Best Coffee Machine for Small Offices: Offices under 15 people

In the old days, only “big” companies could afford coffee machines. Today, we supply even one man solopreneurs with coffee machines as the costs have dropped dramatically. In this post I’ll go through all the options available to small offices today and I’ll try to highlight the pros and cons of each machine so you can choose the best coffee machine for your small office.

What are the options:

There are three options of machines worth looking at for low consumption environments. Each of these options have their pros and cons (unfortunately there is no perfect machine) which I will detail below.

Capsule Machines:

Capsule coffee machines or pod coffee machines are one of the most popular coffee machine solutions for homes. But what about for offices?

Capsule Machine Pros:

Coffee Quality – Capsule coffee whether it be Nespresso, Lavazza or Caffitaly all produce an excellent quality espresso. If a quality product is what you are after then a capsule machine could be a great option for you.
Low price of machines – Capsule coffee machines have seen an explosion worldwide, largely due their low cost. Capsule coffee machines range anywhere from R1000 – R8500 and can be bought at most homeware stores or supermarkets in South Africa.

Variety – Although you are locked into the specific system which you choose, each system has a large variety of coffee flavours to choose from. The nice thing about capsules is that you can cycle between different capsules between cups so that if you like something strong and the next person likes something weak, you simply need to pop in a different capsule.

Capsule Machine Cons:

High Price of Coffee – Capsules are expensive. Typical capsule prices range from R6-R8 per cup of coffee making it a VERY expensive solution for offices consuming any more than 10 cups of coffee per day. An office of 15 people using 2 cups of coffee per person per month would consume 600 cups of coffee per month which would land up costing R3600 per month (at R6 per capsule). This is not cheap!
Cappuccinos – Most capsule machines can only make espressos or come with a separate milk frother which is not suited to more than 2 cappuccinos at a time

Bean-to-Cup Machines:

Bean machines are the most expensive machine option of the three but through rentals you can often get a cheap rental package for your office.

Bean Machine Pros:

Coffee Quality – Capsule coffee quality might be high but beans are surely the top of the pops. There is not much that can compete with freshly ground coffee beans.
Low price of coffee – Bean coffee is significantly cheaper than capsule coffee coming in at anywhere between R1,00 and R3,50 per cup of coffee. Bean coffee also works out to about R1 more expensive than most instant coffees.
Ease of Use – Bean machines are made for larger usage compared to capsule machines. They operate by a “click and drink” system where you simply need to press a button and everything else is done for you.

Bean Machine Cons:

High Price of Machines – Bean Machines are considerably more expensive to acquire compared to capsule machines. Bean machine prices range from R6,000 – R18,000 for small offices.
Noise– Bean machines are noisier than capsule machines as they need to grind the beans each time whereas in capsule machines and filter machines, the coffee is already pre-ground.

Filter Coffee Machines:

Filter Coffee Machine Pros:

Low price of machines – Filter coffee machines are one of the cheapest options you can go for in a small office environment. Cheap domestic filter machines sell for around R399 whereas industrial machines sell for around the R4,000 mark

Low price of coffee – Not only is the machine relatively cheap, but filter coffee is also very well priced. Filter coffee cup prices are determined by the size of the cup used (if your mug is as big as a filter pot then one jug will only make one cup). This being said you should be able to get 12 cups out of a filter pot using standard cup sizes. A cup of filter coffee will work out to around R1.00 per cup making it a great low cost option for offices.
Aroma – If coffee aroma is what you are after, then you can’t do much better than a filter machine. Filter coffee machines produce the most pungent aroma of all coffee machines.
Filter Coffee Machine Cons:

Variety – Filter coffee machines are for lack of a better word, boring. Bean and capsule coffee machines can product espressos, Americanos, cappuccinos, lattes whereas filter coffee machines can produce, well, just filter coffee.
Stale coffee and waste – Filter coffee machines produce a whole pot of coffee at a time. The longer a pot of coffee sits on a hot plate, the bitter the coffee turns. The other negative of filter coffee is that because you produce a pot of coffee at a time, one inevitably has waste at the end of each day unless you are lucky enough to brew exactly enough coffee as needed.

Conclusion:

In conclusion this would be my advice:
If you are looking for the cheapest possible option and aren’t fussed about espressos and cappuccinos then filter coffee will probably be your best bet.
If you are looking for cappuccinos and espresso as well as black coffee then your options are beans or capsule machines. From a cost perspective, if you are over 6 people in an office then a bean machine will work out cheaper whereas if you are under 6 people then your best bet is probably the capsule route,

To try any machine out, please complete your details below and we’ll send one through to your home or office.