Coffee in the Workplace - What You Need to Consider
Whether coffee breaks are necessary or productive has long been debated, with employees and employers, who often have very different perspectives. In fact, this idea has been studied and the results (albeit counterintuitive) overwhelmingly show that coffee in the workplace does in fact positively contributes to productivity as well as workplace satisfaction. In addition, there is much scientific evidence that coffee has health benefits, adding support to the notion that having coffee in the workplace is a good idea.
Given all of this evidence, it is no wonder that today you will find a coffee program in the workplace just as often as you would find a water cooler. Like all other aspects of running an efficient office, having a successful coffee program requires securing a budget to support the program and assigning an employee to maintain the program.
If you are committed to having a coffee program in the workplace, you will need to have equipment that can produce a good coffee and doesn't limit coffee exclusively to drip, which satisfies only some. Availability of specialty coffees like americano, caffe crème, cappuccino, and espresso will make your coffee program exclusive and desired. If you are not committed to providing good coffee, don’t provide any at all. It really can be counterproductive to provide bad coffee. In order to satisfy all coffee tastes, investing in an espresso machine is a good choice.
Advantages of an espresso machine as your workplace coffee program
- Provides long coffee (like drip) as well as other coffee choices (americano, caffe crème, etc.).
- Produces milk-based drinks like cappuccino or lattes.
- No throwing out coffee (each cup is made on demand).
- No waste (no capsules or cartridges to add to the landfill).
- Cost effective. By using coffee beans, an espresso will cost 12 cents.
What to consider when purchasing an espresso machine for your workplace
The single most important consideration when determining which espresso machine to provide in your workplace is how many people will be using the machine, or more importantly, how many drinks will be made each day.
Espresso machine recommendations based on drinks per day
Up to 10-12 coffees per day
In this case, you don’t need a big professional machine. Instead, consider a home model. Some recommendations would be the Saeco Incanto or the Saeco PicoBaristo because they are economical, yet they are easy to use and maintain. In fact, consider purchasing a refurbished machine, which will save you even more money.
From to 12-24 coffees per day
For this quantity of coffees, you need to consider machines with a larger water tank and a larger dreg drawer to avoid constant refiling or emptying of grounds.
In this case, we recommend the Saeco Royal Professional OTC (One Touch Cappuccino)
With a 74-ounce water tank and 12.3-ounce coffee bean reservoir, you can make up to 25 espressos before you need more water or beans. In addition, this machine can make 20 drinks before the dreg drawer needs to be emptied. An added convenience with this model is that it comes with a manual steamer as well as an auto foamer that draws milk directly from a milk carton. This feature will reduce wasted milk as well as having to dirty a container when making cappuccinos.
Finally, this machine lets you know when it needs to be decalcified making maintenance easy as well.
From 25-50 coffees per day
With this number of coffees per day, you need to consider professional models. The size of the water tank and coffee bean reservoir are the key features for our recommendations.
The water tank on this model holds 135 ounces while the bean hopper holds 2.2 lbs of coffee beans. If you really don’t want to be bothered filling the water tank consistently, you may want to consider plumbing in the machine directly to your water supply. The Aulika has a built in direct water inlet attachment. It can produce 40 cups before the dreg drawer or drip tray need to be emptied.
A milk fridge is a handy accessory which can be coupled to this model which allows you to have milk right beside the machine. In this case, all it takes is one touch for a cappuccino or latte as this model will draw the milk directly from the fridge, froth the milk, and dispense the espresso all with one press of a button.
For 50+ coffees per day
For this volume of coffees, we recommend the Jura brand - specifically the Giga W3 and the Giga X7.
Made in Switzerland, these high functioning sophisticated machines are designed to offer a multitude of specialty coffee drinks. These are high performance models which can also be plumbed in with the addition of a kit that can be purchased as a separate attachment. The Giga X7 is built for high volume and comes with two bean hoppers. In this case, you may choose to use regular coffee one hopper and decaf in the other, or use two various blends of coffees.
The Jura professional brand is exceptionally easy to maintain. Using water filters and cleaning tablets makes machine maintenance a breeze.
As always, we are here to answer any questions you may have. We are happy to help you get everything you need to get your workplace coffee program started. Contact us anytime.
