Office Coffee Machine
An office without a coffee machine is today unthinkable. A proper coffee machine is now the mainstay in any office and is probably the most used as well. It feels nice to grab a cup of coffee the moment you reach the office before you start your work.
We also come across colleagues sipping some nice coffee while still on audio or video conference calls. It’s also a nice place for a quick getaway and a small chit-chat with colleagues about a project you were working on or a new work opportunity. It’s an indispensable part of our work culture, and with the new work from home culture, a lot of employees have also invested in home coffee machines.
Espresso Machines for the Office Expectations
There are different working and operational criteria for home and office-based machines. Most importantly, you can have a noisy machine at home but not at coffee, which will interrupt some phone calls or a meeting in progress. Therefore the office machines have to be relatively quieter.
Also, you can have a home machine with all the bells and whistles that involve various degrees of manual work. You can do all that at home, but you cannot be busy grinding the coffee, filling the portafilter, tamping it down, heating the boiler, making the espresso, frothing, steaming the milk, and finally making the cappuccino.
I can very well assure you that your bosses are not going to be happy seeing employees queue up to do all this on a busy day and be unproductive for a long time.
An ideal office machine will be a fully programmed button press machine that will do everything for you and give you a good coffee in a few seconds to about a minute, nothing more.
It must also be very low on maintenance, be self-cleaning, per coffee cost must be low, and should work for a long time without failure. You need a machine which is the “fill it-shut it-forget it” unit.
Espresso Machines for the Office: Selection Criteria
If you have been tasked with selecting the right machine for your company, you will, of course, want the best and cheapest machine money can buy. But, there are some important decision-making factors on which your selection criteria will be based. So, let’s take a look at the criteria for work coffee machines below.
The Volume of Usage
How many employees do you have in the office, and how much volume do you expect in a typical workday?
Average Consumption
How many drinks will an employee consume on average?
Type of Coffee Consumed
How many beverages and what types do employees consume?
Automation
What is the level of coffee machine automation preferred? Will the employees be ok with a semi-automatic or fully automatic one?
Cleaning and Maintenance of Espresso Machines for the Office
Who will clean and maintain the unit? Is there a housekeeping team that will take care of it, or will it be outsourced to someone?
Work Coffee Machines and User Requirements
Are the users coffee nerds or normal users? Usually, people working in media, technology, and other fields are also connoisseurs of coffee and appreciate a fine taste. So if you install an average machine, chances are they will not use it at all. So it’s important to understand the demographic of employees you are targeting.
Espresso Machines for the Office Expense
Cost per cup of coffee and the monthly operating expenses of a machine.
These selection parameters will give you a good start for evaluating the right machine for your office. Now let’s have a look at some ideal work coffee machines, their features, and why they will work for an office environment.
The Nespresso VertuoLine Evoluo Deluxe Coffee & Espresso Maker with Aeroccino Plus Milk Frother
When it comes to office space, you do not want the employees to fuss and bother with making coffee in a manual machine. You need something simple to operate, automatic and quick in operation, and gives good quality coffee. The Nespresso VertuoLine Evoluo coffee machine is just that. It is neat, tidy, convenient, and straightforward.
It uses the Nespresso capsules to make coffee, so you do not have to bother about the coffee grind or the water, steam, and milk. The capsules are large enough to easily give you 1.3 ounces of espresso or larger mugs of coffee without compromising the quality.
The machine is user-friendly, and you can dispose of the capsules after use. Also, there are a ton of flavors and coffee options readily available with the capsules. This is better than semi-automatic machines where you still have to figure out some stuff to make the coffee.
The Aeroccino Plus milk frother will help heat the milk and create a cream or add froth. Due to the latest Centrifusion technology used in the Vertuo capsules, you get almost double the amount of crema with any coffee and giving a much better taste.
The only negative part of this machine is that it is only compatible with the Nespresso Vertuo capsules. Therefore, you will have to keep buying their capsules (which can be expensive), and unlike other machines, third-party manufacturers have not yet been able to manufacture identical capsules.
Overall, the machine is automatic, easy to use, and gives out excellent coffee day in and day out.
Pros
- One-Touch operation.
- Excellent brew and crema with the Centrifusion technology used.
- Easy insertion and removal of capsules.
- One-touch operation for making hot or cold froth milk.
- Quick operation.
- Easy to clean and maintain.
- Power-efficient as it switches off after 9 minutes of inactivity.
- Several coffee options are enough for an office environment.
Cons
- Limited coffee options compared to Nespresso machines.
- Limited to using only Vertuo capsules.
- The cost per coffee may be high.
- Limited features and functionality.
Nespresso Inissia Espresso Maker
If you’re short on space or budget and want to have a machine that can deliver the only espresso at a low cost per coffee, the Nespresso Inissia Espresso Maker is the right choice for you.
Costing less than a hundred dollars, it’s so compact you can carry it between meeting rooms too. It produces the best coffee with excellent crema as it uses the same Centrifusion technology to make you the perfect blend.
The only drawback being, you will have to stick to its special capsule, available only through Nespresso. However, it comes in several different colors, black looks exceedingly nice. Since the unit is small, its water reservoir fills only 24 ounces and needs a refill every 9 cycles, which is still ok considering its functionality.
It will save you valuable time and run to the coffee machine as it starts up in just 25 seconds and delivers the espresso quickly. While the capsules have to be purchased separately, they can be expensive if purchased in retail. We suggest you purchase them in bulk, like at least a month’s supply, so that you can save up quite a bit. You can add an Aeroccino milk frother with this unit, which is sold and shipped separately if you want to have milk-based coffees.
Pros
- Extremely cheap.
- Quick start machine and fast operation.
- Easy to use due to capsules.
- Good coffee with excellent crema.
- Easily portable anywhere in the office as well as outside.
- Easy to clean and maintain.
- Power-efficient as it switches off after 9 minutes of inactivity.
Cons
- Limited to their specialized capsules.
- Capsules are expensive.
- Limited features and functionality.
Gaggia Accademia Espresso Machine
We have seen a few capsule machines that are fully automatic in every sense, apart from the fact that manual activity is limited to inserting and removing the capsules. But they were capsule-based machines.
Here we introduce the super-automatic fresh grind coffee machine that is distinctly expensive than the ones we reviewed till now and comes loaded with a lot of features and functionality.
These machines are typically for the larger offices where the huge investment is justified. The layout of buttons and the screen menu is easy to use. It offers a one-touch operation to prepare a wide range of beverages. You can choose between 8 different levels of 100% ceramic grinds and then also choose the intensity and flavor by choosing ground coffee quantity between any 3 levels.
A dial mechanism offers a coffee personalization option that will enable you to adjust the body and crema of espresso. It consists of a milk frother unit which takes mere seconds to prepare and dispense the frothed milk directly into your cup or container. There are also 4 different frothing levels for milk-based beverages.
It is also a fully programmable device where you can enter and save settings for your favorite drink. It can brew 7 pre-set beverages. You can use coffee beans in this machine or use any other ground coffee as well. The double boiler setup will save you time by using different boilers for the espresso and the milk unit.
The levels of customization available with this machine are enormous. You can customize 8 beverages for temperature, aroma, body, quantity, pre-brewing level, milk froth, in addition to using ground coffee.
Pros
- Highly customizable.
- Fully-automated machine.
- Highly programmable machine.
- Excellent quality of beverages.
- Easy to operate.
- Quick to deliver coffee.
- Extremely impressive-looking machine.
- Easy to clean and maintain. Most regular cleaning cycles are machine run and automatic.
Cons
- Very expensive.
- Needs a specific cleaning schedule.
- Complex and expensive to repair if there are any faults.
Krups EA89 Quattro Force Digital Full Auto Espresso Machine
We have seen the full automatic Gaggia machine above, and by now, you would have assumed that such automation comes at a very high cost. Well, we are here to break that myth.
This Krups machine will give you a range of coffee options like Latte, Ristrettos, Americanos, Cappuccino, and Espresso to frothy steamed milk or tea at the touch of a button.
You get an overall 15 hot drinks settings which can be made at the mere touch of a button. Also, you can multi-task and make two cups of coffee at the same time. Easy customization allows for customizing the temperature, strength, and amount of each drink.
Unlike other automated machines, this one does not have any option to use ground coffee, so you will have to stick to using just coffee beans.
Quite easy to use and intuitive, the onscreen prompts help and guide users to make their drinks effortlessly. A true beans to cup machine, it does all the prep for you. So just sit back and enjoy as the machine does all the work for you. The milk froth has a great velvety texture that the milk-based coffee fans will love.
Overall it’s a great investment at this price point and serves the need. I think the investment is justified for a medium office of 20-50 employees.
Pros
- Inexpensive purchase for the office.
- Wide variety of programmable drinks.
- Several customization options.
- Balanced and full-flavored beverages.
- Large 60-ounce water tank.
- Easy to clean and maintain.
- Has a tiny footprint.
Cons
- Thin cream with a watery taste to the beverages.
- It cannot take ground coffee, so no decaf option. So you are limited to coffee beans.
Read more: Best Automatic Espresso Machines
Your Choice
We have seen quite a few work coffee machines today which come with their features and functionality and prices. There are pod and capsule, powder and soluble, and bean-to-cup machines to choose from.
The machines themselves can be semi-automatic, fully automatic, and also user-programmable ones which differ in form and functionality. Last and least, you must not forget that a lot of the coffee machines look like a work of art, so you must not compromise on the look factor.
So if you are looking for espresso machines for the office, there is a wide variety available out there, and you do not have to worry that it will cost a bomb for all the bells and whistles.
Just make sure you note the selection criteria and understand the specific requirements of your office. I hope the information has been useful and you will be able to make a great choice of an espresso machine for the office.
