Drinks Machine
Discussion
Does anybody have a hot drinks machine in their workplace?
Our facilities are not great and we have a cold water dispenser or kitchen for hot drinks...
We have a cafe a few units up from us and our staff love to get a proper coffee or hot chocolate from their machine.
Anyway, I’m considering a hot drinks machine but don’t know where to start or what the costs are. Any recommendation?
I don’t want a machine that simply chucks water into a cup which has a mix at the bottom. I want the drink to be mixed/made internally so it can be dumped in any cup etc...
Our facilities are not great and we have a cold water dispenser or kitchen for hot drinks...
We have a cafe a few units up from us and our staff love to get a proper coffee or hot chocolate from their machine.
Anyway, I’m considering a hot drinks machine but don’t know where to start or what the costs are. Any recommendation?
I don’t want a machine that simply chucks water into a cup which has a mix at the bottom. I want the drink to be mixed/made internally so it can be dumped in any cup etc...
Not a specific recommendation, but renting or buying one of these things, plus some bags of coffee beans, would surely be best?
https://bibium.com/coffee-machine-reviews/top-7-be...
https://bibium.com/coffee-machine-reviews/top-7-be...
A client of mine has an office of about 20 people and they bought a Delonghi Primadonna. It makes a great cup of coffee.
However it takes aaaaaaaages. You're standing there whilst it goes through the motions meanwhile people are walking over to the kitchen area, popping the kettle on, making an instant coffee and walking away again whilst you're stood there waiting for the last drips of yours to land in your cup.
And since the novelty of having it has worn off, no one really takes responsibility for filling the milk at the start of the day, emptying it at the end of the day, putting it through the cleaning cycle etc. I'm sure they could probably get the cleaners to do it, or put it on a rota, but it's just easier to use the kettle. So it's almost always switched off. A grands worth of machine sat there doing nothing.
So if you're going to get something, I'd say get something that is quick to make the drinks and doesn't need a lot of looking after or people will revert back to popping up the road.
However it takes aaaaaaaages. You're standing there whilst it goes through the motions meanwhile people are walking over to the kitchen area, popping the kettle on, making an instant coffee and walking away again whilst you're stood there waiting for the last drips of yours to land in your cup.
And since the novelty of having it has worn off, no one really takes responsibility for filling the milk at the start of the day, emptying it at the end of the day, putting it through the cleaning cycle etc. I'm sure they could probably get the cleaners to do it, or put it on a rota, but it's just easier to use the kettle. So it's almost always switched off. A grands worth of machine sat there doing nothing.
So if you're going to get something, I'd say get something that is quick to make the drinks and doesn't need a lot of looking after or people will revert back to popping up the road.
mmm this is becoming a pain. I dont actually drink coffee at all, so dont understand the ins and outs of it. But some of these machines with their milk and maintenance seems like a pain in the arse.
Maybe we'd be better off with a machine that just chucked some hot water through and into a pre-mixed pod or cup.
Plus its not all about coffee... so not looking to just buy a bean to cup coffee machine.
Thanks.
Maybe we'd be better off with a machine that just chucked some hot water through and into a pre-mixed pod or cup.
Plus its not all about coffee... so not looking to just buy a bean to cup coffee machine.
Thanks.
You mention having a kitchen space so is it feasible to have a selection of equipment rather than a dedicated machine? In my experience the machines that can do multiple drink types tend to be pretty poor.
My old employers (40ish people) had a filter coffee machine, nespresso machine, kettle, fridge and microwave, with the company providing ground coffee, milk and teabags. you had to buy your own nespresso pods but someone would always organise a big order.
My current place (office of 20ish in a bigger organisation) has a bean to cup coffee machine (delonghi magnifica), kettle and fridge, and we all bung I think €50 a year in the pot to buy the beans, milk and teabags. This generates enough extra cash to replace the coffee machine when it wears out. Someone else then organises a supply of canned drinks with an honesty box for payment, which seems to work pretty well.
This approach does mean trusting people to be tidy and clean the kitchen are up though.
My old employers (40ish people) had a filter coffee machine, nespresso machine, kettle, fridge and microwave, with the company providing ground coffee, milk and teabags. you had to buy your own nespresso pods but someone would always organise a big order.
My current place (office of 20ish in a bigger organisation) has a bean to cup coffee machine (delonghi magnifica), kettle and fridge, and we all bung I think €50 a year in the pot to buy the beans, milk and teabags. This generates enough extra cash to replace the coffee machine when it wears out. Someone else then organises a supply of canned drinks with an honesty box for payment, which seems to work pretty well.
This approach does mean trusting people to be tidy and clean the kitchen are up though.
RizzoTheRat said:
You mention having a kitchen space so is it feasible to have a selection of equipment rather than a dedicated machine? In my experience the machines that can do multiple drink types tend to be pretty poor.
My old employers (40ish people) had a filter coffee machine, nespresso machine, kettle, fridge and microwave, with the company providing ground coffee, milk and teabags. you had to buy your own nespresso pods but someone would always organise a big order.
My current place (office of 20ish in a bigger organisation) has a bean to cup coffee machine (delonghi magnifica), kettle and fridge, and we all bung I think €50 a year in the pot to buy the beans, milk and teabags. This generates enough extra cash to replace the coffee machine when it wears out. Someone else then organises a supply of canned drinks with an honesty box for payment, which seems to work pretty well.
This approach does mean trusting people to be tidy and clean the kitchen are up though.
Nice idea, but we get a lot of temps as we are very seasonal. So ultimately I wanted a machine that is based outside of the kitchen in a more communal area where you can simply grab a drink and go... Plus being temps they are not going to chip in on larger orders - but I am more than happy for them to have a drink on us! My old employers (40ish people) had a filter coffee machine, nespresso machine, kettle, fridge and microwave, with the company providing ground coffee, milk and teabags. you had to buy your own nespresso pods but someone would always organise a big order.
My current place (office of 20ish in a bigger organisation) has a bean to cup coffee machine (delonghi magnifica), kettle and fridge, and we all bung I think €50 a year in the pot to buy the beans, milk and teabags. This generates enough extra cash to replace the coffee machine when it wears out. Someone else then organises a supply of canned drinks with an honesty box for payment, which seems to work pretty well.
This approach does mean trusting people to be tidy and clean the kitchen are up though.
OP, before considering anything too fancy, what state do people leave the kitchen in at the moment? Do they wash up/put away dirty crockery? Get/tell someone when more milk is needed, or put the old one back with just a smear of milk in the bottom on the basis that it's "not quite empty"?
Then consider how any machine that needs cleaning out, or milk frothing spouts that need wiping, is going to fare.
Then consider how any machine that needs cleaning out, or milk frothing spouts that need wiping, is going to fare.
This is what you need...a Nespresso Gemini 220. We got this on contract with Nespresso so they supply the machine for free but we have to spend about £250 a month on coffee. The pods come in many of the same flavours as your usual home Nespresso machine however they are a different shape. They are a flat disc shape. I questioned Nespresso why they weren't the same as the normal pods and they said it was to prevent staff members stealing pods for their machines at home which kind of made sense.
This machine is fantastic. The top of the machine has a warming plate for all the cups get warm. When you want a coffee you imply insert a pod and press the size button and it produces espresso instantly. If you want frothed milk, there is a spout in the middle of the machine and again you just press 1 button and out comes instant frothy milk. It tastes really good too, just as good as any coffee shop in town if not better!
You need to remember to empty the milk container at the end of the day because if you forget you will come in to a mess the next morning. You can also plumb this in to the mains water so it never runs out. We didn't do that and just filled the tanks up once a day from a tap. It's pretty low maintenance you just need to de-scale it once in a while. I would highly recommend this machine, i have 1 in my office and 1 in the kitchen in my warehouse for the staff there so they get a lot of use and we rarely get problems.
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