What You Need To Check Before Buying A Coffee Machine
When buying a coffee machine you need to consider a few factors to ensure the machine caters to your needs. Depending on what you will use the machine for, whether it’s for the home, an office, or for your restaurant or cafe, you will need to ensure that the machine can meet your demands. Go through this checklist before making your purchase:
1. Type of machine
There are five main kinds to choose from, with varying functionality:
Bean to cup: brew a fresh cup every time. This machine grinds the beans as you use it, so you don’t lose any of the flavorsome oils in the beans.
Manual espresso: make a professional tasting cup of coffee every time, tailored specifically to your preferences. While they can range from simple to very complex, they can be a bit tricky to get the hang of with all the levers.
Capsules: an easy-to-use solution where you simply place a pod in the machine and wait a few seconds for a nicely brewed coffee.
Filter coffee: a fail-proof, affordable type of machine where you can brew a big pot of coffee at once. All you need is cold water and any kind of ground coffee.
Coffee vending machines: Coffee vending machines are available in all kinds of sizes, and are probably the easiest to use, because all it requires is a few button presses.
2. Capacity
How many people does the machine need to cater to? If you are buying a coffee machine for the office, then you likely need a machine with a high capacity, whereas if you are buying it for your home, you will have different expectations of your machine. How many cups the coffee machine needs to brew is a key factor, and is therefore a crucial consideration on your checklist.
3. User friendliness
Different machines have different functionalities, and generally speaking, the simpler the machine is, the more user friendly it is. If you need a very easy-to-use machine, then a vending machine might be best for an office coffee machine, or a capsule machine for the home. If user friendliness is no issue and an experienced barista will operate the machine, then you may opt for a professional manual espresso machine.
4. Speed
How quick does your coffee machine need to dispense a cup of coffee? This is an important consideration, and different types of coffee machines will brew at different speeds. A capsule machine or vending machine may be the fastest solutions, while a bean-to-cup or filter coffee machine will take a bit longer.
5. Accessories
Many coffee machines can come with accessories to complement your machine for you to get the most out of it. Do you want to make a cappuccino? Then you should consider a milk frother accessory for your machine. Do you want a grinder to have freshly ground beans with each brew? Make a list of the options you would like to have and consider if your machine can support this.
6. Maintenance
Buying a coffee machine is a great investment, and the better you take care of it, the longer it will last. Maintenance is therefore an important factor when deciding what machine to buy. You want to ensure you have time for the daily cleaning, and the bigger, more comprehensive cleaning every few months. Different machines will have different cleaning demands, so think about how much time you can invest in this before you make your decision to buy a type of machine.
I’m a marketing professional working in Copenhagen. I write for a B2B digital marketplace in Europe specialised in the coffee machine market.
