Coffee in the Office - The Flavia Drinks Machine

In this latest article of our 'Coffee in the Office' series we take a look at the Flavia filter-pack drinks machine.

The Flavia range of drinks machines work in an unusual and ingenious manner to serve a wide variety of top quality delicious drinks to the end user. After the drink choice has been made the appropriate drink foil pack is inserted into the machine, a cup is placed underneath and a button is pressed. Hot water is then forced into the foil pack to release the full flavour of the drink as it is dispensed into the cup.

Each drink is individually made and there is no cross contamination of flavours between different drink types. The machine has very low maintenance and can be plumbed in or just topped up with fresh water as required. Since no cup is dispensed the user has the choice to use their own cup or use branded Flavia waxed paper cups that can be provided by your supplier together with sugar sticks, stirrers, cup holders etc if required.

The Flavia machine is best used in a supervised environment as the ingredients are selected from a display case and there is no security. It is also best used in a low volume office type environment where drink choice and quality is paramount rather than serving a large number of people.

The main advantage of this type of machine is the sheer quality of the drinks produced and the amazing choice of drinks available. A huge number of fresh ground coffees are offered of different types of coffee beans and roasts, fresh leaf teas, specialty drinks, specialty teas, chocolates and even fruit infusions and green teas. Note however that the drinks are usually sold from the supplier in cases of 80 so in reality most offices will want to limit the range of drinks offered although they can of course order different products each time they order.

Although the cost of the machine is relatively low when compared to other types of drinks dispensing machine (allowing the possibility of multiple machine sites) the individual drink cost is quite high and can prove prohibitive.

The Flavia option is not the solution for high volume sites, sites requiring security of ingredients nor for those requiring a coin controlled system.

However in the right environment the Flavia drinks system can be the perfect high quality solution for satisfying discerning drinkers at all times of the day.

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Coffee In The Office - The In-Cup Machine

There are a wide variety of drinks vending machines available these days, so much so that the choice can seem a bit overwhelming. In this article we take a closer look and one particular type of drinks machine - the in-cup drinks machine.

In cup drinks machines are different from all other types of drinks machine in as much as the ingredients are already prefilled in the plastic cup prior to loading into the machine. The ingredients are purchased from the supplier in this format, so that all that is required is for the stack of prefilled plastic cups to be loaded into the machine.

Therein lies one of the major benefits of this type of system - it is very easy to load and maintain the machine. More traditional types of machine use hoppers or canisters to hold the loose ingredients which can cause some cross contamination of products when the canisters are topped up and are more prone to spillage and general untidiness. This problem is totally alleviated with in-cup ingredients and all the operator needs to do is put the appropriate stack of in-cup drinks in the right section of the machine.

For a small office or workshop the typical machine may offer 5 or 6 drink selections. The drink choices may typically be set up as white coffee, black coffee, white tea, chocolate and a soup. However changing drink choice in an in cup machine is incredibly easy and all that is required is to change the stack of prefilled cups in the machine and amend the selection label on the front of the machine.

Staff or visitors simply make a drink selection, add sugar if required and then add hot water by pushing a button.

Although primarily considered an instant drinks machine many companies choose the fresh leaf tea option. In this case the plastic cups are pre-filled with tea bag and whitener enabling fresh tea to be served from the machine. Some companies may even be able to offer a fresh coffee option too.

It should be noted that since the ingredients are prefilled at the factory it is required to purchase both black coffee and white coffee as separate products as the only thing that can be added by the machine is sugar and water.

In-cup machines are generally extremely reliable as they have very few moving parts and can usually be set up as coin controlled or free vend. This allows the company to cover the cost of the drinks and the machine rental should they wish and even make a profit in some circumstances.

Generally speaking in-cup machines are an excellent choice for the smaller office, work shop or trade counter. They offer excellent value for money, are extremely flexible and are easy to run and maintain.

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