Choosing Your Office Coffee Maker: Tips, Advice and More

In our office, we've had several types of office coffee maker that we've been using for several years now. But the new bigger office coffee machine has been a real boon to everyone. We have all become whole coffee beans lovers, and find that often instant coffee just lacks 'something'.

So, if you are looking for advice on selecting a suitable coffee maker, you may also want to read these tips on selecting your office coffee machine.

It's always more comfortable and convenient for you and your workers when you have an office coffee maker. This is especially true if fresh coffee is the oil that keeps your workplace functioning as it does ours!

There are a lot of different kinds to choose from and your office's coffee drinking habits will have a lot to do with the type that you pick.

You may choose to go the vending machine route, but you'll be missing out on some of the best coffee in the world, and drinking nothing less than brown flavored water.

Double Brew Coffee Machine

Many offices have a simple double-brew office coffee maker which makes two pots, one below the drip filter and one on a top burner.

This is very convenient if you have a lot of people that drink coffee at the same time; it will do nicely for the morning coffee drinkers and the afternoon pick-me-up you might need.

You'll also see other types of double brew coffee machines with an extra hotplate on top to keep the coffee warm, but there's always the risk of overheating the coffee; and it's tempting or easy to leave the coffee hotplate on 'for the next person'.

Some effective tips for using this type of office coffee maker:

• 1. Don't let the coffee stand on the hot plate too long. It will go off pretty quickly.
• 2. If there's extra coffee that no one can drink right away, then put it in a vacuum flask or chill it to make ice coffee.
• 3. You can make just one pot for low demand use. Even a half pot can be viable.

Pod Coffee Machine

One of the newer systems is the "pod" coffee machine.  Instead of making several cups at a time in one large pot, the machine makes individual cups of coffee using pre-measured and sealed pods. 

It is more costly than a regular drip brewing machine because each pod runs about $0.35.  The advantage is that you can have a great variety of coffee available for every taste, which is especially useful when you have meetings with cliefnts, investors or other guests you want to accommodate. 

If your office budget doesn't allow this much expenditure but your employees would like to have one, they can purchase and bring their own pods or contribute to a "pod pool”. 

There are several downsides: one person makes one cup, so it's less efficient than a coffee pot where coffee is ready to serve; and each cup is limited to a fixed volume so you can't have a large cup or a small cup.

Filter Coffee Maker

If you have a small office, a regular one pot drip coffee maker will perform nicely as the office coffee machine.  One with an insulated glass carafe will insure that the coffee stays fresh and none goes to waste from sitting on a burner.

This is the method we use for our small office coffee machine, and each month we buy a large bag of bulk coffee beans. This ensures that the coffee beans are affordable, fresh, and freshly ground, too.

There are other office coffee makers that you may wish to try, but none are really as convenient as those outlined here. They are either fussy to use, or fussy to maintain or clean. Take a look though at the other coffee makers, if you wish.

And my choice is...?

When choosing your office coffee machine, you need to check how many people will be using it and choose an appropriate model. For larger offices, the double brew coffee machine would be more appropriate, as would a quality coffee vending machine.

For smaller offices, a pod coffee machine for individual use is a good suggestion: each cup of coffee is tailored to the individual with no mess or waste. If you want to provide a variety of flavors without the expense of a pod machine you could have different flavorings and creamers, such as some of the flavored varieties of Coffee Mate, available to make each person's perfect cup of coffee.

For even smaller offices, a simpler drip coffee maker would suffice though choice would be limited to whatever and whoever is making the pot of coffee today.

Daily Routines for the coffee maker

Whichever machine you do buy, you will also need to prepare your coffee making supplies as well: such as fresh milk or cream, creamer, sugar, and cleaning equipment for cups and pots, too.

Arranging a rota for preparing and cleaning the office coffee machine will help to avoid dirty cups and plates, a mouldy coffee machine, and flaring tempers over who is responsible!

If you have any other tips for choosing a good office coffee machine, do let me know!

And finally...

Wherever you are, remember enjoy that cup of coffee!

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