Drinking coffee at home and in the office are different things. You can prepare an invigorating drink in your own kitchen in any way you like – it all depends on the tastes of a particular person and his family.
With the office, everything is much more complicated. Let’s look at the features of choosing coffee machines for the workplace.
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Coffee machines: pros and cons
The best option for an office is, of course, a coffee machine. It makes a drink quickly and is not very demanding in maintenance. The main thing is that a person is almost not distracted by making a drink: press a button, wait, take a mug. It is important to understand: office coffee machines are different from home ones. Here are three main differences:
- In the office, coffee consumption is significantly higher than at home. Therefore, the equipment must be reliable, durable and easy to repair.
- Often people treat office equipment less responsibly than their own. There is nothing you can do about human nature – so overly complex models are unlikely to be suitable for the workplace.
- The degree of automation is extremely important. A simple example: a person is busy with work and wants to drink a cup of coffee. Therefore, making coffee should not distract him too much.
The right choice is professional and semi-professional coffee machines. They are used in restaurants, coffee shops, and offices. They are capable of making dozens of different drinks depending on the availability of appropriate programs and design.
They do not need constant monitoring. Some models are capable of grinding beans and collecting grounds on their own.
Let’s look at the main types of such coffee machines.
Horn-shaped
Equipped with a special horn (holder) in which ground coffee is placed. They are designed for making espresso. Different models may have a function for grinding beans, automatic shutdown, and a cappuccino maker (a device for aerating milk – whipping up foam).
Horn models can be:
- Pump. Under a certain pressure, hot water is passed through the coffee. High-quality, strong coffee is prepared.
- Steam. Everything happens the same way, but hot steam is used instead of water. The coffee turns out less strong than in the first case.
Advantages of horn coffee machines:
- quick coffee preparation;
- long service life;
- low coffee consumption;
- can maintain the temperature of coffee;
Cons:
- relatively complex maintenance;
- high price;
- large sizes;
- few drink recipes.
Capsule
These machines use coffee capsules designed for a certain number of servings. During the preparation process, the capsule is pierced with a special needle in different places. Hot water then passes through the needles under pressure.
Just a minute – and the aromatic drink is already in the cup. After using this technique, the used capsule must be thrown away and the device must be cleaned from the resulting grounds.
Advantages of the solution:
- high speed of operation;
- minimal noise;
- relatively small size of the devices;
- beautiful design (almost universal);
- ease of use.
Disadvantages of capsule machines:
- high price of the device and capsules for it;
- Capsules from different models may not be compatible.
Chaldovye
The design resembles capsule models. But in pod models, instead of capsules, a so-called pod is used. Externally, it is a compressed bag of filter paper with coffee powder inside. The principle of operation of the device is the same as that of a capsule one.
Advantages of pod solutions:
- the ability to control coffee consumption;
- compactness of devices;
- fully automatic brewing;
- quiet operation of the device;
- easy care.
Flaws:
- limited range of drinks that can be prepared;
- high price of the pods used;
- difficulty in finding suitable tablets for the device.
Drip
This coffee machine is simple. The main components are: a water container, a heating element (boiler), a filter for beans, a funnel and a reservoir for making coffee. Depending on the model, the machine may have additional functions. For example, automatic on/off by time.
Water from the container enters the boiler, heats up and rises up through a special tube. Then the hot liquid passes through the filter with coffee and thus prepares an invigorating drink. As soon as all the water has seeped through the filter, you can consider the coffee ready.
Pros:
- you can prepare several cups of coffee at the same time;
- ease of use;
- large selection of models;
- safe and reliable design;
- affordable prices.
Cons:
- You can only make two types of coffee – Americano and espresso;
- high coffee consumption during work;
- the need to regularly clean and change filters.
Which coffee machine is suitable specifically for an office?
Much depends on the office itself – the number of employees, area, access to water and other factors. There are four types of “office” coffee machines.
For small offices
If you plan to prepare no more than 15-30 servings during the working day, semi-professional options are suitable, but only automatic ones (to save time).
Semi-professional for the medium office
Designed to prepare about 100 portions per day. A budget option, optimal for an average office. Moreover, you can refuse displays and special programs – this will reduce costs.
Professional
A solution for premises where employees really need a LOT of coffee. Suitable for large-scale enterprises. The main thing is that both the first and the last portions are of high quality.
Capsule and pod models can be chosen if there are no difficulties with purchasing large quantities of the required capsules with coffee powder.
For management
A separate topic, as it implies coffee drinking in a narrow circle. Therefore, in the boss’s office, you can also install household devices – a beautiful household Turk, pour-over or French press.
Choosing the perfect coffee machine
Decide on the type of device and its reliability. The ideal choice is maximum automation. But for small offices, this may be unreasonably expensive. If the budget allows, it is better to decide to buy a powerful multifunctional device. In terms of reliability, everything is relative. But it is better to choose horn, capsule, pod units from top manufacturers.
Research the manufacturers. The modern market is overflowing with brands. Among the most famous are: Nivona, Melitta, Jura, Krups, WMF, Bosch, DeLonghi. They offer both expensive premium solutions and cheaper options. You can easily find the optimal solution.
Form the selection criteria. Even the most expensive coffee machine with a lot of functions will not necessarily satisfy the employees’ requests 100%. Therefore, it is important to find out, compare and study several things. Employees’ preferences (espresso, latte, americano, cappuccino), the type of unit control (mechanical or electronic), the appearance of the unit and its “fit” into the interior of the room.
Never forget about the expected load, as well as the power of the device. High performance and speed of preparation of the drink can play an important role.
Remember about the noise level. 90% of coffee machines work almost silently. But still remember about this characteristic. Especially if the device will be located in the work area.
When choosing a coffee machine for the office, it is important to remember all these factors described above. It is better to spend a little money on creating the most comfortable working conditions than to endure inconvenience and employee indignation.
