Four Top Tips for choosing the right Coffee Machine

It amazes me how many times I have visited an office where the client has asked me to review their refreshment provision, and I find a coffee machine that is completely not suited to the environment it is in. Clients need me to be the expert in the field, and for those looking to go out to market and source a number of coffee machines soon or even someone checking they made sure the right machine was chosen, here is my handy guide to help you get what you require.

TIP NUMBER ONE – KNOW YOUR STAFF COUNT

 Seems like a basic principle but can more often than not be over looked. Consider how many people will be using this machine on a daily basis, and multiply that number by three (the average number of cups of coffee per day each employee has). So, if you had 100 staff, any decent refreshment solutions provider would need to find a solution which can handle approximately 300 cups per day – whether through a combination of machines, or via one single large machine…

In situations where there are large numbers of staff (for example, 600), think about installing machines that have an external grout option. The last thing you want to happen is to install 5 brand spanking new coffee machines that are all singing and all dancing, and have to empty the internal waste container 5 times per day because the usage levels were not considered in advance!

TIP NUMBER TWO – THINK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

What does your company do? In a call centre environment valuable time could be wasted by employees waiting 40 seconds for a bean to cup drink, and in these situations an instant coffee machine that brews a decent white coffee in 8 seconds may be more appropriate.

Are your staff spread across a number of floors? Think about where best to place machines in order to reduce time spent travelling back and forth, multiple tea points per floor can be the best solution.

TIP NUMBER THREE – THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE

Leases on coffee machines generally run for between 3 to 5 years, so consider how the business is expected to grow over the next 3 years and what impact this would have on capital expense, need for extra machines. You can never predict exactly what will happen, but it is safe to assume that a coffee machine that is only capable of handling 150 cups per day in a 50 staff environment will lead to further machine requirements in 3 years’ time – what if you don’t have the space for more machines? As someone once told me; fail to prepare, prepare to fail!

TIP NUMBER FOUR  - WHAT DO YOU WANT THE COFFEE MACHINE TO DO?

Do you have the requirements for tea bags, or can you cut down waste by incorporating that into the machine but losing a few features? You will eliminate the waste of used tea bags.

Do you need to have a decaffeinated option, when employees have requested so? Generally, these make up about 5% of all coffee ever drunk from a machine, so does it make sense to lose another instant option e.g. hot chocolate?

Think carefully about what your employees want from a machine, and consider which of these are necessities.

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There are of course many other factors that influence the recommendation on what coffee machines are right for YOU; to go into all of them would negate the need for me to be in business (!), and ensure this post is 4,000 words long.

Choosing the right hot beverage machine can sometimes be overlooked, so think carefully when you make your next purchase!

Alternatives to Bean to Cup Coffee

In the 21^st Century, the general perception among all office staff in London is that providing drinks made from a fresh bean always give the best quality and user experience.

Whereas this was true a few years ago, for those in the know todays modern innovation has allowed hot beverage operators to provide capsule-based drinks that, mostly, beat the quality on almost any other drink whilst removing the age-old problem of “freshness”.

Let’s talk a bit about “freshness” first and coffee itself.  Coffee beans are a very powerful natural occurrence, and the generally accepted fable goes that a goatherd farmer, Kaldi, accidentally discovered them in Ethiopia in the 9^th Century, when his sheep began eating the coffee plant berries and he noticed an increase in energy; trying them for himself resulted in no luck, and so he threw the berries on his fire, from which a very enticing aroma which we all know and love billowed. The roasted beans were raked out of the fire, ground up and dissolved in water. Welcome to the world’s first Black Coffee.

Coffee is a very volatile substance, full of natural oils. When exposed to heat, sunlight or oxygen, the beans begin to “dry”; essentially the fatty oils that are contained begin to evaporate. This oil is what gives coffee it’s “crème” on an espresso, and is the foremost source of flavour from the coffee itself.

Once exposed to one of the three elements, coffee beans have somewhere from between a few days and a few weeks, depending upon the time left before delivery to the customer, before they “lose” their taste, and end up producing a flavourless, dry, horrible creation; a problem that plagues low use environments where the client is still looking for a quality solution.

Capsule systems have long been regarded as a middle-market solution, providing a costly but widely hassle-free coffee that gives an “acceptable” taste.

Not anymore says I. Welcome to the 21^st Century.

For those looking at a still relatively inexpensive but restaurant-quality solution, Lavazza BLUE (Best Lavazza Ultimate Espresso) provides a market leading espresso and black coffee. Couple it with a pure semi-skimmed milk powder and serve in a china cup, you’ll get an espresso or cappuccino that can rival many of the UKs coffee shops.

Unlike beans, a capsule is not exposed to light, oxygen or (more often than not) heat and so have a shelf life of up to 12 months from date of manufacture. You could, in theory, not touch a capsule machine for a year and it would still produce the same quality of espresso as it would have done the day it was loaded.

Keurig, a zero to $3 billion company in 5 years, I am predicting will be entering the UK market within a few years. With over 300 different products, and a simple, clean machine, I am predicting a real breakthrough revolution in this market.

Let this serve as an ultimatum to Flavia and Mars Drinks in general. Believe me; your time is well and truly UP.