We need a new coffee maker for the office. The one we have is something you might see in a Denny's and the stuff that it produces tastes like liquid rubber.
Interested to hear what is working in the rest of your offices, or maybe more relevant, what you would rather have.
About us: 25 architects. Designing towers. Use coffee for individual use throughout the day and in large quantities for client meetings. Bay area = we have high standards for single cup quality. Budget = $$ - $$$.
Photos appreciated, experiences besought
Archinect
Mar 2, 18 10:59 am
The Archinect HQ official drip machine. The best.
James Petty
Mar 2, 18 2:05 pm
Futurete Oberon 1 Espresso Machine. Makes good stuff.
sarahh1978
Mar 17, 20 2:15 am
Breville the Barista
JonathanLivingston
Dec 30, 20 2:44 pm
I have this in my home. It's great. Would highly recommend it. But I'm not sure I would trust the intern to be making coffee with it. It can also be a bit loud. For an office, it's best to just be able to pour a cup and go.
George Gibson
Mar 18, 20 7:37 am
We used it in our office, Mr. Coffee Maker. We did not find any negative side of that. There are lots of coffee makers online, you may choose the right one for your office.
George Gibson
Mar 18, 20 7:41 am
This device helps us to get energy back.
citizen
Dec 30, 20 3:15 pm
Not sure he's the best. But definitely the slowest.
curtkram
Dec 30, 20 4:25 pm
the people on YouTube seem to think chemex is the way to go
atelier nobody
Dec 30, 20 5:34 pm
My family have been using Melitta filters literally as long as I can remember. Finally, something I can honestly claim to have been into since before it got popular - by about 40 years.
Wood Guy
Dec 30, 20 4:43 pm
My wife and I both work from home (even pre-Covid) and have had one like this for 15+ years. Nothing fancy but it works fine for 2+ pots a day. We have a Chemex but we're not cool enough to care to stand there forever making one tiny pot at a time.
In college I worked at/managed a coffee shop (after deciding it would be more fun than working as a janitor, as I did my first year) and I learned the ins and outs of coffee and espresso. Someday I'll get a fancier machine, probably the Moccamaster that Architect posted above, but I've had coffee from fancy machines and really don't taste much difference. This Cuisinart does make better coffee than super-cheap machines that don't get hot enough.
Earlier in the thread someone mentioned roasts. I know coffee snobs are supposed to like light roasts, and think darker roasts are for schlubs who don't know better. I appreciate a high quality light roast on occasion and don't like Starbucks coffee but we order French roast in 5lb bags direct from the roaster and it's perfect, either black or augmented.
Coffee snobs are also supposed to use burr grinders. We went through a few but they kept breaking, are very expensive and we really couldn't taste any difference from the spinny grinder we used before, and now. Of course I am enough of a coffee snob that I don't use preground coffee unless it's an emergency.
citizen
Dec 30, 20 4:53 pm
^ Love the Cuisinarts. This little bad boy (and its predecessor for 15 years) has worked great. And no carafe to wash!
Wood Guy
Dec 30, 20 5:43 pm
My MIL has that type--makes sense if you primarily brew-n-go. We have a large collection of ceramic mugs from various people and places, with lots of memories attached, so choosing our day's mug is a fun part of the process. With the amount we go through in a day we'd be brewing constantly. But that type would be perfect in an office--the advantages of a Keurig without the many downsides.
Non Sequitur
Dec 30, 20 6:57 pm
WG, our office uses the same Machine and it’s great for 3 pots per day. We’ve worn out the spring that keeps the brew knob on « on »
Wood Guy
Dec 30, 20 7:10 pm
LOL
randomised
Dec 30, 20 6:52 pm
The home “office” is stocked with a ceramic pour over mug and has recently welcomed a coffee grinder. No complaints here!
JAK-90825
Dec 30, 20 9:33 pm
Got me a Delonghi Espresso machine and I keep the pumpkin spiced lattes coming year round! Wooh!
sameolddoctor
Dec 31, 20 12:31 am
For Black coffee: Pourover on a Chemex, any day. Nothing can beat the taste, though I like the Techniworm too. (Good choice archinect!)
For Espresso: Rancilio Silvia with PID mod. Most importantly a great grinder, mine’s the Rancilio Rocky.
I always prefer coffee from smaller roasters, thankfully there are a lot these days in LA (and many are close friends). Oh and my family owns a tiny coffee estate back home, so that helps
Wood Guy
Dec 31, 20 9:23 am
You might be interested in following one of my oldest friends, "java nomad" on social media. He's a digital nomad who travels around the Pacific rim, visiting micro-scale coffee farmers and selling their beans direct to consumers. He also started a crypto-currency for coffee, to help growers skip the many middle men normally involved. Where is "back home" for you?
sameolddoctor
Jan 2, 21 2:35 pm
Wood Guy, done, I just started following him on instagram, will send a message to him soon. For a small farm, importing beans has been quite a problem cuz I've not been traveling at all ... I hope he can help!
sameolddoctor
Jan 2, 21 2:46 pm
Black Orchid, our farm is in the hills of Southern India, about 4 hours from Bangalore. Since it is a small farm we grow Arabica exclusively, with no pesticides or machines involved. Please DM me if you'd like me to send you green beans when I get a batch this year (they just harvested this year's crop) - would love to see what you think of it. And I agree, the Hario V60 is great for single brew...
Also, this is my Rancilio with PID, its pretty amazing for what it is:
Another machine I have been following, for large batch coffees is the "Ground Control" system - pretty amazing coffee even in a large batch format:
randomised
Dec 31, 20 3:17 am
What I also enjoy at times is Turkish-style coffee (learned to drink it in Poland) just pour your water over the grounds in your coffee cup and let it rest for a while...should’ve seen people’s faces when during a power out our fancy office espresso machine looking like a Ferrari engine wasn’t working and I was the only one enjoying a fresh cup of coffee because I boiled my water on the stove and put the grounds in the cup directly...they thought I was a savage barbarian or something. No need for any fancy or expensive machines, not even paper filters (hence it’s popularity in communist Poland). Nothing can stop me from having a cup of coffee!
Non Sequitur
Dec 31, 20 9:43 am
Your office has a stove?
randomised
Dec 31, 20 10:37 am
Had a fully functioning restaurant-quality kitchen in that office, and before the crisis of ‘08 they had a chef prepping the lunches (unfortunately before my time).
MaxLangdon
Dec 31, 20 5:50 am
If you take a professional coffee machine, then you will also need a good barista, since basically, the quality of coffee strongly depends on who and how it was prepared.
randomised
Jan 2, 21 5:18 pm
Any architecture office is full of (former) baristas...
quizzical
Jan 2, 21 8:26 pm
I thought is was the other way around, with (former) architects going to work at Starbucks for the higher pay and better benefits.
atelier nobody
Jan 2, 21 9:40 pm
My first architecture job was only part time, so I also worked at S'bucks. A principal at one of the largest firms in town who was trying to discourage his son from going into architecture was a regular, and would point me out to his son and say, "See what you'll end up doing if you to to architecture school?"
We need a new coffee maker for the office. The one we have is something you might see in a Denny's and the stuff that it produces tastes like liquid rubber.
Interested to hear what is working in the rest of your offices, or maybe more relevant, what you would rather have.
About us: 25 architects. Designing towers. Use coffee for individual use throughout the day and in large quantities for client meetings. Bay area = we have high standards for single cup quality. Budget = $$ - $$$.
Photos appreciated, experiences besought
The Archinect HQ official drip machine. The best.
Futurete Oberon 1 Espresso Machine. Makes good stuff.
Breville the Barista
I have this in my home. It's great. Would highly recommend it. But I'm not sure I would trust the intern to be making coffee with it. It can also be a bit loud. For an office, it's best to just be able to pour a cup and go.
We used it in our office, Mr. Coffee Maker. We did not find any negative side of that. There are lots of coffee makers online, you may choose the right one for your office.
This device helps us to get energy back.
Not sure he's the best. But definitely the slowest.
the people on YouTube seem to think chemex is the way to go
My family have been using Melitta filters literally as long as I can remember. Finally, something I can honestly claim to have been into since before it got popular - by about 40 years.
My wife and I both work from home (even pre-Covid) and have had one like this for 15+ years. Nothing fancy but it works fine for 2+ pots a day. We have a Chemex but we're not cool enough to care to stand there forever making one tiny pot at a time.
In college I worked at/managed a coffee shop (after deciding it would be more fun than working as a janitor, as I did my first year) and I learned the ins and outs of coffee and espresso. Someday I'll get a fancier machine, probably the Moccamaster that Architect posted above, but I've had coffee from fancy machines and really don't taste much difference. This Cuisinart does make better coffee than super-cheap machines that don't get hot enough.
Earlier in the thread someone mentioned roasts. I know coffee snobs are supposed to like light roasts, and think darker roasts are for schlubs who don't know better. I appreciate a high quality light roast on occasion and don't like Starbucks coffee but we order French roast in 5lb bags direct from the roaster and it's perfect, either black or augmented.
Coffee snobs are also supposed to use burr grinders. We went through a few but they kept breaking, are very expensive and we really couldn't taste any difference from the spinny grinder we used before, and now. Of course I am enough of a coffee snob that I don't use preground coffee unless it's an emergency.
^ Love the Cuisinarts. This little bad boy (and its predecessor for 15 years) has worked great. And no carafe to wash!
My MIL has that type--makes sense if you primarily brew-n-go. We have a large collection of ceramic mugs from various people and places, with lots of memories attached, so choosing our day's mug is a fun part of the process. With the amount we go through in a day we'd be brewing constantly. But that type would be perfect in an office--the advantages of a Keurig without the many downsides.
WG, our office uses the same Machine and it’s great for 3 pots per day. We’ve worn out the spring that keeps the brew knob on « on »
LOL
The home “office” is stocked with a ceramic pour over mug and has recently welcomed a coffee grinder. No complaints here!
Got me a Delonghi Espresso machine and I keep the pumpkin spiced lattes coming year round! Wooh!
For Black coffee: Pourover on a Chemex, any day. Nothing can beat the taste, though I like the Techniworm too. (Good choice archinect!)
For Espresso: Rancilio Silvia with PID mod. Most importantly a great grinder, mine’s the Rancilio Rocky.
I always prefer coffee from smaller roasters, thankfully there are a lot these days in LA (and many are close friends). Oh and my family owns a tiny coffee estate back home, so that helps
You might be interested in following one of my oldest friends, "java nomad" on social media. He's a digital nomad who travels around the Pacific rim, visiting micro-scale coffee farmers and selling their beans direct to consumers. He also started a crypto-currency for coffee, to help growers skip the many middle men normally involved. Where is "back home" for you?
Wood Guy, done, I just started following him on instagram, will send a message to him soon. For a small farm, importing beans has been quite a problem cuz I've not been traveling at all ... I hope he can help!
Black Orchid, our farm is in the hills of Southern India, about 4 hours from Bangalore. Since it is a small farm we grow Arabica exclusively, with no pesticides or machines involved. Please DM me if you'd like me to send you green beans when I get a batch this year (they just harvested this year's crop) - would love to see what you think of it. And I agree, the Hario V60 is great for single brew...
Also, this is my Rancilio with PID, its pretty amazing for what it is:
Another machine I have been following, for large batch coffees is the "Ground Control" system - pretty amazing coffee even in a large batch format:
What I also enjoy at times is Turkish-style coffee (learned to drink it in Poland) just pour your water over the grounds in your coffee cup and let it rest for a while...should’ve seen people’s faces when during a power out our fancy office espresso machine looking like a Ferrari engine wasn’t working and I was the only one enjoying a fresh cup of coffee because I boiled my water on the stove and put the grounds in the cup directly...they thought I was a savage barbarian or something. No need for any fancy or expensive machines, not even paper filters (hence it’s popularity in communist Poland). Nothing can stop me from having a cup of coffee!
Your office has a stove?
Had a fully functioning restaurant-quality kitchen in that office, and before the crisis of ‘08 they had a chef prepping the lunches (unfortunately before my time).
If you take a professional coffee machine, then you will also need a good barista, since basically, the quality of coffee strongly depends on who and how it was prepared.
Any architecture office is full of (former) baristas...
I thought is was the other way around, with (former) architects going to work at Starbucks for the higher pay and better benefits.
My first architecture job was only part time, so I also worked at S'bucks. A principal at one of the largest firms in town who was trying to discourage his son from going into architecture was a regular, and would point me out to his son and say, "See what you'll end up doing if you to to architecture school?"
Bastard could've just offered me a damn job!