SteveG
pfm Member
I've never had one so wouldn't know!
Coffee machines
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I've never had one so wouldn't know!
Pour a freshly-made espresso into a used ashtray, swirl it around, tip the resulting ash-infused liquid back into a half pint of warmed milk, add five spoons of sugar, stir, and you’re there (all you need is some self-centred gimp taking up your whole table with their brand-new Apple MacBook to complete the picture)
I’m well aware that it’s a bit of a cliché to diss Starbuck’s coffee, but there’s a reason for that: it really is awful. If you have to get fast-food coffee, go to McDonalds and get one that tastes good for less money. The thing is, I’ve been able to make drinkable coffee from a bag of Starbucks beans I was given, so I can only conclude that the company just doesn’t invest in training its staff, or the staff aren’t paid enough to care.
It’s no wonder they make such tiny profits in the UK...
I’m well aware that it’s a bit of a cliché to diss Starbuck’s coffee, but there’s a reason for that: it really is awful. If you have to get fast-food coffee, go to McDonalds and get one that tastes good for less money. The thing is, I’ve been able to make drinkable coffee from a bag of Starbucks beans I was given, so I can only conclude that the company just doesn’t invest in training its staff, or the staff aren’t paid enough to care.
It’s no wonder they make such tiny profits in the UK...
SteveG
pfm Member
I've had coffee out of Starbucks many a time (but never a cappuccino) and it does vary a lot between shops. Some seem to burn the coffee and it's not good, and others it's been fine. That's true with coffee shops generally though - I've been to plenty of smaller coffee shops where their coffee is also bad. It is very rare that the coffee I get from coffee shops is better than I get from my bean-to-cup machine at home.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
I’m just nipping out for another few catering sized bags of popcorn.
Amber Audio
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Andrew C!
Been around a while....
I also like McDonalds coffee. Leicestershire Police have the same machine Macs use in their staff cafe - I do like teaching at Enderby
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
Whilst on the subject of bean-2-cup machines there is one that produces a superb cup much to my amazement. A couple of years ago my wife and I went on a superb Bordeaux river cruise and they had a 'help yourself' coffee/beverage machine. This one https://www.wmf-coffeemachines.com/en_com/products/fully-automatic-coffee-machines/wmf-9000-s.html. The espresso and other drinks were superb. Apparently it cost them £10,000 but it was money well spent. One machine to serve over 200 of us.
They also make a much smaller machine and if my LaSpaziale ever dies I'll get one of these smaller WMF machines. Its pricey but compares well against a new Mazzer and associated pro espresso machine.
Cheers,
DV
They also make a much smaller machine and if my LaSpaziale ever dies I'll get one of these smaller WMF machines. Its pricey but compares well against a new Mazzer and associated pro espresso machine.
Cheers,
DV
SteveG
pfm Member
My impression with bean-to-cup machines is that they all seem to be basically competent but the quality of the beans is a big factor. The office type machines are often used with huge bags of what appear to be stale beans, so the output isn't great - although if you feed them with decent beans the results are fine.
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
yes we had one of those £10k, multi drink wmf machines. For a time I signed off the purchase orders, we bought the cheapest beans possible. Horrid robusta arabica blend, about £1.99 per kg.
After about 3 years I noticed a huge increase in repair bills for our expensive WMF machine. I occasionally watched the engineer repair it, and it was terribly put together inside, the grinder was made of the flimsiest cheapest plastic, designed to continuously fail after your nice 3 year extended warranty expired. In the end I ditched it.
A friend works at a company that has several Scanomat Topbrewer multi-drink dispensers. https://pro.topbrewer.com/uk/
They look amazing, but it's just as well there's more than one because one of them is usually broken. (Oh, they also occupy the space of a small dishwasher underneath that minimalist tap)
They look amazing, but it's just as well there's more than one because one of them is usually broken. (Oh, they also occupy the space of a small dishwasher underneath that minimalist tap)
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
We also have one of those WMF machines in our office and my experience is like Gin's -- the coffee is correctly made but the beans are awful and if we are talking carbon footprint then I suspect having an engineer come to service it on a regular basis is the biggest issue. Our firm bought it back in the day when we were printing obscene amounts of cash from our then Algo (130% return on capital!) and we were moving into new bespoke offices. The bloke who bought it knew nothing about coffee and, I suspect, just googled "What's the most awesome coffee machine money no object". My impression of them is that these machines are mostly about making coffee in bulk for firms with lots of people.
It lies unused now and our firm is split into two groups -- the ones who use the Nespresso machine for convenience and about 5 or 6 of us who buy their own coffee and use a V60 (the patrician's choice for brewed coffee).
It lies unused now and our firm is split into two groups -- the ones who use the Nespresso machine for convenience and about 5 or 6 of us who buy their own coffee and use a V60 (the patrician's choice for brewed coffee).
SteveG
pfm Member
It could be worse - our office only has instant. It used to be just basic Nescafe but they have at least moved to one of the full-bean instants which is a good bit better.
I get some odd looks when I use my Aeropress, although there are a few of us that have our own solutions including at least one other Aeropress user.
Working from home has been a huge improvement on the coffee front as I get to use my bean-to-cup machine and with beans I've selected!
I get some odd looks when I use my Aeropress, although there are a few of us that have our own solutions including at least one other Aeropress user.
Working from home has been a huge improvement on the coffee front as I get to use my bean-to-cup machine and with beans I've selected!
SteveG
pfm Member
I've got one of the metal filters (I think it's a 3rd party one) but can't say I've used it much as I bought a big pack of the paper filters and am still using those.
cubastreet
Espresso Fiend
I've serviced all manner of espresso machines and never seen a superauto that was built to last or built to be serviced.
Same goes for all those third wave machines such as the slayer. Loads of boilers, loads of expensive proprietary electronics, and loads of little pipes and plastic clips that disable the machine when they break or block.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of la marzocco lineas are making beautiful espresso decade after decade.
Yeahbut the 'Mini' is £3,700. Do you have a view on Rocket machines ?
With a domestic version costing £3500, so you would hope. In addition, the cleaning and maintenance required makes it unsuitable for use by all and sundry in an office. Most that I work with struggle with the complexity of a cone and filter.