In cup drinks machines are different from all other types of drinks machine in as much as the ingredients are already prefilled in the plastic cup prior to loading into the machine. The ingredients are purchased from the supplier in this format, so that all that is required is for the stack of prefilled plastic cups to be loaded into the machine.

Therein lies one of the major benefits of this type of system - it is very easy to load and maintain the machine. More traditional types of machine use hoppers or canisters to hold the loose ingredients which can cause some cross contamination of products when the canisters are topped up and are more prone to spillage and general untidiness. This problem is totally alleviated with in-cup ingredients and all the operator needs to do is put the appropriate stack of in-cup drinks in the right section of the machine.

For a small office or workshop the typical machine may offer 5 or 6 drink selections. The drink choices may typically be set up as white coffee, black coffee, white tea, chocolate and a soup. However changing drink choice in an in cup machine is incredibly easy and all that is required is to change the stack of prefilled cups in the machine and amend the selection label on the front of the machine.

Staff or visitors simply make a drink selection, add sugar if required and then add hot water by pushing a button.

Although primarily considered an instant drinks machine many companies choose the fresh leaf tea option. In this case the plastic cups are pre-filled with tea bag and whitener enabling fresh tea to be served from the machine. Some companies may even be able to offer a fresh coffee option too.

It should be noted that since the ingredients are prefilled at the factory it is required to purchase both black coffee and white coffee as separate products as the only thing that can be added by the machine is sugar and water.

In-cup machines are generally extremely reliable as they have very few moving parts and can usually be set up as coin controlled or free vend. This allows the company to cover the cost of the drinks and the machine rental should they wish and even make a profit in some circumstances.

Generally speaking in-cup machines are an excellent choice for the smaller office, work shop or trade counter. They offer excellent value for money, are extremely flexible and are easy to run and maintain.