A self-heating urn is provided with a warmer packs which are rapidly heated during the brewing process and then gradually release their heat to the brewed beverage within the urn after it is removed from the brewing location to a serving location at which electrical powered for heating is not available. An isochronous data channel is established within the computer system between a first subset of the plurality of nodes. The transfer can be effected by any combination of chemicals, heat, andor pressure.