Kraft Foods Inc. entered the housewares segment with the introduction of its Tassimo Hot Beverage System. With a U.S. release set for fall 2005, the company says the system is already successful in France, the UK, and Switzerland.

The one-cup beverage system is covered with more than 20 patents and is equipped with a bar code reader, which scans the bar code of T-DISKs containing a single-serving of coffee, tea, chocolate, or concentrated milk. After the disc is inserted into the machine and scanned, a microprocessor recalls preprogrammed information regarding water amount, brewing time, and temperature for each beverage type.

'The scanner tells the machine what drink is to be made, the parameters for brewing, and the amount of water in the cup,' Howard Friedman, brand director of Kraft Foods, says. 'The disc contains all of the necessary information and is designed to yield the perfect cup of coffee.' Brewing is said to take less than 1 min, and the machine purges air through the system after brewing to help cool the disc for safe removal and to alleviate drips.

The company says its beverage system is the first one-cup, on-demand system that is able to create a variety of drinks, including tea, cappuccino, espresso, lattes, and hot chocolate with milk, without the use of a steam wand, but with one touch of a button.