Almost every business has a vending machine of one type or another. Whether it is made available to the general public, or for employee use only, coffee, soft drink, and various snack foods are offered for mere cents.
Coffee machines are among the most common type made available in many facilities, offering coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate and other hot beverages just as if it was made the conventional way. There are two general types of these vending machines: those that offer freeze dried coffee, and those offering hot drinks. Drinks of different sizes can be dispensed into cups, each offered at a slightly different price.
A variety of coffee drinks can also be made available from latte to cappuccino, espresso to regular coffee. Many machines offer up to 72 different possibilities, and it is up to the owner to decide which ones are made available for purchase.
Such coffee machines are often larger with a sizable capacity for water, thus making it possible for many cups to be sold before it becomes necessary to refill the machine. Here, customers can choose between freeze dried or fresh brew, and can pick the type of hot beverage they want.
Often times the coffee selections are made available either with or without cream and sugar, and the customer can choose. The drink is dispensed into the cup.
These machines have become a popular alternative to other types that offer drinks, and are found often in hospitals and hotels. They can also be used in the work place in the place of a conventional coffee machine. In the long run, this will save considerable time and money.
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.
Both Jamie Smith & Fenton Wayne are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Fenton Wayne has sinced written about articles on various topics from Coffee Advantages, Food And Drink and Coffee Advantages. For more information about office coffee and drinks solutions visit . Fenton Wayne's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.