Method of dispensing a beverage, a beverage preparation machine, and a system

1. A method of dispensing a beverage comprising:

a) inserting a beverage ingredient tablet into a beverage preparation machine, the beverage ingredient tablet comprising at least one exterior surface and a recess in the at least one exterior surface, wherein the beverage ingredient tablet comprises a compacted powder tablet containing one or more powdered beverage ingredients;

b) measuring a characteristic associated with the thickness of at least a portion of the beverage ingredient tablet between a bottom of the recess and an opposed exterior face to identify the beverage ingredient tablet by directly contacting the beverage ingredient tablet;

c) configuring one or more dispense parameters of the beverage preparation machine based on the identification of the beverage ingredient tablet; and

d) operating the beverage preparation machine to dispense a beverage by contacting the beverage ingredient tablet with an aqueous fluid to dissolve the tablet.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more dispense parameters are selected from the group comprising:

temperature of the aqueous fluid; volume of the aqueous fluid dispensed; flow rate of the aqueous fluid; pressure of the aqueous fluid; and presence or absence of a pre-wet stage.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein in step b) a characteristic associated with the overall thickness of the beverage ingredient tablet from an uppermost surface to a lowermost surface is measured.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the beverage ingredient tablet comprises a recess in at least one exterior surface and in step b) a characteristic associated with the thickness of the beverage ingredient tablet between a bottom of the recess and an opposed exterior face is measured.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the beverage preparation machine includes a displaceable probe, and wherein the measuring the characteristic associated with the thickness of at least a portion of the beverage ingredient tablet comprises directly contacting the displaceable probe with the beverage ingredient tablet.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising directly contacting the beverage ingredient tablet with the displaceable probe.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of measuring includes directly contacting the beverage ingredient tablet with a displaceable probe.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beverage ingredient tablet inserted into the beverage preparation machine has been unwrapped.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of unwrapping the beverage ingredient tablet before the step of inserting the beverage ingredient tablet into the beverage preparation machine.

10. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the inserting the beverage ingredient tablet into the beverage preparation machine comprises inserting the beverage ingredient tablet into a brew chamber of the beverage preparation machine;

wherein the directly contacting the beverage ingredient tablet comprises displacing the beverage ingredient tablet by bringing a portion of the brew chamber into direct contact with the beverage ingredient tablet; and

wherein the displacing of the beverage ingredient tablet comprises displacing, via direct contact by the beverage ingredient tablet, a portion of a sensor configured to measure the characteristic associated with the thickness of at least a portion of the beverage ingredient tablet.