How To Up Your Office Coffee Game
Is your office coffee pretty bad?
I know the feeling of wincing over bitter coffee first thing in the morning when you need that caffeine hit.
Office coffee doesn’t have to taste bad though.
With the incredible evolution of domestic and commercial office coffee machines over the last couple of years you don’t have to rely on your heavily tattooed local barista to brew a delicious coffee anymore.
Push of a button office coffee machines are now able to produce top draw coffee as opposed to the splutter of powdered instant that was customary in coffee vending machines not that long ago.
The only thing left for office managers to do is load these majestic machines with quality office coffee beans…
| Catagory | Manual Grinder |
|---|---|
| Best Office Coffee Beans | Batch Coffee |
| Best Office Espresso Machines | Sage Oracle |
| Best Office Bean to Cup Coffee Machines | Coffetek Vitro |
| Best Office Filter Coffee Machines | Moccamaster |
| Best Office Coffee Grinders | Sage Smart Grinder |
| Best Office Coffee Cups and Equipment | Coffee Hit |
| Best Office Coffee Courses | Volcano Coffee Works |
Batch Coffee Espresso Blend
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Why Trust Me?
I’m Tom and I have been working in the coffee industry for over 10 years, starting my journey as a barista in Australia, working on coffee farms in South America and roasting coffee in The UK. Today I review and write about speciality coffee. I am the founder of Batch Coffee Club, which showcases the very best coffee from around the world.
Checkout our award-winning coffee subscription.
Find some of our favourite office coffee brands below.
7 Best Office Coffee Companies UK
Checkout how we would kit out our office coffee station below. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment below.
Batch Business Club is a unique way of enjoying coffee at work.
Batch is a team of coffee industry professionals.
After speaking to many of their customers they found that the coffee available where they worked was cheap, commodity grade and almost undrinkable.
Life is too short to drink bad coffee so Batch Business Club was created to bring better office coffee to the people of the UK in their work environment.
What’s On Offer?
Depending on the size of your office, the type of coffee machine and your taste in coffee here are the options we can send you:
Batch Coffee Club Single Origin
Perfect for Black Coffee drinkers and coffee connoisseurs. This is an ever changing speciality coffee produced by some of the best roasters in the UK. Every delivery try a 2 new coffees.
Batch Coffee Seasonal Espresso
Perfect for Bean to Cup coffee machines or espresso machines. It’s our signature blend that performs great in any brew method.
Batch Coffee Decaf
Perfect for those that want to enjoy decaf coffee. Like our coffee club our decaf changes every two weeks so you get to try the best decaf we have in the UK.
Learn more about Batch Coffee for Business.
Sage, otherwise known as Breville in other countries are one of the market leaders in office espresso machines.
Although typically a Sage espresso machine would be adorning a kitchen work surface they make perfect espresso machines for an office.
To operate a commercial espresso machine not only takes skill but also time and can be incredibly inefficient if not used properly. They are designed for high volume and one or two people to use them at once. Take a look at our article on Commercial Coffee Machines.
A Sage espresso machine not only is straight forward to use (even more so the Sage Oracle pictured) but also takes a lot less time to produce a great shot of espresso and uses much less energy in doing so.
The Sage Oracle is their top of the range machine and has all of the flashing lights and twisty knobs as you would expect.
It is the perfect balance for those that want to practice their office barista skills and those that want an ‘almost-barista-standard’ coffee with the push of a couple of buttons.
Read our full write up of Sage Coffee Machines.
The coffee industry has dramatically evolved over the last few years in the UK.
A bean to cup coffee machine would have only a few years ago spluttered out a shot of bitter tasting black espresso topped with a poorly textured serving of milk.
Today, bean to cup machines have evolved into something far more quality focused.
The Coffeetek Vitro is a great example of a modern bean to cup coffee machine that is serves up a great cup of coffee despite jut one button being pressed.
The large touch screen coffee menu is super easy to operate and all you need to do is top up the beans and milk and occasionally give it a clean.
Check out our Guide on Bean to Cup Coffee Machines.
Or Check The Price of The Coffeetek Vitro at ShopCoffee.com.
If you are a team of black coffee drinkers then a Moccamaster may be your ticket.
Not only is up to 4 cups of black coffee supposedly healthy (Benefits of Black Coffee) it is also the purists choice of brew, with the subtle flavours of specialty coffee best highlighted in filter coffee.
A Moccamaster is an automatic filter coffee maker and often seen on the back bar of many specialty coffee shops.
Simply add ground coffee to the paper filter and wait until all of the brew is collected in the jug below.
One of the best things about the Moccamaster for me is the Thermos jug, not only does it keep the coffee hot for longer but it locks in the taste as opposed to glass jugs on a heat mat.
Read more about The Best Filter Coffee Makers.
The Sage Smart Grinder Pro is in our opinion the best coffee grinder for the office.
Whether your espresso machine doesn’t have a grinder or you have tasted the difference in quality when you grind coffee fresh for your brew method (such as a cafetiere), a coffee grinder can be the most important piece of coffee equipment you purchase.
First of all the level of precision you can achieve on this grinder is almost that of commercial grinders that have price tags of up to £3000.
Secondly, apart from the intuitive design and operation that is consistent across Sage products, the coffee grinder has been designed for use across all brew methods.
Whether you need a holder for your espresso portafilter or a box to catch your pour over grinds, the Smart Grinder Pro is easily altered to keep everyone in the office happy.
Read more in our full write up of Sage Coffee Grinders.
From coffee cups to spare coffee tampers, Coffee Hit have a great selection of coffee equipment for the office.
Although many people like to bring in their own coffee mug, maybe you’re trying to impress some clients and are in the market for some coffee shop style cups to go with your new espresso machine.
There is a range of brew methods from French Press to Stovetop that are designed for use both domestically and commercially.
You will also find a bunch of accessories like milk jugs and coffee waste bins that often go missing in the office.
Volcano coffee works are one of the UK’s best independent coffee roasters and host a number of coffee courses.
A coffee course is a great way to not only learn about the beverage that you consume numerous times per day but also master the art of the office barista.
They also make great gifts for coffee loving employees or a team building activity.
The teams knowledge of coffee is almost unrivalled in the UK and they are a lovely bunch too.
Why is office coffee so bad?
The biggest reasons why office coffee is so bad are either the coffee beans that are used are poor quality or the coffee machine is either poor quality, not being used correctly or not maintained properly.
These are a few reasons why your office coffee is so bad, there may be other factors like low quality water but we’ll explore the most common reasons.
Office coffee beans: Much like covering your fillet steak in tomato ketchup, using bad quality coffee beans in your top draw office coffee machine is a complete waste.
There is a world of difference between low quality commercial grade coffee that you purchase in supermarkets and on Amazon compared to specialty grade coffee and although there is a slight difference in price the quality is 10 fold.
Coffee is grown in various countries around the world and like many other consumable products like wine, has varying levels of quality.
In coffee this is usually down to the altitude of the farm, the type of coffee plant and the processes that take place before green (raw) coffee is shipped to consuming countries.
Commercial grade coffee you purchase in the supermarket is mass produced and usually the lowest possible quality purchased for the lowest possible price.
This coffee is then typically roasted to a level where any flavour other than bitter ‘roasty’ flavours are present.
Speciality coffee on the other hand has a level of quality before it is even shipped.
The coffee is then purchased by a coffee roastery and carefully roasted to highlight the unique and delicate flavours that the coffee possesses.
Commercial and specialty grade coffee side by side may look similar but the taste and quality are worlds apart.
If you are already filling your coffee machine with quality coffee, then another reason that your office coffee is so bad may be the coffee machine you are using.
Like with any technology (it only feels like yesterday that I was texting on my Nokia 5210) coffee machines have drastically improved over the last few years.
It was only a handful of years ago that espresso machines were exclusive to coffee shops and the only coffee you made at home was instant or a filter brew method.
Although one would think that a sign of quality in espresso machines is power so it can force hot water through the finely ground coffee, quality in espresso machine terms is judged on the constancy it can exert force.
You will find many cheap espresso machines bragging that they can achieve 15 bars of pressure, but the gold standard of water bearing down on a puck of espresso is 9 bars.
If you have opted for a cheaper machine or you have an old warhorse, check out some blogs online or have a look on coffee forum for some ideas on how you can tweek certain variables to make better office coffee.
If you have both quality coffee and a quality coffee machine then maybe you’re not using your machine correctly.
Take a look at our espresso machine guide for an in-depth look at extracting espresso.
However a couple of quick tips:
Make sure you are dosing the right amount of coffee per serving.
You should be aiming at somewhere between 16-20g of ground coffee per double shot.
The grind size needs to be just right.
Depending on the machine you have you may be able to alter the size of the coffee grounds between coarse and fine.
If the coffee shot takes less than 30 seconds make the grind finer and if it takes more, make it coarser.
Generally speaking though, somewhere between 25 and 35 seconds is great for an office coffee.
Lastly, one of the most important things that a barista does each day is close down his/her espresso machine by back flushing the group heads and removing any of the day's old coffee grounds.
I’m not saying you have to be as particular with your office coffee machine as professional baristas would be with theirs, however it gives you an insight into how old, bitter tasting coffee can affect the taste of tomorrow's brew.
All it takes is cleaning the shower head and around the rim and occasionally back flushing the machine. Take a look at our guide on cleaning coffee machines.
FAQs
Which coffee is best for the office?
The best coffee for an office is medium roast speciality arabica coffee that is balanced and has enough body to cut through milk.
Typically a blend.
Firstly, the best coffee may differ from office to office. It depends on the type of coffee machine you have, the type of coffee drinkers you are and the flavours in coffee that you enjoy.
If you have an espresso machine I would recommend that you opt for a blend (you should be able to find an espresso blend) to use in your machine.
Blends typically have a balance of body and rich flavours that have been designed to be enjoyed as a rich velvety espresso but can also be diluted with milk and still hold flavour in milk based espresso drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos.
Espresso blends can also be used in any other brew method. Make sure you opt for medium roast and speciality.
The last thing you want are those black, over-roasted, oily coffee beans unless you like the taste of burnt toast.
If you are an office of filter coffee drinkers and have an filter coffee machine like one of these then why not opt for some single origin coffee that has been expertly roasted by your local roaster.
Alternatively subscribe to a coffee subscription like Batch Coffee Club so you can discover coffee from all over the world, roasted by the UK’s best independent coffee roasters.
How do I set up an office coffee station?
Firstly it depends on the type of coffee machine that you have and whether you are able to manoeuvre it.
It also depends on the amount of space you have and the number of people in the office.
Space is a good place to start as one of the things that people forget when setting up an office coffee station is to leave enough space for people to prepare their coffee and comfortably stir in milk or sugar if they wish.
Make sure there is a clear space so that you can place a coffee down and not have to balance it on the edge of a table.
Have in mind the workflow of making a coffee when setting up your coffee station.
Coffee mugs or takeaway cups should be on the far left of the machine so people can take one and then brew their coffee.
Milk should be placed to the right of the machine alongside any extras like sugar so they can add after the coffee is prepared.
Coffee cups can be kept warm on top of the espresso machine and any extra milk should be kept cold in the fridge.
Make sure you leave a dry and wet cloth to clean down the machine after use and some paper towels for the inevitable spillage.
It’s always good to have a rubbish bin nearby as well as an organic waste for the used coffee grounds.
Here is some office coffee station inspiration.
Should I drink coffee for productivity?
Caffeine is the magic compound that appears in many beverages and is probably the main reason why people start drinking coffee in the first place.
Coffee is relatively high in caffeine (checkout this article on how many mg of caffeine is in coffee) and is the most common cure for tiredness in the morning but can coffee make you more productive?
The answer is yes, caffeine affects everybody differently but one of the main ways is that it helps people focus and stay alert for longer periods of time.
As long as you don’t drink too much, coffee can certainly be prescribed for productivity. Did you know that 2 cups of black coffee per day can lower the rate of heart disease. Learn more about the benefits of black coffee.
Best coffee machine for an office.
Coffee machines come in a few different forms.
Generally speaking there are:
Espresso machines
Super Automatic
Automatic
Semi Automatic
Manual
Filter Coffee Machines
Nespresso Machines
Starting at the top with the 4 types of espresso machines:
Super automatic espresso machines are the type you may find in an office.
They are the ultimate push of a button coffee machines and require you to top up certain features like the coffee beans and milk from time to time.
They can have a fairly hefty price tag and the coffee can sometimes be hit and miss.
On the plus side they are super (clue is in the name) easy to use and at the end of the day you are still enjoying freshly ground coffee.
Take a look at The Best Beans to Cup Espresso Machines for some inspo.
Automatic Espresso machines will require you to have a little more interaction.
These guys will grind the beans and pull a shot of espresso.
The difference with automatic and super automatic is that you may have to steam the milk yourself and pour the milk over your double espresso.
They give you slightly more control and with that enable you to change the way you like your coffee manually and give somebody the job of being office barista.
Semi Automatic espresso machines give you even more control.
This time you will be in-charge of pulling the shot of espresso by grinding the coffee into the portafilter, tamping the coffee grounds before locking into the group head and pressing the shot button.
You then will steam the milk before delicately attempting the best rosetta latte art onto the top of your favourite mug.
Semi automatic machines are pretty close to what you will see in coffee shops and undoubtedly can produce the best coffee possible in the office, however this is provided you know what you’re doing as there are many variables in coffee brewing and if one is slightly off you may end up with a bitter brew.
Manual espresso machines are really for hobbyists or those that enjoy an espresso on a hike.
They will usually make one shot of espresso at a time and take a bit of elbow grease to extract, extremely fulfilling but certainly not practical for an office coffee machine.
Filter coffee machines are becoming more popular and are what you will have seen in American diners with the large glass jug.
The technology has moved on over the last few years and thermos jugs are the new glass.
The idea is still the same though, water drips over a bed of coffee grounds sitting in a paper filter.
The result is a large jug of filter coffee. This is the purists way to consume coffee today and single origin coffee comes to life as the filter produces a bright and flavoursome cup that highlights all of the complex and subtle notes that some coffees hold.
Great for an office of black coffee drinkers. You may have to purchase a grinder though.
Nespresso machines grace the homes of many. Cheap to buy and maintain and essentially cheap to run.
You will struggle to produce anything close to a coffee shop worthy coffee with a Nespresso machine though, the machine itself isn’t built to extract espresso quality coffee and besides the quality of the machine the coffee you are feeding into the machine is typically low grade commodity coffee and pre ground.
Having said that, if you’re not bothered about taste and you’re just going to lob 3 sugars in there anyway, maybe a Nespresso machine is for you.
What is the best coffee for small businesses?
If you are a small business and you are looking to upgrade your coffee beans then you have plenty of options.
Firstly it is important to note that although it may be cheaper to buy in bulk, coffee does have a shelf life and will start deteriorating in quality around 4 weeks after it has been roasted.
Being a small business means you don’t have the buying power of larger companies but avoid falling into the trap of buying lots of coffee at once to save a little bit of money and have your coffee delivered little and often.
Second, you need to figure out what sort of coffee you are brewing in the office.
If you have a split between espresso and filter drinkers you may want to opt for a medium roast coffee that can be brewed in many ways.
Alternatively, Batch coffee club featured 2 new single origin coffees every 2 weeks for the coffee aficionados in the office while also offering a specialty espresso blend for the flat white drinkers.