Cold Brew Coffee Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 60.0% concentration. The top 5 of 28 ranked assignees account for 105 of the 175 records in scope — a field with a clear leader and a long tail behind it.
- +120% filing growth. Filings rose from 10 in 2021 to 22 in 2024, even as the single leader's own year-on-year activity has gone quiet.
- Kitchen hardware, not biology. A47J kitchen utensils (56.6%) and A23F coffee/tea (46.9%) dominate; microbial safety claims under C12N sit at just 1.1% of records.
Filing growth compares 2021 (10 records) with 2024 (22) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 175 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Cold brew and alternative coffee extraction sits at the intersection of appliance engineering and beverage chemistry: patents here cover contact time, extraction temperature, nitrogen infusion, clarity filtration and flavour profile control, alongside the microbial safety questions that come with brewing coffee cold rather than hot. The 175 records in scope run from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, with publication activity concentrated in machine design and process claims rather than in the underlying microbiology.
Filing activity peaked in 2017 at 29 records, cooled, then rebuilt momentum through the early 2020s. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in the raw trend understate current activity and should not be read as a slowdown.
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Filing trends and technology composition
The record set spans household appliance makers, foodservice chains and specialist extraction-equipment firms, filed predominantly through the United States, WIPO's PCT route and the EPO.
Filing trend: a 2017 peak, then renewed growth
Filings hit a peak of 29 in 2017, softened, and then grew from 10 in 2021 to 22 in 2024 — a +120% rise over that three-year span. The most recent one to two years are still filling in as publications catch up with filing dates.
Technology composition: hardware dominates over chemistry
A47J (kitchen and cooking utensils) appears on 56.6% of the 175 records and A23F (coffee, tea and substitutes) on 46.9%, confirming this is primarily an appliance and process-engineering field. Dispensing (B67D, 10.9%) and food/beverage composition (A23L, 9.7%) trail well behind, and microorganism-related claims under C12N sit at only 1.1% — a share, not a count, since records can carry multiple IPC classes.
Shares are the percentage of the 175 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Cold Brew and Alternative Coffee Extraction with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about cold brew and alternative coffee extraction and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US20250009165A1 — Coffee machine and coffee extraction method with such a coffee machine
A coffee extraction method with a coffee machine comprising an infusion circuit with a supply pump, electric heater and infusion unit connected in sequence. The machine stores multiple selectable extraction cycles, each including a heat-regulation step, a dosing step, and an extraction step at a defined initial temperature, then compares in-circuit temperature against that initial value during the cycle.Filed by DE' LONGHI APPLIANCES S.R.L., published 2025-01-09.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US9480359B1 | Semi-continuous processes for creating an extract from coffee or other extractable materials | 34 |
| 2 | US20190387920A1 | Automatic coffee maker and process for preparing a cold brewed beverage | 24 |
| 3 | WO2018115402A1 | Roast and ground coffee powder and methods of making thereof | 23 |
| 4 | US20190290048A1 | Brewing Apparatus and Methods for Use | 21 |
| 5 | US20200253413A1 | Method and apparatus for landfill reduction | 17 |
| 6 | WO2019067595A1 | Automatic coffee maker and process for preparing a cold brewed beverage | 14 |
| 7 | US20190274329A1 | Roast and ground coffee powder and methods of making thereof | 12 |
| 8 | US20210093120A1 | Apparatus for providing a brewed beverage | 11 |
| 9 | WO2018148828A1 | Beverage preparation and infusion system | 9 |
| 10 | US20190090503A1 | Automatic coffee maker and process for preparing a cold brewed beverage | 7 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of prior visibility rather than current commercial weight.
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Three patterns stand out once the records are broken down by assignee, geography and claim type.
A leader, then a steep drop-off
The leading assignee holds 46 records outright; by fifth place the count is down to 10. The top 5 together cover 60.0% of all 175 records, and the top 10 reach 80.6% — this is a field where a small set of players occupy most of the claim space, with 18 more ranked assignees splitting the remainder thinly.
Growth is real but recent leader activity has cooled
Filings climbed from 10 in 2021 to 22 in 2024. At the same time, several of the largest historical filers show zero filings in the latest year with year-on-year drops, suggesting the growth is being driven by newer or smaller entrants rather than the incumbents repeating past volume.
Filing is US-anchored with a PCT and EPO tail
The United States receives the largest single share of filings at 51, ahead of WIPO's PCT route at 26 and the EPO at 25. Canada, Australia and the UK each register in the low teens, pointing to a strategy of securing the US and Europe first, then extending selectively into Commonwealth markets.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to cold brew and alternative coffee extraction, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
Household appliance manufacturers and large beverage brands anchor the top of the ranking, but the concentration figures leave open ground beyond the leading names.
The leader dominates volume
A single assignee holds 46 of the 175 records — more than a quarter of the entire field on its own — built up largely through earlier-year filings rather than recent activity.
Appliance and foodservice names fill out the top tier
The remaining top-5 positions are held by household appliance manufacturers and a major foodservice chain, together bringing the top-5 total to 105 records, or 60.0% of all records in scope.
A long tail of smaller filers
Below the top 10 — which together reach 80.6% of records — filing activity fragments across 18 further assignees, several appearing with a single latest-year filing, indicating new entrants testing the space rather than incumbents defending it.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| SharkNinja Operating LLC | 1 | — |
| Kenwood Ltd | 1 | — |
| Societe des Produits Nestle SA | 0 | -100% |
| Starbucks Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| De' Longhi Appliances S.r.l. | 0 | — |
| Nestec / Nestle Technology | 0 | — |
| 2266170 Ontario | 0 | — |
| THE WAYWARD STUDIO LLC | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking or identifying open claim space.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top filers
With 60.0% of records held by five assignees, a freedom-to-operate review for any new extraction-temperature or contact-time mechanism should start with those portfolios before broader searching.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Microbial safety and nitrogen infusion claims remain thin relative to hardware filings, which is where a well-drafted first claim has more room to stand.
Map white space in EurekaWatch momentum, not just totals
Several of the largest historical filers show no latest-year activity, while smaller assignees are filing for the first time — worth monitoring quarter over quarter rather than relying on cumulative counts alone.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
One assignee leads with 46 of the 175 records in scope, well ahead of the rest of the ranked field. The top 5 of 28 ranked assignees together account for 105 records, or 60.0% of all records, and the top 10 reach 80.6%. That leaves 18 further assignees splitting the remaining records thinly, so the field has a clear leader but no monopoly.
Filings grew from 10 in 2021 to 22 in 2024, a +120% increase over that span, after an earlier peak of 29 filings in 2017. The 2025 and later counts look lower only because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so recent years are still filling in rather than showing a genuine drop.
The majority of records fall under A47J (kitchen and cooking utensils, 56.6% of the 175 records) and A23F (coffee, tea and substitutes, 46.9%), meaning most claims concern brewing hardware and process rather than beverage chemistry. Dispensing equipment (B67D) and food composition (A23L) each cover under 11% of records, and microorganism-related claims (C12N) appear on just 1.1%, since a single record can span multiple classes.
The thinnest coverage relative to the hardware-heavy field sits in microbial safety validation methods, nitrogen infusion dosing control, clarity filtration media design and flavour-profile feedback sensing. These branches show far fewer records than the dominant kitchen-appliance and extraction-temperature claims, suggesting less-crowded prior art for a narrowly drafted first claim in those areas.
The United States receives the largest share of filings at 51 records, followed by the WIPO PCT route at 26 and the European Patent Office at 25. Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom follow with lower counts in the low teens, indicating that most applicants secure US and European protection first before extending into Commonwealth markets.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.