There is an enormous variety of office coffee
machines available these days.They come in all shapes and sizes,
serving a wide variety of hot and cold beverages at many different
budget levels.
Management really need to consider their options and it can be a
difficult decision how to best serve
their staff and visitors with a decent cup of tea or coffee.
This article is about the humble pour and serve coffee brewer, a
simple, cheap and often overlooked way of solving corporate
beverage needs. The pour and serve coffee brewer, or sometimes
called a pour over coffee machine have been around for as long as
offices have. Put a filter paper in the basket, add fresh coffee
and pour a jug of fresh cold water in the machine and away you go.
Five minutes later you have a jug of delicious
fresh brewed coffee available to thirsty staff.
Although you can pick up one of these types of machines for as
little as £20, the best choice is to go for a 'proper' commercial
quality machine typically in the region of £250 or more. These
machines are usually made of stainless steel, have two jugs, two
hotplates and a more powerful boiler.They usually stand alone and
do not require any plumbing.
The good news is that most coffee companies provide commercial
coffee brewers to companies and organisations on a FREE LOAN basis
so there is usually no capital outlay whatsoever. In addition
technical service is provided free of charge together with free
delivery of coffee and ancillary supplies. The only commitment in
these types of offers is to purchase the coffee used in the machine
from the supplier. Sometimes the company will insist of a minimum
purchase of coffee supplies per month to make it worth their while,
but even this small commitment is not always the case.
Coffee is usually supplied in cases of 40, 50 or even 80 sachets of
portion controlled coffee with the filter papers included in the
box. Just open the sachet and empty the whole contents into the
filter basket - it couldn't be simpler.
Most coffee companies will also offer to supply ancillary items
such as cream pots, sugar sticks, plastic cups, stirrers, biscuits
and other items as well as a large choice of different coffees to
choose from including decaffeinated.
Perhaps the biggest drawback of such a system is that you can only
serve coffee. Staff or visitors that prefer tea or chocolate will
go disappointed or have to revert to the kettle. However it is
possible to brew a jug of hot water through the machine and keep
hot on the hotplate for tea drinkers to use, but practically this
can prove difficult as the filter basket has to be washed
thoroughly between brews which can prove prohibitive in a busy
office.
For the open plan office the traditional pour over coffee brewer
can be an excellent and surprisingly low cost option. With perhaps
one machine for every 10-15 staff in their own little area of the
office the humble coffee brewer is often an important and cherished
addition to the working environment.
Find out more about the pour and serve
coffee machine.
Written by Fenton Wayne - (Fenton Wayne is an independent
advisor in the coffee and vending trade where he has over 25
years experience. This article has been submitted to and
distributed by www.submityourarticle.com)