For many of us, the humble cup of coffee is the treat that we deem ourselves worthy of receiving just for being able to drag ourselves into the office for yet another day at the grindstone. On your way into the office, you're luckly to walk past a list of coffee shops, each with their own unique atmosphere, single origin line-up and extremely specialised equipment made to extract perfection in a cup. We know, we love, and we are patrons of these venues, but sometimes things happen at work that limit your ability to duck down to your favourite coffee shop for lack of time. In these moments, you'll ironically find yourself needing a coffee even more than usual, so what are we to do?
Fortunately, as consumers have changed to enjoy well extracted, balanced and, perhaps even more complex coffees, the market in office and home brewing devices have also changed to meet these customers expectations. Here at Five Senses Coffee, we believe that well extracted specialty coffee is for everyone, and being stuck in the trenches on level 32 need not disquality you from a tasty cup of coffee!
In this article, I'm going to guide you through a number of options at different price points, and expectations, so that no matter which direction you go, you're going to get what you're after.
Entry Level Filter Brewer: Moccamaster Classic - $517.00
Step it up: Baratza Encore - $279.00
Reaching for the stars: Acaia Orbit - $2,860.00
For small offices, or for those who enjoy a more delicate and complex cup, the Moccamaster filter brewer is small, does a great job out of the box, and the classic can brew up to 1.25 litres, so you can easily serve a cup to your office friends, and be a person of the people! Order pre-ground, or if you're likely to understand why 'fresh is best', pair it with a Baratza Encore. If you're serving a crowd where "good" isn't good enough, the Acaia Orbit grinder delivers everything a "Prosumer" budding coffee expert could want, for a cup with defined clarity and expression.
Entry Level manual Espresso: Breville Barista Pro - $999.00
Step it up: Breville Dual Boiler - $1,499.00
Reaching for the stars: Expobar Crem One - From $3,267.00
The Breville Barista Pro does a mighty fine job of getting your foot in the door of espresso extraction. Stepping up into the Dual Boiler, you'll find the temperature stability required to knock out cup after cup of well extracted coffee, without delay. Looking to get more out of your cup? A manual machine like this will take some skills to master. Book into a home barista course here and gain the adoration of your peers and make yourself irreplaceable in the office!
The Expobar Crem One is a powerhouse, and the espresso machine I've personally chosen for home and sold to my friends. Giving you much more control over your extractions, and with a rotary pump for full bodied, complex extractions, this set up will get you to quality levels found in the cafes downstairs. We can't help replicate the full cafe experience in your office but we can help your skills along with our barista training. Note, the baristas that serve you are professionals, but with a good attitude and a lot of practice, we'll get you close at the very least. Again, pair with your choice of either the Baratza 270wi, or the Acaia Orbit to fit your budget.
Entry Level Automatic Espresso
The Jura X10 is a fully automatic machine that makes it as simply as pushing a button and waiting. The major limitation of entry level automatic machines is that they often have small coffee basket capacity - the X10 is no exception to this. The best solution is to go a manual machine where the basket size is larger and you have all the control, but if super easy/no mess is more important than taste ... then all good, we get it. The workaround is to be ready to add extra shots, if you need!
High End Automatic Espresso
Machinery good enough that it's even finding its way into high end cafes around the world, Eversys equipment can self-adjust grind settings based on extraction speed to ensure your coffee is always dialed in. With telemetry, this equipment can talk to us here at Five Senses Coffee so that we can help adjust parameters remotely to keep your brews at the top of their game. With a myriad of options depending on your demands, the specifications of this machine can be tailored to what you need. Capable of producing multiple hundreds of cups per day, no office floor will be left uncaffeinated with one of these on the bench.
The one thing none of these products can replicate is the atmosphere, ambiance, and the smiles of baristas as they hand you cups of joy. For when the journey downstairs is not an option, we've got you covered.
Any questions? Shoot an email to info@fivesenses.com.au and we'll be sure to help.
