# Is there such a thing as a good coffee vending machine



## elfordo (Aug 12, 2011)

I will hold my hands up, I sell vending machines and I also love coffee!

It would really help me if I could hear your thoughts on whether you feel there is a vending machine which will give results akin to a barrista.


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## marbeaux (Oct 2, 2010)

Impossible in my opinion.


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## MonkeyHarris (Dec 3, 2010)

Unless someone builds one with tastebuds they'll never be able to compete.


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## coffeebean (Jan 26, 2010)

I've never come across one that even comes close......yet!!


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## MKDavid (Jun 19, 2011)

Have never come across one, and doubt i ever will


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Some possible reasons why not:

- It would need to grind the coffee for each cup, but would also need to change the grind several times throughout each day since the beans are hygroscopic. How would it know what grind adjustment was needed?

- It would need to use fresh milk, and also steam/stretch it several ways to produce lattes & cappus. This demands extreme control, along with constant visual/audible feedback to position the jug/wand in the correct place. Again, how would automation achieve this?

- Cleaning is an integral part of what a barista does throughout a shift, since coffee oils go rancid in 45 minutes. Could a vending machine auto-clean it's parts?

I'd love to see greater automation, to be honest, but not if it would sacrifice quality.


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## Stevenp6 (May 17, 2011)

The latest bean to cup vending machines do grind the beans fresh for every cup. However they still use powdered milk so will never get a genuine frothy cappuccino or creamy latte. They have come on leaps and bounds though and the taste is pretty good.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

There's a world of difference between 'grinding' and 'grinding to suit the current state of the bean'. Do bean-to-cup machines do the latter? Not that I know.


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## elfordo (Aug 12, 2011)

Ok Guys and Girls although I have noted that the topic seemed to have attracted more male visitors. This subject is always a heated one but as Stevenp6 said there are new bean to cup coffee vending machines which are trying hard to emulate to some degree the true making of coffee however, as you mentioned at present the technology to monitor the taste doesn't exist unless it can be chemically diagnosed. There are fresh milk vendors but the whole idea of using a vending machines is 'hands off' so they are not that popular.

Bearing this mind if you had to, through bare necessity drink from a bean to cup vended machine what score would you give it out of 10?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Zero or worse based upon the current offerings on the market that I've tried. There are too many better alternatives to using a vending machine.


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

I think you are really pitching your question at the wrong audience. Clearly people (as in the uneducated wider public) enjoy coffee from vending machines, hence the reason that the industry is worth millions of pounds. The problem you are having is that the members of this forum are far more educated in the topic and enthusiastic about coffee than the general public. Most of us enjoy the art, science, and foremost taste of good coffee. I'm afraid you aren't going to really get a lot of help on this subject. Not because the members here are unhelpful, just because most people here are perfectionists! I for one would never drink coffee from a vending machine. So unfortunately from 1-10, i'd also give it zero.


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

If it was free, I might risk a 1 or 2 out of 10, but the simple matter is that I have stopped paying for bean to cup coffee from anywhere. I think if it's a vending machine I can see the convenience of it, but the main offenders are 'coffee shops' that use bean to cup machines and profess to sell good coffee.


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## MonkeyHarris (Dec 3, 2010)

You will not likely find anyone on here who would drink from a vending machine. I'd liken it to asking a bunch of michelin star chefs what their favourite pot noodle is


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## Danielowenuk (Aug 12, 2011)

Has to be chicken and mushroom.

Realistically how much would a machine have to charge to serve close to decent coffee? £2 £3? Would anyone pay that for vending machine coffee?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Danielowenuk said:


> Has to be chicken and mushroom.
> 
> Realistically how much would a machine have to charge to serve close to decent coffee? £2 £3? Would anyone pay that for vending machine coffee?


The price would have to be high enough to cover the manufacturer's cost in technological research and development to overcome the barriers stated earlier. Since nobody has yet overcome those tech barriers it's arguably fair to say that the R&D cost would be too large to make it commercially viable to make a vending machine that would sell barista-standard coffee at a price customers would pay. Many manufacturers may claim to have done so, but frankly it's bollocks.

Donner Kebab flavour, by the way.


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## vanilla_brys (Jan 5, 2011)

Now that it has been set up and tuned by a coffee nerd (me







), the bean to cup machine we have at work produces a better shot than most coffee shops (note, much worse than a good barista). You do have to steam your own milk through a froth assist style wand, so it loses out with milky drinks.

I don't think it would be that hard to automate milk foaming, especially if the benchmark is Starbucks or Costa. Then you only have to add a few incremental improvements before it's actually good. As much as we like to say it's hard and that it's an art etc, you could easily describe the process in a flow chart, so a machine could do it. IMHO.


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## speedstead (Aug 3, 2011)

Not that I have ever discovered!! But best of luck with the search!!!


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## Combercoffee (Feb 12, 2011)

I was waiting for an appointment today and was very very very board. I was so bored that I placed 60 of the finest pence in a vending machine for a coffee (I must add that I would not normally do this but was just so bored).

The taste of the contents of the cup can only be described as warm dirty water. After the first sip it was thrown in the bin.

That's 60 pence I'll never see again. Needless to say my score would also be zero.


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

A tangental note (I also wouldn't get a coffee from a vending machine. But to be honest, I don't get coffee from lots of shops with human baristas too!







) - but we use a bulk filter brewer at work. Use the standard 60g/l, an appropriate grind & good, fresh, freshly ground coffee and it makes a nice cup!


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## Michael82 (May 21, 2012)

I'm generally not really a vending machine lover, but I've heard really good things about the Flavia coffee machine (a vending machine offering all kinds of hot drinks such as coffee, tea and hot chocolate) and we are about to get it in the office so I can keep you posted on the quality.


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

My immediate, automatic response would be: "Not on your Nelly!"

But...

What if you could build a machine that simulates a Barista? What is it that a Barista does that differentiates their result from that of a machine?

The basic process of making a drink can be automated - this is just following a set of steps. However a Barista (a good one at least) does not just follow a set of steps blindly but rather, through reflective practice, adjusts/tweaks their actions in response to what they are observing. Baristas usually use certain visual cues but also taste e.g. if it tastes bitter, then perhaps grind more coarsely.

If you could build a refractometer into the machine to measure the strength of the produced beverages and the extraction yield and then change brewing parameters accordingly then we might get close to approximating a Barista.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2


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## carbonkid85 (Jan 19, 2011)

I'm sat in a training room with a bean to cup outside. Usually, I wouldn't go near but this one is passable.

Obviously nowhere close to a well trained barista, but probably better than someone in a cafe with no training using stale beans. Also better than the awful pre-ground which makes the dish water style filter coffee at a lot of functions.

Performance on milk based drinks looks completely terrible, but I've been drinking the very average americano topped up with an extra shot of espresso and I haven't turned to dust!


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## golden1 (Jan 21, 2012)

Once upon a time, (and longer ago than i'm going to admit to) there was a decent coffee vending machine. From what i can remember, actual beans were stored in a slightly refrigerated hopper.

Were ground on demand, into a large basket, with a sort of continual roll plastic filter on the bottom,

Correctly heated water was then poured over the grounds, and allowed to steep for 30 seconds or so, and then a large paddle /press would force the coffee throught a hole .. into a cup.

It took ~60 seconds to make a cup of actually quite nice coffee. (and was essentially an automated french press)

This machine however never made it into comercial production, and was one of a set made for a final year mechanical engineering / process control Degree project.

The other vending machines were a Fresh chip Vending machine (Which basically pressed a fresh potatoe through a mesh screen into a sequence of vats hot fat... ) .. and a pizza vending machine.

only one of these actually made it commercially... and No. I never saw ANY money from it. (apparently when you display them publicly you loose all rights to the processes... which also belong to the university, as it was done for educational purposes.. (note to self. add 1 semester of basic law to any mecheng degree)


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