3 Things to Check for Better Office Coffee

Almost anyone that has coffee supplied at work will tell ya — it's usually less than stellar.

I had been drinking the barely palatable office coffee for years, right along with you when I worked full time at an office job. Sure, to avoid it I would sometimes make coffee at home before I went in or even a French Press or Aeropress at my desk, but most days (even for this coffee obsessed guy) — ain't nobody got time for that.

So this leads us to a question I often get asked: "How do I get better coffee at my office?"

Stop what you are doing and check these 3 things: 

1. Does your office coffee pot have a hot plate? 

2. Does your office coffee pot brew at the right temp?

3. Are the coffee beans used "good"?

1. Does your office coffee pot have a hot plate? 

Models with a hot plate can often over-heat and lead to scorched coffee. These models are normally paired with glass coffee pots. While straight out of the brewer the coffee might be okay, the longer it sits on the hot plate...the sadder your taste buds will be.

Ideally, you want your coffee maker to have a thermal carafe and no hot plate.

Make sure your coffee maker at work has a thermal carafe and no hot plate like shown here. If you have a glass carafe, you likely have a heat plate. No good!

Consider upgrading your equipment as soon as you are able with your current supplier. We suggest this model from Bunn, or this model from Wilber Curtis.

Both of these require a direct water connection, which your building maintenance staff can normally provide or recommend an installer. 

2. Does your office coffee maker brew at the right temperature?

This one requires a little more work.

Grab a thermometer.

If there isn't one hiding in a random drawer and you don't have one at home...seek out the person in your office most likely to know how to bake a really mean thanksgiving turkey. In my experience,  there's a really good chance that person's name is Kristi or Deb (Hi Kristi and Deb!). 

Once you've got your thermometer, if you can, place it under the stream of water coming out of the brew head before it hits the grounds. It should be right around 200 degrees.

If you can't get the thermometer in the stream coming out of the brewer, stick it into the stream of coffee coming out the bottom of the filter basket. This temp should be somewhere right around 180 degrees.

If you're way lower than those temps in either of those two locations, you're getting sub par coffee from your brewer. This is often caused by faulty or dirty thermocouples or heat elements inside the brewer itself.

3. Are the coffee beans tasty?

The best way to see if it's the equipment or the quality of beans (or both) is to brew the beans on different equipment. If those beans just taste terrible, no matter the brew method, the best brewer in the world isn't going to save the day. You just need better coffee.

I recommend working with local roasters and making sure you are getting beans shortly after they are roasted. It's also a great way to support your local small business scene.

Your employees will thank you.

If you're in the Omaha area I've got some good news if you found any flaws in your current office coffee setup. You can get great coffee, own your own brewing equipment and possibly even save a little money.

Check out our Better Office Coffee Plan to learn more. We're here to help and are happy to brainstorm solutions with you.