Setting up a new office is an opportunity to create a space that is both welcoming and professional, that makes your employees look forward to coming to work and doing their best. Treat them well and they’ll be loyal. Caffeination is essential, and you want to get the best coffee machines for business that money can buy, to make sure your team is ready for anything.
Take your team’s preferences into account. Treat them well and be rewarded with loyalty. If the previous iteration of commercial filter coffee machines was an old automatic drip maker, you may now be surprised at the options on the market. Let’s look at what to consider before you buy.
Process
A true espresso comes when a shot of coffee is produced by pushing hot water through ground coffee beans at a high pressure. Until the advent of commercial filter coffee machines, this was the sole provenance of cafes and coffee shops with expensive, complicated espresso machines. These have to be plumbed into the building and are difficult to move, and require specialist knowledge to operate and clean. How many times have you had a cup of coffee with scalded milk?
With bean-to-cup machines the user is able to have a proper espresso based beverage without the cost or time investment of visiting a coffee shop, and without the risk that the barista is new.
Fill each compartment on the commercial filter coffee machine with the required ingredient — coffee beans, whole; water; milk; sugar — and then all anybody needs to do is press a button. Easy enough to work even before that first coffee of the day.
Beverage options
Tim in Accounting likes a latte at 3pm, while Tina in Tech Support is more likely to opt for several espressos throughout the day. A commercial filter coffee machine will be able to offer a range of options, meaning everyone gets their first choice. Some machines will even let users set up profiles, perfect for that particular employee who likes his cappuccino half-caff, no chocolate!
Volume
It’s vital to consider how many people will be in the office at any one time and how many people will want to use the coffee machine concurrently. Also worth thinking about is if you want to be able to produce a pot of coffee, perhaps for a meeting. Smaller machines may suit your needs if your team is small, while larger business operations may benefit from a commercial filter coffee machine with fewer options, but a capacity to produce more drinks at once. These may also have a separate milk frother so you can keep fuss to a minimum.
Many machines have two or even four spaces for cups, so employees are able to source their next hit of caffeine and get back to work, no waiting around until the machine is free. This also negates the possibility of staff getting on each other’s nerves by drinking the last drop of coffee in the pot and not putting on another batch.
Maintenance
Bean-to-cup commercial filter coffee machines have integrated milk frothers. This could mean that someone must be designated machine cleaner, but we recommend opting for a self-cleaning coffee maker. Modern machines are able to banish milk residue swiftly, before it has a chance to build up and create a problem. Just fill the compartment with fresh milk as you go and be rewarded with a silky, smooth latte or cortado.
As mentioned, these machines do away with the need to be plumbed in. They are simple places and plug machines, so if you move offices or want to clean underneath, they are easy to deal with.
Brands
Almost every well-known electronics brand has released a bean-to-cup machine. Bosch, Siemens, and De’Longhi are just some of the recognisable, trusted names that have commercial filter coffee machines on the market. It is common to find a 24 month warranty, and the prevalence of these machines means they will be serviced for years to come.
Cost
A typical bean-to-cup machine is more expensive than an automatic drip maker, that goes with the territory. The quality of drink that the machine produces is to a much higher standard, and everybody on the team gets to choose their own favourite option.
Prices range from a couple of hundred euros to a few thousand. While it may seem like a high price to pay at first, the reality is that these machines are built to last. The cost is an investment in your team and in your future. The question is, can you afford your employees nodding off at their desks, or nipping out each afternoon to the local coffee shop? The faster they can find that jolt of coffee and get back to their workstations, the better.
Keynote
A commercial filter coffee machine is an essential bit of kit in today’s working world. No office environment is complete without a way to keep employees happy and energetic, and with the options of size, volume and level of maintenance out there, you’re sure to find the right one for your office.
