# Coffee in the office



## DaveS (Oct 26, 2011)

Does anyone have a machine in the work-place that actually produces good (well, drinkable would be a good start) coffee? Or, even if the machine is OK, the ground coffee supplied is actually drinkable?

I do not believe I have ever come across one. Ours particularly (a large filter machine) produces what can only be described as caffiene based poison. The smell of it is even intoxicating. A small cup of which sends the nervous system into overload, followed by extreme headache. I am not sure it is the affect of the machine or ground coffee, or both... It doesn't even taste nice (burnt & bitter with no real distinguishable flavour - I assume that this is fault of the machine). Still, I do not drink it as i prefer not to be completely high for the duration of the day and prefer instead to bring a thermos flask filled with coffee freshly ground and made that morning with a Moka pot... Not perfect, but miles better than the office stuff or the other alternative (Instant "coffee" - perhaps that word is banned here though?) It is an even more amazing thing though that people drink gallons of this stuff!!!









I'd be interested to hear what other people here do for a coffee fix in the office...


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## stavros (May 4, 2011)

I've recently taken to bringing a small flask of coffee I've made with the aeropress that morning. I've usually drunk it by half ten though. Tea from then on, I can handle tea from teabags much much better than instant coffee. We do have a cafetiere in the office and I have brought my hario grinder and some beans into work and used that before. I'm usually more than ready for an espresso as soon as I get home!


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

My office used to offer drip coffee (always a gamble as to how long the current batch had been sat on the hot plate) and Nespresso machines. Following a recent office move, these have been replaced by brand new bean-to-cup machines which produce positively horrible coffee. I sometimes visit the onsite cafe with my colleagues where I get to watch barely trained staff use decent equipment to murder coffee. The other day I ordered a double espresso and the person behind the counter proudly handed me the drink less than 20 seconds later. Needless to say, there was no crema and the drink tasted nasty.

Luckily my office is within walking distance of Monmouth Coffee in Borough market and Taylor St. Baristas near Bank so I often make trips out for my coffee. In the new year I am probably going to start taking a hand grinder and Aeropress into the office and make my own.


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## Stevenp6 (May 17, 2011)

In theory office coffee should benefit from a high throughput, so the coffee used is not stale or kept warm too long on a hotplate. In practice however, corners are cut somewhere and the quality suffers.


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## lucky13 (Dec 30, 2011)

I stick to tea in work on the whole to avoid instant coffee.

When I have some spare beans left towards the end of the week (as i do the hasbean subscription) I'll grind them at home in the morning and take them in an air tight tub along with the trusty french press to share with my staff.

Not perfect but they love me for it, and it's a better solution than instant.


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

I've got a tassimo which creates on the whole foul coffee, generally use the filter machine, just finished off a bag of hasbean breakfast bomb, taylors hot lava java now


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## Spacegazer (Jan 2, 2012)

Not strictly on-topic, but my school sells 'fresh' coffee, and I thought this was brilliant, finally a way to satisfy my need for coffee through the day! So, I started taking money in for two coffees a day, one at morning interval and one at lunchtime (they were 90p each). I then went to the canteen and caught sight of a massive drip brewer with a large bag of opened coffee beside it. I was looking forward to this! I got my drink and as I was paying for it I took a sip and screwed my face up - it was bitter, burnt, brewed and everything else a coffee shouldn't be. I managed a half smile and thank you to the woman serving me and on my way past the bin, I put the whole lot in. A waste maybe, but I honestly think that had I drunk the whole cup, I would have been sick!!! I don't even want to know how long it had been sitting on the hotplate for (although I bet it was more than 1 hour easily).

After this disappointing discovery, I started making a small (3-cup) flask of fresh Taylor's dark blend (reserved solely for this purpose), as I find that when brewed in a press pot, it keeps well in a flask. So I have one cup at interval, and two at lunch, and it suits me quite well!!!

Regards

James


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

brun said:


> I've got a tassimo which creates on the whole foul coffee, generally use the filter machine, just finished off a bag of hasbean breakfast bomb, taylors hot lava java now


I used to drink that back in my Uni days. Watch out for the caffeine kick!


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## bobbytoad (Aug 12, 2011)

Has any one tried the Espro press?

Would love a chemex but I'm seen as a ponce already.

How does coffee from Espro press compare to chemex coffee (which I adore btw) don't want an ordinary French press - far too common


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I was about to say that in theory they are apples and oranges... the press is full immersion so more body, and chemex is filter so more bright notes. But considering the espro has multiple levels of filtration so less sludge gets thru, and a kone filter with a chemex lets more oils thru, perhaps the gulf between them is not so large any more.


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## stavros (May 4, 2011)

Has anyone tried the Kalita Kantan origami/pourover mashup? I know Mike has as I was using his video for guidance yesterday. I thought they might be useful for the office, but I've gone off the idea a bit after making a right balls up with it on a test run in my kitchen.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I use Aeropress in the office but have tried 3 kantan attempts at home...I use aeropress grind but V60 water temp...either ive been really lucky three times or its very forgiving because the end result has bean very reasonable


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## lucky13 (Dec 30, 2011)

All the guy's got a little bit excited when my Silvia got delivered to the office yesterday. They had no idea what it was, i just replied "coffee machine". Their faces lit up as they asked with joy... "have you bought that for the office?"

I took great joy in scowling and saying "hell no..."


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## drk (Nov 22, 2011)

Whole reason I got an aeropress and porlex for crimbo!

Our cafe at work spent a fortune at work on a fancy grinder and coffee machine but staff haven't been trained to use it.

It was comedy as I whined to a colleague "did you see that, she didn't tamp that coffee in the portafilter properly and extraction time was less than 15 seconds as a result, can you believe that?"

to which my colleague responded

"you really are a sad git Andy!"

I better get some sympathy here


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Sad as we may all be seen to be (by others) - at least we get to drink good coffee...


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Pfff. The majority of the population get excited about cars, talent shows and football. Their views on what is sad or not doesn't count for much in my book


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## drk (Nov 22, 2011)

true.......


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## buzzbuzzbuzz (Sep 1, 2011)

drk said:


> ...It was comedy as I whined to a colleague "did you see that, she didn't tamp that coffee in the portafilter properly and extraction time was less than 15 seconds as a result, can you believe that?"
> 
> to which my colleague responded
> 
> "you really are a sad git Andy!"...


The only way you'd be a "sad git" would be if, after seeing it being made, you then drank the coffee.

Buzz


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

All these stories of coffee hell and of people ill educated in the ways of the barista make me sad for them but also giggle a little bit.

I work at a flippin' coffee roasters and my boss still tells me to 'get a life'. Clearly you either have the inclination for the best liquid beverage that its possible to consume or you don't.

Their loss.

For people that aren't aware, there is a thermo mug that has a plunger built in:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smartcafe-Hot-Cafetiere-Travel-Cup/dp/B0007MTNIQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325896610&sr=8-2

I drink this on the way to work. But a word of advice, grind very coarse as the grinds remain in the bottom so the cup can rapidly get overextracted notes.

I honestly don't know what I would do without my smart mug because the bean-to-cup machine at work makes pretty terrible americanos and we only get to play with gaggias, commercial machines and espresso on days we produce espresso.


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## drk (Nov 22, 2011)

buzzbuzzbuzz said:


> The only way you'd be a "sad git" would be if, after seeing it being made, you then drank the coffee.
> 
> Buzz


Ha..... I had El Salvador Finca Argentina Natural from my french press!


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