selections include coffee, tea, electrolyte replacement beverages, and more.

Integral to the development of the system and the concentrate package was IPN USA Corp. (www.ipnusa.com) of Peachtree City, GA. IPN is a Netherlands-based flexible-pouch spout and closure supplier that over the years has expanded to provide such complementary services as pouch design and converting, filling equipment, and co-packing services—as in the case of Esio.

Versatile beverage system

The basis for the Esio Beverage System is the drop’n drink technology, which allows users to drop an airtight Esio-Pak™ concentrate pouch into an Esio bottle-fed or reverse-osmosis filter-fed water-dispensing system, press a button, and receive a beverage of their choice.

When the user pushes either the hot or the cold button on the Esio dispenser, water is dispensed from the 1⁄2-gal hot reservoir or the 1-gal cold reservoir at the same time as the concentrate is dispensed from the Esio-Pak through its proprietary dispensing pump. The water and concentrate mix in mid-air within the machine, and the beverage flows from a dispensing nozzle into any size cup, bottle, glass, or pitcher. Because the concentrate mixes with the water in mid-air, explains Myers, there is no opportunity for cross-contamination of flavors when the next user drops his or her beverage selection into the machine.

Once the user has dispensed the desired amount of beverage in the preferred concentration—the machine includes a Strength Selector Dial with 15 settings—the self-sealing pouch can be removed from the system and stored for future use. Each 3-oz Esio-Pak holds enough concentrate to make up to 18 6-oz beverages.

The strength of the concentrate dispensed from the pouch and the Esio-Pak’s automatic reclosability feature are controlled by IPN’s 4-mm Clean-Clic® connector fitment coupled with a custom-designed disposable liquid pump (DLP) from IPN and Intelligent Coffee Co.

As IPN USA director of manufacturing Tom Ferguson explained to Packaging World during a recent visit to the Peachtree City plant, the Clean-Clic is a reclosable fitment that engages with a male probe. When the male probe is inserted, it “locks” into the plug portion of the Clean-Clic, allowing it to reseal the fitment when the probe is retracted. The DLP, which can dispense a wide range of liquids, is designed to lock into place inside the standard 4-mm Clean-Clic (see illustrations on p. 58).

When a pouch is dropped into the dispensing system, a metal ring inside the DLP is activated at a very high rate of speed by a solenoid inside the dispenser. Depending on the position of the Strength Selector Dial, the DLP can open and close anywhere from 35 to 40 times per second. This high rate of activation also ensures that the concentrate does not come in contact with air until dispensing. That, combined with stabilizers in the ingredient list, ensures a 12-month shelf life, even after opening.

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