Advise Please: Coffee machine upgrade - bean to cup - Commercial office ( 50+daily)

[BeyondxB]

Hello all! I'm a coffee noob but everyone else in the office is a regular, and they have assigned me to find an upgrade machine to be more environmental friendly... can you help me out?

Here's what we have / do right now :

IT Office of 50+ people = 50-100 cups a day

Looking to replace the current Keurig B3000SE (K-cup) , benefits :

Brews in 1 minute / cup
Has water line, no need to refill water every time
Different cup sizes
1 button operation

(We also use another machine to make drip coffee)

The boss want to look into a bean to cup coffee grinder+maker . What do you guys recommend?

Priorities :

SPEED
Simple operation
Not too loud
Durability
Ease of cleaning (for me)


We don't need any froth or steam whatever else function, if that will affect the price greatly.

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance! :decaf:

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Welcome to CF.
Here is my take on this subject.

First, there isn't any machine out there will out perform pod using coffee machine for the speed and conveniences.
If you are after the speed, simplicity and easy cleaning. There aren't any machines that are like Keurig or nesspresso.
Two, whole bean to cup sound amazing but there are many down side to this.
1. Price (very expensive)
2. if it is reasonably priced, they do not perform well or break down easily (oil from the beans will clog up your grinder in few months)
3. Cleaning is bi*ch.
I guess it really depends on how much you would like to spend on the machine.

 

[BeyondxB]

Thanks for your reply CoffeeJunky,

Would a $1,000-$1,500 machine be durable enough for our office you think? (our current machine is $700 and only takes a minute to rinse / dump out the cups)
How long does it take to brew a single cup of bean-to-cup? I don't want to go over 90 seconds.
How long/ hard does it take to clean ? I don't want to spend over 15minutes / week to clean... don't want to use special tools neither.

Feel free to let me know if I should just stick to a separate grinder + a second drip coffee machine.

Cheers!

 

[Musicphan]

I just had this question posed by a client and I have struggled a bit to find a great, easy solution. Most of the 'bean-to-cup' commercial machines that produce brewed coffee are VERY expensive ($5-$10K). I also looked at super automatic espresso machines but they can reach similar price points. So - for my client we suggested simply buying a brewer and separate grinder. The three major brands of brewers are Bunn, Fetco and Curtis - all great products.

Grinders:
I suggested to my client a Bunn G1 ($800ish) for the grinder - with this grinder you will have to weight your beans then grind (pretty easy). If you want to stick to one or two coffees and don't want people to have to weigh beans then look at a portion controlled grinder. These are grinders that dispense right into your brew basket... they are more expensive but offer convenience. However, they typically are limited to dispensing 1 or 2 batch sizes and typically have 1 or 2 hoppers which limits what coffees you have available at one time (usually not a issue). If your looking at portion controlled take a look at the Bunn BrewWISE G9-2T ($1300ish). Most of the big 3 manf have good portion controlled grinders. If you don't go portion controlled stick with the G1.

Brewers:
Brewers are all pretty similar, you get better more advanced brewing functions in the higher end brewers. These are typically targeted to coffee shops to really produce a awesome cup of batch brewed coffee. Usually they offer more function/flexibility to adjust water volume, speed, etc. which is honestly probably overkill for an office. The most important decision for you is how much coffee do you want to brew at one time? Avoid anything with a warming burner - that's old skool! LOL... Stick with insulated dispensers - they make insulated dispensers as small as traditional coffee pot size, you then move up to Airpot, then thermal dispensers (usually at least a gallon). Most of my office clients use Airpots - it seems to be a good balance of handling the morning rush at the office kitchen and not too big that you waste coffee. Buy a couple of extra airpots to have on hand (usually around $50 each). If you have a huge rush in the morning for coffee - brew one airpot of coffee, pull and start serving while you are making a second airpot. Brewers also come as pour over style or plumbed in... pour overs you will have to add water to the machine each batch. Your options will be limited in pour over style - most are designed to be plumbed into a permanent water line. For a solid brewer take a look at the Bunn Axiom DV-APS ... its around $700. As I said - all three of the big manf have similar offerings, I'm just more familiar with Bunn.

All in your going to be close to $2-$2.5 installed and ready to go... that may seem like a lot but it will quickly pay for itself over k-cups. If you take an average of 75 cups a day that's roughly $168 a week based on k-cups at .45 each. For quality specialty coffee you will be about .15 a cup ~ $56 a week. That's a $110 a week delta in price... in 6 months or so it will pay for itself and you will have MUCH better coffee.

 

[BeyondxB]

Thanks for your replies! I've sent an inquiry to the office supplier and see what they suggest as well.

Still need to gauge how much the staff will miss the variety of K-Cups if we move away from it. Personal safety is important lol

 

[PinkRose]

Thanks for your replies! I've sent an inquiry to the office supplier and see what they suggest as well.

Still need to gauge how much the staff will miss the variety of K-Cups if we move away from it. Personal safety is important lol

You are likely to have some very upset employees, if you take away the Keurig machine and the variety of K-cups. They "like what they like," and change won't be easy for them. Good luck with that!

Rose

 

[sidg]

Completely agree with Musicphan above. I would suggest you check with some local roasters as many of them will have access to grinders and brewers and will be more than glad to become your coffee supplier. Ask them to provide some samples and costs for what coffee would be if you bought the equipment or if they provided it for you. Then have some of your pickiest employees sample the coffee to give you feedback.
Good luck

 

[BeyondxB]

Hi guys, have a left field question :

Have you seen a product able to dispense coffee grind in K-cup portions? Like those supermarket nuts machines but instead when I press the lever the correct portion of coffee grind will drop into my reuseable K-Cup , then I load it into the Keurig as usual.

It'd be ideal to get something like that, then we can continue using the current machine, and buy bulk coffee bean/grind. And only one extra step for staff to make their coffee.

Thanks!

 

[PinkRose]

Hi guys, have a left field question :

Have you seen a product able to dispense coffee grind in K-cup portions? Like those supermarket nuts machines but instead when I press the lever the correct portion of coffee grind will drop into my reuseable K-Cup , then I load it into the Keurig as usual.

It'd be ideal to get something like that, then we can continue using the current machine, and buy bulk coffee bean/grind. And only one extra step for staff to make their coffee.

Thanks!

Even though it may seem like a good idea to you, I have a feeling that the employees, who like the convenience of using the K-cups in the Keurig machine, wouldn't be too happy with having to grind the coffee, dispense it, and manipulate the reusable K-cup in the machine in order to get a cup of coffee. But, you'll never know until you give it a try.

Take a look at this:
https://www.amazon.com/Solofill-SOLOGRIND-Automatic-Single-Grinder/dp/B00CL1TAHU

~ Rose

 

[fmustang1981]

Hmm, we had a big office and we have about 60 people. We also work in the IT field and almost everyone drinks a cup or two of coffee a day. Our office was divided into 2 parts, but all the time the coffee machine was only in one. Usually you don't think about it, but we really improved the situation by buying another coffee machine. We distributed them evenly throughout the office, as often employees stood in line for 10 minutes during their break. Considering this and the fact that we moved to a new office osdoro.com.sg, the situation has improved even more since it is very important to properly arrange the places of work.