Coffee Vending Machine Supplies:Ingredients Cost and Delivery Options
Once you have decided which coffee vending machine to buy or rent the next thing to do is to decide where you are going to get your vending machine supplies from. Below we list all the possible vending machine ingredients which you might need and we detail which vending machine needs which vending ingredients.
Types of Coffee Vending Machines: Instant and Bean Vending
There are three types of coffee vending machines: Instant, Bean and Combo (Combo is a vending machine which can use instant coffee and beans in the same machine)
Instant coffee vending machines can use any of the following off the shelf brands; Frisco, Ricoffy, Nescafe, Jacobs and Douwe Egberts however many vending machines struggle with the chicory based brands (Frisco, Ricoffy, Koffiehuis) as they tend to caramelise and clog easily when they come into contact with steam.
You can also choose to go the “specialist” instant coffee route by using an instant coffee which is made specifically for vending machines. The biggest manufacturer of this specialist vending instant coffees is ICS who make a number of private label blends which are used around the world (ICS Pelican Rouge).
Bean coffee vending machines can use any coffee bean (store bought or coffee company roasted). Despite what some companies would have you believe, any coffee bean will work just fine in any vending machine. One should choose a coffee bean purely on preference of taste not out of fear that a certain blend will break ones machine.
Other Vending Ingredients
The number of ingredients one can use in your vending machine depends on the number of canisters your machine has. The more canisters, the more your options when it comes to what ingredients you can use. The following ingredients are usually used with vending machines with the following number of canisters:
Two Canister Machine: Coffee and Milk Powder
Three Canister Machine: Coffee, Milk Powder and Hot Chocolate
Four Canister Machine: Coffee, Milk Powder, Hot Chocolate and Sugar
Five Canister Machine: Coffee, Milk Powder, Hot Chocolate, Sugar and Tea
Six Canister Machine: Coffee, Milk Powder, Hot Chocolate, Sugar, Tea and Vending Soup
Supplies for Vending Machines: Costs, Brand and Availability
Most vending machine ingredients can be bought from any supermarket in South Africa but there are still some specialist ingredients which still need to be bought direct from a coffee company. There are a number of options for each ingredient type and each differs in quality and price. The choice depends entirely on what your goals are. If you want the most economical solution then you should sacrifice on quality in favour of price conversely if you are buying a vending machine to be able to drink nice coffee then you will probably find it worthwhile to spend 50c more to get a superior quality coffee.
Chicory Base Instant Coffees: Chicory based instant coffees are coffees which usually go by the brand names; Ricoffy, Koffiehuis and Frisco. They are the lowest quality of instant coffees and often contain very little, and sometimes zero, coffee solids. They are however the cheapest coffee option.
Usage Amount: One is required to use about 4g per 250ml of coffee
Availability: Available at any supermarket
Price: Around R75/kg
Spray Dried Instant Coffee: Spray dried instant coffee are coffees which usually go by the brand names; Nescafe Classic, Spar Instant Coffee, Pick n Pay Instant. Spray dried instant coffees often consist of 100% coffee solids and are made from mostly Robusta coffee beans.
Usage Amount: One is required to use about 1.8g-2g per 250ml of coffee
Availability: Available at any supermarket or direct from coffee companies.
Price: Around R350/kg
Freeze Dried Instant Coffee: Freeze Dried instant coffees are coffees which usually go by the brand names; Jacobs, Nescafe Gold and Douwe Egberts. They are the highest quality instant coffee and are usually made from a large percentage of Arabica.
Usage Amount: One is required to use about 1.8g-2g per 250ml of coffee
Availability: Available at any supermarket or through specialist coffee companies.
Price: Around R550/kg
Coffee Beans: There are 1000’s of coffee beans available to choose from. Because coffee beans can be blended, there are an infinite number of combinations possible.
Usage Amount: One is required to use about 7g per 250ml of coffee
Availability: Available at any supermarket or through specialist coffee companies and coffee roastery.
Price: Between R170/kg-R550/kg
Vending Milk: There are three options when it comes to vending milk – creamer, combination and 100% milk powder. For a more detailed look into the milk options read our article (Vending Milk Powder Details)
Usage Amount: One is required to use 4g for 100% milk powder ; 20g for creamer and somewhere in between for combo ( depending on how what percentage of each is mixed)
Availability: Creamers are available at any supermarket whereas milk combinations and 100% milk powders are available almost exclusively from coffee specialist companies.
Creamer Price: Around R30/kg
Milk Powder Price: Between R100-R150/kg
Hot Chocolate: Hot chocolate is a blend between cocoa, sugar and milk powder solids. There a number of hot chocolates available with the three most popular brands being Nestle, Cadburys and Nomu Hot Chocolate.
Usage Amount: One is required to use 20g of hot chocolate per 250ml serving.
Availability: Hot Chocolates are available at any supermarket and from specialist coffee companies.
Hot Chocolate Price: Around R100-200/kg
Vending Tea: Vending Tea either comes in powder or instant tea form or alternatively one can use loose leaf tea for vending machines.
Usage Amount: One is required to use around 10g of vending tea for 1 cup of 250ml
Availability: Vending Teas are not readily available in supermarkets and must be bought direct from specialist coffee or specialist vending companies.
Vending Tea Price: Around R160/kg
Vending Sugar: Vending sugar is sugar with a consistency a little coarser than that of caster sugar. Ordinary sugar can break the gears of a vending machine whilst castor sugar is a little too fine and often leads to clogging.
Usage Amount: One is required to use around 4g of vending sugar for 1 cup of 250ml
Availability: Vending Sugars are not readily available at supermarkets and must be bought direct from specialist vending companies
Vending Sugar Price: Between R40-50/kg
Vending Soup: Vending Soup is any instant soup which can be dispensed by simply adding water.
Usage Amount: Soups vary greatly and the usage amount depends entirely on the soup brand used.
Availability: Vending Soups have fallen out of favour with vending operators and therefore soup can only be found at a select number of vending companies.
Delivery of Vending Machine Ingredients:
Vending Machine ingredients are often delivered for free by a number of vending machine companies. A lot of supermarkets these days are also adding free delivery to their baskets if you can order over a certain amount of products.
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