Office machine will not satisfy like a barista can

[wattgn]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

My take on our office machine is that it is very easy to operate and maintain, remarkably so in fact. It isnt plumbed in so people have to fill the tank, ensure that there is a supply of beans and empty the drip tray or the dreg container occasionally. This is all simple to do in our small office and we all know how to do it.

These machines rarely break down.

Every few weeks Adam takes out the main brew unit and soaks it along with the frother attachment and he occasionally decalcifies it.

I have a much higher opinion of these office automatice machines than I used to now that I have used one.

The coffee is not extracted as fully as a manual machine but it is otherwise pretty good. The convenience factor is high and that compensates for other negatives.

I think yes, there is some knowledge required to maintain it but companies like Saeco have done a great job of making good coffee accessible to people who dont want to be experts on machine operation.

Grant

[Fresh_Coffee]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

Hey Scoota Gal.

Apologies for confusing with the very long post above,  The conclusion you drew (that I presented a case to actually agree with the writer of the artikill, is not what was intended and I think you know that hehe...).

I do take this very seriously because you would not believe the amount of disruption to my business, from people that have been given the use of an office machine but they just dont...."get it", simple as that. These machines are not pop up toasters!

You cant drop a coffee machine into a work place and not train someone on staff to be repsonsible. This means someone didnt do their job properly...cutting corners perhaps just to get the sale...Supplier responsibility?.

If an office manager is going to do something ( and this incluides giving staff the use of a machine), you would imagine they would try to do it properly and not in a half baked way that will ensure the idea backfires on you. The workplace is not a place for socialising. Its nice that workplace managers see a benefit in providing value adding such as the office coffee machine for their staff, but they really need to weigh up the pros and cons of providing what amount to auto "cappuccino" machines requiring a certain level of understanding, for their staff to use.....Management responsibilty?

Most "breakdowns" or occurences of "out of order", are caused by the staff themselves. They think that because its automatic, it should just "work", but that just shows they really dont "get it".....User responsibility?

The machines make very acceptable coffee when managed as they should be, and they continue to work long term when managed as they should be. Note, quality equipment should be specified.

The heckler that wrote the story, has perhaps written from the heart, but this does not excuse a lack of research on the topic because of she had approached an equipment supplier for their side of the story ( perhaps with a question like...why are office coffee machines often "broken down"... or somehting similar), she would have been enlightened with a list of unemotional facts that point the finger basically atleast in the first instance, back to the users themselves.

It is hard to "lighten up" when we are continually served up with stuff like this "lightweight Sunday read" type of story, where the truth nevvermadders. It makes my own job, that little bit harder all the time.

Having said ALL of the above (yeah I know, this is getting long again), it still only applies to the places where problems occur. For every office that has an out of order sign on the machine, there may well be another 4 places that are not having a problem because they actually do "get it" right. This places our heckler in the category of having written nothing more than a sensational media  "beat up" that in the end results in her actually pointing the finger back at herself.

Because I am involved in sites like this as an actual member of the coffee and coffee machine industry as well as a passionate and interested participant, it has to be understood that it often places me in a position to seem to be at odds with amateur coffee and coffee machine enthusiasts with opinions coming from opposite ends of the spectrum. Its a two way street I think!

Regardz,
FC.

[wattgn]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

Mal,

It got my creative and somewhat vindictive juices flowing as well as stimulating the olde funnybone.

Overall a full body CS experience.

Hey we have our own column here on CS where we can be legends, not just in our own minds. Mind you being a legend in your own mind is not something anyone can take away, not easily anyway, unless you are Zarqawi but he is D-E-A-D just now.

Grant

[Dimal]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

Great stuff Guys and Gals,

Very stirring, and might I venture, slightly predictable from a group of passionate Coffee Snobs such as we :P,

Mal.

[scoota_gal]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

That was a long rant, FC and I still didnt get your point. From what I read you just explained exactly why that woman wrote her blurb. :-?

And I can also say that the writer is no journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald. This article was written by a community member for the section of the paper called "Heckler". So as long as you can write a fairly coherent piece that doesnt exceed 600 words, theyll probably print you. And seeing as the Herald did print Serenas work, Id say that she mustve hit close to the mark with her comments. Obviously someone at the Herald thought "yeah, know what shes on about!".

You guys should lighten up a bit. Yes a bit harsh I know. But you are Coffee Snobs. The rest of the population arent and so all they know is that the local cafe down the corner is making them a nicer cup of coffee than what that strange bit of gear with all the buttons but without a big Window in the corner of the kitchen is able to produce.

Honestly. I dont believe shes wrong at all and I am sure that Serena doesnt believe so either. After all, she was the one left standing staring at the machine that was out of order on an early shift. Hence her article. And not every office in the country has a certified Coffee Snob to help sort out the stuff ups around the super auto machine!

Kudos to those baristas that are serving Serena the coffee she wants, thats all I can say. And at least Serena knows that a good cup of coffee doesnt come out of a jar!! :P

[/rant]

[wattgn]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

We have a superauto Saeco in our office and I am quite happy with the Coffee it produces.

The beans he buys are from Biobeans one of the CS sponsors and it is excellent coffee.

I would say that the Superauto will NOT produce either an espresso or a cappuccino as good as that from a properly operated manual machine.

Nevertheless the result is pretty damned good and it is the best alternative in an office where a number of people are using it.

Im very pleased to have this machine in our office and thanks to our boss Adam for this priveledge.

Sure I can still go off to some cafe and get served sh$t coffee if I wish. I mean as long as I get the smile and interpersonal contact what else matters?

I agree though that the author of the article is writing with an angle in mind ie. cafes who often produce poor coffee anyway are hurting with office machines getting more popular.

There are some good cafes too but frankly I cant be bothered trying to seek them out as I have good coffee at home and at work and Im not interested in wasting my money buying coffee from a cafe.

The authors use of language is clumsy at best and shows that she probably wouldnt know a good coffee even if it bit her on the arse (admittedly an unlikely event... ).

Grant



Grant

[Fresh_Coffee]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

Rubbish.  Young Serena doesnt know what shes writing about.

Picked this up in the first few lines......"Served by a trained barista who refines the granules, the temperature and the proportion of the coffee, all with a smile and a personal greeting................"

Come on people, I thought this site was supposed to be about "no Bull Dust" in coffee.. Truthes, not the perpetuation of the same ol furphies.

I understand where the writer is coming from, but that doesnt make her any less wrong.

The reason behind the frustration of her story is that no one has set up the machine or taking any responsiblilty for managing it. They expect that an auto machine comes out of the box already set up to go. This is, as all coffeesnobs should know, not the case, which is why we spend so much time in here talking about how you cant buy a machine in a box and go home ( or to the office) and use it properly. And about the importance of proper training.

There is:
A) initial set up by the vendor WITH THE COFFEE to be used and

B) STAFF TRAINING in the very (VERY) simple managemnent of the machine AND

C) the NEED to appiont someone on staff to be RESPONSIBLE for the machine.

A well set up auto using good beans, makes a very acceptable coffee. They are adjustable.


For the rest of it I can honestly advise, from a great many years personal experience with this very topic that

1) that in probably 99% of all cases where the problems described in the topic are occuring, the problem lies with the lack of understanding of the machine & its management, by those that have been given the very great privelege by their employers, of having their very own coffee machine in the kitchen. Mostly in these cases, we find nothing but bad management, lack of understanding, and a lack of willingness to try & understand AND

2) Managements poor choice of equipment supplier, possibly tempered by the same old chestnut.....PRICE.  Cheap machines or cheap service, take your pick.

We find people that havent had it all explained to them, that wont clean up after themselves resulting in blockages and oiless (coffee oils and milk fat), we find machines that have had IINSTANT coffee and drinking choloclate mix that have been placed into coffee grinders and ground coffee hoppers resulting in complete jamming of brewing mechanisms, and we find that people are too lazy to empty dregs containers and drip trays and who instead deliberately "hoodwink" the machines computer into thinking the trays were emptied (when they werent), which gets that person his or her immediate coffee, but then rsults in the machine not giving you the signal to empty, and the entire bottom of the machine is flooded with filth.

All these problems are operator related one way or another.

And it also means that the people that make decisions about putting in office coffee machines, make not have been properly advised by their equipment supplier about how all the above can happen if the proper steps are not taken. But this is the problem these days...do you know there are some new public service office biuldings going in where office coffee machines have been specified in the plan for every single floor or office ktchen. Importers will sell them to the develpers, the developers will put them in, no one will institute a proper management plan, and then all the above will happen.

Its very "costly" to run a professional coffee and machine company advising clients properly...if you advise them that all the above can happen if they done have a management plan, they dont want to hear it and go to the next supplier. Costly, in terms of not winning the client. There is an "attitude" problem, all down the line, with people not wanting to hear the truth or go out of their way to do anything they dont thuink theyre resopnsible for. If its "automatic", it should just work......tell that to the machine!

The best management of office coffee machines comes about where a coffee supplier is involved rather than just a machine vendor that you never see again,  because the coffee supplier is supposed to know all this stuff. This is why coffee machines are not appliances...they are coffee machines that require proper management and operation.

Well set up & maintained Office Coffee Machines keep people at their desks where they should be, instead of galavanting down the road wasting their employers time buying unnecessary coffees during their paid work time.

Office coffee machines are a privelege and should be treated seriously and with respect just like any other piece of valuable work related equipment because ultimately, they keep people productive and therefore help to earn you income. Pity some employees dont adjust their attitude accordingly.

Going down the road socialising during working hours, shows a complete lack of understanding as to why the coffee mahcine is in the work place in the first instance. Its not about socialising and flirting with so called baristas...its actually very very serious business....isnt it?


Off soap box now.
FC.

[Javaphile]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

Not to mention that the superautos just dont make as good a cuppa as a barista can with a manual/semi/auto machine.

I have what is perhaps the worlds best superauto sitting on a bench here (a La Cimbali M-52, retail price of $23,000USD) that even after days of tweaking could not produce anywhere near as good a cuppa as the same beans did in my La Cimbali M-28 semi-auto. I havent even powered it on in over a year.

Heres a link to a post I made on the subject of the quality of the M-52s shots and the limitations of superautos: http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1116753224/21#21

So not only do you not get the social interaction at the office machine that you do with your favorite barista at your local cafe, but you dont get as good a cuppa either.

Java "Give me a barista everytime!" phile

[scoota_gal]

Re: Office machine will not satisfy like a barista

::does happy Barista dance::

We Coffee Snobs knew that all along!

Nice to see that someone has written about it in the newspaper. I can just see all the commuters this morning travelling to work and nodding their heads in agreement with that one! Serena is spot on with her comments! You will never be able to beat that face to face communication and to be able to hand someone what they want makes it even better!

Ahhh, coffee. Who said flowers are the language of love??

[el_espressio]

From SMH 9/06/06 - Heckler

WHAT is it about the office coffee machine that never quite cuts it? A shining new specimen arrives in the newfangled office kitchen, with buttons galore: flat white, latte, cappuccino, long black, ristretto, espresso and the list goes on. But they all seem to taste the same.

Perhaps this explains why groups of colleagues set off about 10.30am to their nearest takeaway coffee outlet. Served by a trained barista who refines the granules, the temperature and the proportion of the coffee, all with a smile and a personal greeting, there really is no comparison.

Why approach a faceless machine - which takes up far less time away from the desk and avoids real human interaction - when you can be served by someone who knows your daily order by heart?

It is the interaction that we look for to break the monotony of the mornings work. It is a convenient reason to disappear when troubles afoot. It is the banter in the queue about the shocking state of Sydneys transport, or perhaps sharing gossip from last weeks after-work drinks. Coffee unites us and makes us feel warm about life and towards each other: it is one area where technology fails and humans absolutely must be in charge.

Take the other week, when I was working a night shift and was desperate for a cup of coffee. Droopy-eyed, I drifted into the kitchen to find the machine looking back at me forebodingly. A large sign reading "OUT OF ORDER" had been placed on the side, tucked away from my view. I pressed all the buttons in frustration, only to find a dribble of water ooze out in protest. Give me a barista every time.

Or there is the discombobulated machine which suddenly decides to give you a double shot of latte when you only have a cup, sending hot liquid all over your new suit and the kitchen in front of amused onlookers. A second attempt finds the machine has run out of coffee granules, which neither you nor anyone else in the office knows how to replace, and youre shot a large mug full of muddy milk.

Which brings me to one thing that always mystifies me about these much-lauded, all-singing, all-dancing machines. Why does no one know how to fix them if they are broken? Or fill them up when they have run out of coffee beans? Or if they do, they are not coming forward in a hurry.

On a purely antisocial level, why waste those precious moments, that oasis of calm that is the coffee break, chatting to colleagues who, lets face it, you are often trying to escape?

Why not vacate the building in search of one of Sydneys finest commodities: great, handmade coffee? Why put yourself through the traumas of poor coffee and awkward conversations with the boss as you navigate the milk-frothing machine, or risk an out-of-order machine? Handmade coffee is the last bastion in a world where machines and technology have overrun us and it is a necessary luxury to keep us sane at work.

Serena Tarling