Coffee made simple

Let’s forget for a moment how we make coffee at home because in a commercial application your customer will expect the perfect cup.

Coffee put simply is the bean combined with water.

Let’s start with the water.
The water should be fresh,hot not boiled, and filtered.

The right water filter is often understated and should be considered carefully. Due to the expensive costs of equipment we would recommend a Scalegard Filter or if you have a large coffee macne then a Calcium Treatment Unit. Not only will it give you a great taste but correctly filtered water will protect and hep prolong your equipment life, please ask for advice.

There are a few methods for making coffee but in a commercial application there are two main routes.

Both use an Espresso machine, which simply heats the water to the correct temperature and pushes the correct amount of water through the coffee at high pressure.

The first method uses freshly ground coffee. There is always debate about the blend of coffee, this is a personal choice and we will leave that topic to debate another day. The coffee is ground and compacted in the group head of the espresso machine. Once the group head is attached to the machine water is then passed through the coffee at high pressure. Milk can then be added or not in a variety of ways. This method is the purest form of coffee making and requires just two further pieces of equipment.

Coffee grinder, this is an electric grinder available in a various sizes depending on use and changes the raw bean in to a ground powder.

Knock-out drawer, this is a simple as it sounds. A metalled heavy duty drawer thats used for catching the waster coffee ground.

The second method is much easier with espresso pots.
The equipment stays the same with just a modification to the group head, the espresso pot is a pre measure of coffee within a fabric pot that fits into the group head. There is no need to grind or keep fresh coffee and the training is simple in comparison.

Setiing up the equipment and training is very imprtant, poor results often come from a poor set up. Equally if your staff don`t know how, the coffee will tatse poor.
Our service team can set up your equipment and train your staff on the same day.

As important as making the coffee is cleaning.
Issues can arise quickly from poor cleaning. We have put together simple cleaning kit that will keep your equipment in top order.

This is by no means a definitive guide as this is such a large subject however we hope it is of use and interest.
This guide has been written by Advantage Catering Equipment.
Please feel free to borrow all or part however we do ask that you link back to us and give credit if used.