Bean to cup machine for a small office!

[davido140]

I'm looking to get a bean to cup coffee machine for a small office, 10 staff, 30 cups a day, automatic milky frothy thingie.

I'm guessing a smaller domestic bit of kit wont cut it for that volume or will need servicing every five minutes, I've seen whopping great bits of kit at clients offices (about half the size of a washing machine) but I'd imagine they would be overkill and probably very expensive!

Anyone got any suggestions of what to start looking at?

Cheers

Dave

[sherman]

You may be cheaper looking into leasing a machine rather than buying one outright.

[PJ S]

This - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WMF-1000-Coffee-machine_W0QQ...

I could say Siemens or DeLonghi new for that sort of money, but the WMF would wipe the floor with them.
Alternatively, http://eu.ebid.net/for-sale/schaerer-siena-2-espre... - although you may want to see if he'll bring the end date nearer!
WMF own Schaerer, so you wont go wrong with either.

I'd also love to suggest Jura, but there's a reason I returned the UK MD's Z5 (Gen. 1) within a week of purchase, and bought this little fella instead....

[whoami]

PJ S said:

I'd also love to suggest Jura, but there's a reason I returned the UK MD's Z5 (Gen. 1) within a week of purchase

Which was?

[PJ S]

Error 8 each day, which relates to brewer issue, with a new one having been fitted as the original was on 19K dispenses.
Also not as warm coffee as the WMF, which is something I'd read on Amazon (Germany) comments, which I'd presumed was potentially subjective or scale related.
As mine had been descaled, etc, and even set to high, I was able to chuck the latte down in almost one go.
Forgot myself the first time with the WMF, and almost scalded my tongue!

Still think the Z has a beautiful design, with that front panel, and rotary encoder to access the settings, but the 800's touch control isn't exactly an ugly stepchild.
Have my eye on a 1000, so it may be coming up for sale soon, but at 30 cups per day, the brewer would be used beyond its suggested limit, which the brochure says is 7K.
Saying that, speaking with the local supplier/servicing agents, they've seen brewers in the 1000, Presto, Bistro, that are working perfectly way beyond their 30-90K lifespan.
No wonder WMF were keen to get their hands on that Schaerer brewer - Swiss engineering at its finest by the looks of it.

Edited by PJ S on Tuesday 1st March 17:08

[davido140]

Thanks for that!

I think I'm going to have a bid on that Schaerer Siena 2, not the prettiest looking machine but sounds like it'll be a proper little work horse and keep the staff topped up with java juice all day long without popping its clogs! We're not moving to the new premesis for a month or two where we'll actually have space for it so the auction length should be about right!

Thanks again.

Dave

[PJ S]

Siena II is a fine machine.
Bit older tech, but still a cracking machine.
You can froth milk like a Barista, while dispensing an espresso, or use the one-touch with the auto-frother tubing put in a milk container or connected to the milk fridge.
For beans, can I suggest & recommend http://www.discountcoffeeroasters.co.uk/passion-it... - a superb one for latté and cappuccino drinkers, cutting through the milk nicely.
Not much cremè for espresso drinkers to get excited over, which is expected as there's no Robusta beans in it, just Arabica.
For espresso and café creme, I'd proffer the Fairtrade blend from http://www.bailiescoffee.com/coffee/index.asp?ID=1... - you'll get a very nice cremè from that one.

Edited by PJ S on Tuesday 1st March 16:58