[OT]: Sensible coffee maker sought for works kitchen

[jkn]

Hi all I'm trying to source a new coffee maker for the kitchen at work. We currently have an ancient 'kona' style drip filter type thing which has seen plenty better days. The company wouldn't pay for an oh-so fancy Gaggia type thing even if I thought it was appropriate, but I'm trying to find something a little better than just replacing the old one with a newer of the same style.

I'd have thought that there would be quite a selection available via catering supply places & the like, but my searches so far haven't borne fruit. Any suggestions?

The kitchen serves 30--40 electronic engineer-types, probably half of whom drink coffee. The company buys the coffee and we do the making... Thanks for your esteemed thoughts

Jon N

[Clive Summerfield]

What sort of budget?

You say 30-40 engineer types, how many cups each on average per day?

Cheers Clive

[jkn]

Hi Clive I'm note sure about budget yet, I'm trying to establish options.

I ain't done a survey on average cups per day. I could probably do an estimate based on how many bags of coffee we get through in a week but was hoping that my figures would give a clue.

Let's see, say 25 out of 20 drink coffee, average 3 cups a day, so maybe up to 100 cups (OK mugs) per day?

HTH Jon N

[Gordon Henderson]

One place I visit has a "Nespresso" machine - it makes espresso, or "americano" style coffee and has a steam jet for that frothy milk thing.

The plus side is that it takes capsules, so theres no faffing about with grinding, etc.

The down side is that it's (a) Nescafe and (b) £150 iirc. I think there are several brands of capsule coffee makers though - there is quite a variety of coffee avalable in the capsules too, but I don't think they are that cheap either...

Theres all sorts of H&S issues these days too - you aren't supposed to have kettles or breakable plunger type things from what I recall of the last time this place went though a building move...

This place has 20-30 electronic/software engineers (and some manglement)

Good luck!

Gordon

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Why not one of those wall mounted boiler thingumies?

[brugnospamsia]

gawd I hope it doesn't get that crazy where I work - after 20-odd years of experimenting I now only drink my own blend of Guatemala Maragogype and Nicaragua Matagalpa made in a cafetiere and I can't stand filter or expresso ....

Brugmansia

(thinks ... do I sound like Frasier Crane ?)

[Tony Hogarty]

You sure do.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Blimey, We used to average about 10 cups a day.

The solutin we came up with was simple. Electric boiler geyser thing, loads of cup, a fridge full of milk (and in the summer cold drinks, on the company) and the best instant coffee (gold blend) that we could find.

Oh, and a micriwave prved ideal as well for those plastic wrapped food thingies. Nothing like a quick macaroni cheese when you have to work till 9pm..

I vistited one plave where thye had one of those machines yu stuck a bag of ground coffee in, and it whips up a cappucino etc. Nice as well.

[Andrew Chesters]

For a department of 3 caffeine addicts and a few hangers-on, we use a

1.9l filter job. We get coffee in pre-portioned sachets, so there is no faffing about measuring etc. Once filtered, it goes into a stainless vacuum flask with a pump dispenser. This way it doesn't stew (as if it would have time). :-)

I think it's a Buffalo, or that might have been the last one we wore out...

[Owain]

"jkn" wrote | I'm trying to source a new coffee maker for the kitchen at work. | The kitchen serves 30--40 electronic engineer-types, probably | half of whom drink coffee. The company buys the coffee and | we do the making...

You can get coffee machines on free loan from many coffee suppliers if you buy enough coffee, including ones that grind-and-brew automatically. Some suppliers/machines will also do teas and hot water. Avoid capsule or pod types as there's a very limited range of coffee in them and they are expensive.

Owain

[Clive Summerfield]

Hmmm. We've got one of these in the office...

to the cup counter (yup, it records the number of cups of coffee produced), in 14 months it has produced 16812 cups without a hitch. Nice thing about it is that you just fill the water reservoir when it tells, fill the bean hopper when it tells you, empty the drip tray and dreg drawer when it tells you. Cleans itself, produces hot water as well as coffee, steam for frothing milk, yada yada yada.

Best buy we made here, but we're a bunch of coffee snobs/addicts so something like the Gaggia was a good solution. About £450 though, so maybe too expensive. But so much better than those horrible Bravilor monstrosities.

I know you said originally that Gaggia's were out of the question, but we're talking coffee here. It's just too important.

Actually you might be able to sell the Gaggia approach on the basis of productivity. With it being fully automatic, there's less time spent preparing and waiting for fresh coffee. Happy workers are good workers.

Good luck in the search. I'm off for cup number 16813

Cheers Clive

[Dave Plowman (News)]

IMHO, the type which use concentrate are a decent compromise. No waste, and although perhaps not quite as good as a fresh cup made from grounds, far better than one that has and kept warm for more than a few minutes.

[Mary Fisher]

I hate filter coffee made by all the machines I've ever tried, after the first cup when it's very fresh. Espresso is the Devil's work. The best (although I don't do it often) is mde in a jug, allowed to settle and decanted.

Who?

Mary

[Pete C]

Errr, why?

cheers, Pete.

[Mary Fisher]

Because to my palate it tastes awful. I should have said that "in my opinion it's the Devil's work" :-)

Mary

[Andy Hall]

Never go to Italy then.

Although of course, coffee there is somewhat in a different league to the dishwater served in most places in the UK. Cappucino after mid morning is frowned upon, IME.

[Frank Erskine]

When coffeeing out (most days) I used to have cappucino until fairly recently; I now prefer latte.

At home I usually have cappucino or (very rarely) stuff from a cafetiere.

Only on exceptional occasions at work do I have "instant" coffee (yuk!)

[Clive Summerfield]

Likewise. The scorn they pour upon anyone daft enough to ask for a cappucino other than at breakfast/mid-morning is truly wonderful to watch. Personally I stick to espresso after 10:00am, a masterful way of enjoying coffee.

Cheers Clive

[brugnospamsia]

TV comedy - two psychiatrist brothers, Frasier has a radio programme. Their pusuit of the exclusive borders on OCD

Jeremy

[Mary Fisher]

I've no desire to ... haven't seen everything here yet :-)

I bow to your greater experience! We don't drink it unless we make it.

Except, for politeness, I sometimes force down that which our Italian neighbours make.

Don't like that either.

But it's a personal thing.

Mary