Top 4 Tips For Setting Up Your Office Coffee Station
Posted 03/03/2020
6 minute read
By Konrad Gessler
If you want to create an awesome office coffee set-up that feels like something special and runs smoother than Nutella, you’ve come to the right place. We will share some of the best tips for setting up your office coffee station, grounded in our years of experience and user experience background.
Step 1) Nail The Fundamentals
Water, power and space. No, I’m not talking about a remake of Avatar. These are the fundamentals of your office coffee station!
Water:
Over 98% of your coffee is water. You need to get this right if you want a great office coffee station. There are two things to consider with water; filtration and access.
Filtration
Over time, water can cause your coffee machines to run poorly and clog up. In areas with “hard water”, or water with a high concentration of minerals, this becomes even more important. Sorry Utah.
Therefore, when setting up your office coffee station, you need to keep filtration in mind. If your machine connects directly to a waterline (also called “a plumbed in machine”), make sure the water is flowing through a filter (like this one) before it gets into the machine. Whoever you work with to plumb in your machine should be able to take care of this.
If your machine is not connected directly to a water line, a good practice will be to descale your machine every 2 weeks using a cleaning product called Cafiza. This stuff is magic and will prevent hard water from clogging up your machine.
Access
The second thing to consider for water is accessibility. The distance between your coffee machine and its water supply can make or break your system. If your machine has a water tank that needs to be refilled, you’ll want it close enough to a water source so you can easily refill it. Never use your coffee pot to fill fresh water into the machine! Always use a separate, clean vessel.
Power:
Coffee machines need to be plugged in! Right? Yes. But, they are not the only things that need power in your office kitchen or breakroom. Your coffee grinder will also need a power source. Not to mention a dishwasher, a hot water kettle… Things can get crowded real quick. That’s why it’s important to properly plan out your outlets and cable flow for your office coffee station. Here are a few tips for planning your power situation.
Minimize the distance between your outlet and devices
Use cable organizers (like this) to prevent an ugly mess
Space:
The most important fundamental to nail when setting up your office coffee station is space. Why? Space can make an office coffee station seem inviting or chaotic. It can cause frustration or spark joy. So here are some things to consider with your space.
Step 2) Plan Out Your “Bar Flow” Ahead of Time
One of the most important concepts in running a cafe is “bar flow”. A proper bar flow ensures that baristas and other staff are able to efficiently talk to customers, take orders and prepare drinks. Bar flow can make or break a cafe’s operations. Your office kitchen or break room is not a full scale cafe, but the concept of bar flow still applies (we’ve actually built cafes inside of offices, but that’s a different story).
After all, you don’t want something like this happening.
The first thing you need to decide for bar flow is whether you want to encourage people to “grab and go”, or whether the office coffee station is a place to take a quick break. That decision will change how you want to manage your bar flow.
For “grab and go” office coffee stations…
Think about where most people are coming from to get to the office coffee station, and where they are going after they have their coffee. Set up your station to work work with this natural flow, not against it. For example, try to place the mugs on the route most people come when walking to the kitchen or breakroom, and place all the stuff people put in their coffee on the side of the machine that makes it easier to get where they need to go with their coffee.
Avoid storing mugs directly above the coffee machines. If everything is in the same place your flow can get jammed up, and it’s easier for things to get spilled when people start reaching over each other
During the morning rush hour, brew just a bit more coffee than you’ll think you need and leave it in thermal containers like an airpot, or a carafe like this, so people can quickly get their coffee and get back to work.
For “take a quick break office coffee stations”...
Consider offering multiple options like different coffee types, specialty drinks or tea so people know it’s ok to take their time and choose
Place some form of tables and chairs very close to the coffee machine to signal that it’s ok to take your cup and sit once they have their cup
Decorate the coffee station and tables with plants so it’s more likely people will stay
Step 3) Make Everything Super Simple To Use
You would be surprised what coffee shenanigans happen in offices. A few notable examples:
Brewing a second pot of coffee through used grounds from the previous pot
Using half as much coffee as recommended for a pot causing a phenomena called “coffee tea” where you’re actually not sure what you’re drinking
Attempting to change the grinder setting by taking it apart, breaking it, and attempting to put it back together (instead of turning a dial)
Bottom line, people are busy and don’t have the time to make a high quality pot of coffee or learn how to operate the machines. That’s why it’s so important to make your entire office coffee station super simple to use. There should be very little room for error. Here’s how you can achieve that:
Design simple instructions with lots of visuals that invite people to use the machine, rather than intimidate them or bore them
Avoid set-ups that require people to measure or scoop coffee to brew a pot. This leads to inconsistent quality, bickering and confusion
If you are using a grinder, put a sticker on it for the preferred setting of your coffee machine (most likely medium coarse) so that people don’t constantly change it
Create a Coffee Channel in Slack or whatever your office uses, where people can announce freshly brewed coffee, hype up a new coffee variety that’s in the office, and remind each other to do things (like compost or throw out used coffee grounds)
Step 4) Give Your Office Coffee Station “Flair” So People Want To Use It
Everyone deserves great coffee at work. Doesn’t matter what other perks your office offers (if any). Coffee is a small thing that can compound into a much larger experience which makes people happy to come to work. The best part is, you don’t have to spend a crazy amount of your office budget to make it happen. These two tips can add flair and don’t require significant investment.
Create and display simple menus that explain what coffee people are drinking and where it comes from.
Rotate the type of coffee in the office so people can discover new types and compare flavor profiles
So there you have it, all the keys to success. If you want a service that takes all of this off your plate so you can continue to worry about your day job reach out to us!