With the choice and variety of office drinks machine
available today, choosing the most suitable one for your
office can be difficult. I have already posted several
articles discussing the pros and cons of different types of
machines and in this article we discuss another ' the
traditional office vending machine.
Many years ago the basic office vending machine consisted
of a table top unit containing several canisters of loose
dried drinks ingredients, push buttons to select the drink
and a simple coin mechanism to enable money to be collected.
A typical arrangement for the machine of ingredient
canisters or hoppers would comprise of freeze dried coffee,
powdered milk, drinking chocolate, sugar and one other
ingredient usually soup. Tea was not really an option as
the taste of instant tea was not of sufficient quality and
despite improvement this still remains the case today.
A plastic cup was taken from a column, money inserted in
the mechanism and the cup put underneath the various
selections and a button pressed to select the ingredient
required. A white coffee for example would require a 6
stage process to produce a drink that still had to be
stirred. Coin inserted, cup taken, coffee pressed, milk
pressed, sugar pressed and lastly hot water added by
pressing the final button.
This format still forms the basis of many smaller budget
office drinks machines today. The technology has improved,
the taste and choice of the drinks is vastly superior but
the concept remains the same.
Larger automatic machines still use different ingredient
hoppers, but have incorporated the whole process into a
single one button operation that dispenses the chosen
beverage into the cup at a fixed position so there is no
need for manual operation.
Generally these types of machines offer instant drinks
only, so that tea drinkers are often forced to choice an
alternative. This sort of machine is easy to restock as it
is a simple matter of refilling the various canisters
inside the machine with the appropriate product. However
spillages do occur and it is important that a daily
cleaning and hygiene process is undertaken.
Modern and more expensive office vending machines can offer
fresh brew coffee and leaf tea options and serve fabulous
tasting drinks. However the complicated brew process means
that cleaning and maintenance is more involved and your
service engineer will need to call more often. Machine,
drink and service costs are all higher for fresh brew
machines, so this needs to be taken into account.
It is always best to discuss your requirements with a
reputable supplier who will advise the best solution to
your office drinks needs and suggest the most appropriate
style of machine to suit your particular office layout,
taste and budget.
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For more information about office coffee and drinks
solutions visit http://www.cafebar.co.uk
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