Some companies have one person (usually a receptionist) whose responsibility it is to make coffee in the morning and clean the pot in the afternoon, while others rotate that responsibility among various employees. Whoever does it, no one wants a cup of joe that tastes bland or bitter. In order to get the best cup, the machine that makes it needs to be clean and of top quality.

Is your company ready for a new office coffee maker?

You can tell if it’s time to buy a new office coffee maker when you notice that the product coming out of it is barely drinkable. People will start complaining that it tastes terrible, even when laden with a ton of cream and sugar, and many of them may just start going to Starbucks in the morning before work, which could cause them to show up late.

If you try cleaning the machine thoroughly, inside and out, and still get an inferior or downright disgusting taste from your java, then you know it’s time to purchase a new machine.

But which kind of office coffee maker is best for your company? You want something that’s cost effective (after all, it’s a recession out there!), but that produces a quality cup. There’s really no need to go for some kind of fancy French press version or pod machine. All you really need is a typical drip version that’s brand new, clean, and comes with a good warranty.

Companies have been using these for years, and they still typically produce the best results for the least amount of money. You just need to realize that with the frequent use a machine in a business environment gets, there will inevitably be a build-up of residue that will be hard to clean off. So buying a new machine every few years is going to be a necessity.

You just don’t have to spend a fortune to keep your employees well-caffeinated and happy.

photo credit: vieux bandit

Most of the people start their day with a cup of coffee, and so everyone prefers to have their own personalized coffee tumbler. Many would even want to carry them around along with them. The insulated travel coffee tumblers that commuters love to carry around can keep any beverage hot or cold for hours. A leak proof and and easy to hold thermos coffee tumbler is a popular coffee accessory.

One can get to choose from a wide variety of these tumblers. There are available in so many designs, shapes, sizes and materials. Each country has a special ethnic kind of tumbler, for example a stainless steel tumbler is the most popular used in the southern parts of India. But no tumbler is good enough until you fill it up with nice hot coffee.

With everyone using these tumblers for coffee there is a huge audiences for commercial or personalized tumblers. Most coffee tumblers have enough space product advertising. Sometimes these tumblers with advertisements on it are given away freely for the advertising value it’s got. Many companies are now making customized coffee tumblers for their particular brand of store like that of Starbucks or Nestle.

Coffee tumblers can specially designed for establishments and hotels in many places so that they can entice customers. Many companies also use the custom made coffee tumblers as gifts or a hand out to their employees. Customized coffee mugs make a wonderful gift idea.

With the advent of technology now it’s made a simple procedure to customize the exterior of the tumbler by ourselves. These tumblers when made with a special material can then be decorated later on with various cuttings from their scrap book and finally making a super personalized tumbler. Now there are ready made stickers and transfer that even a child can use on a white plain ceramic coffee tumbler.

The best way to gift someone with a coffee tumbler is by customizing with their picture on the white ceramic tumbler or mug. You can also make use of the porcelain paint markers to create simple designs on the surface.

The advantages of using your own grinder are:

• You can prepare just the amount of grounds that you need immediately.
• You can experiment with different grinds to find the one you like best.
• You can be sure that the coffee you grind at home will always be fresher than packaged coffee grounds.

The disadvantages are:

• You have the added expense of buying a coffee grinder, but keep in mind that it is a one time expenditure.
• You will need to take a little extra time to grind your own beans.
• You may find the whole grinding process a bit noisy and messy.

Basically there are three types of grinders: crusher, blade, and burr.

Crushers use the brute force method: mashing the beans a bit like an old-fashioned mortar and pestle. The resulting grounds are far from uniform size. Avoid the crusher style grinder if you can.

Blade grinders are really choppers not grinders. The blade whirls through the beans slicing them into smaller and smaller sections until the beans are the size of small grains of sand. Alas the grains are too big and hardly uniform in size.

Since the granules are uneven the amount of oils released when brewed is unpredictable. The slicing process generate excess heat which can affect the aroma and flavor of the coffee grounds.

Burr grinders are the best choice for home use. The plates of the burr grinders grind the beans into a uniformly small  granule. The better burr grinders make it possible to adjust size of the coffee grains and control the grinding speed.

Burr grinders make it possible to ‘fine tune’ the size of grounds for the desired brew. Some brewing methods require a finer grind in order to achieve the best results. Controlling the grinder speed keeps the warming to a minimum.

When shopping for a home coffee grinder look for one that is easy to clean, solidly constructed, and relatively quiet. The grinder should come with removable upper burrs and a cleaning brush.

A few other controls make grinding your own beans a lot easier; a timer switch and automatic shutoff control are nice additions. If you want to monitor the whole process visually, avoid dark plastic or glass. The color of the grounds can be an indicator of the fineness of the grind.

Read reviews and spend a little time comparing machines and you will find a machine that produces the grind you prefer in your own kitchen.

If you like the convenience of shopping online, Amazon offers a variety of coffee grinders in a wide range of prices.

Updated July 14, 2009

Large coffee makers can brew thirty or more cups of coffee at once. This can be a huge benefit when you do a lot of entertaining in your home or for a business in saving time in having to brew a multiple of pots. Here are some great tips that will help consumers and business owners in deciding on purchasing the perfect large coffee maker.

Features: One of the first things that you should consider when you purchase a large coffee maker is the features that will benefit your home or business.

1. Coffee level indicator offers an easy way to tell when the coffee is getting low and you need to make more.
2. Freshness indicator lets you know how long the coffee has been brewed and so you check to see when folks being to get a stale cup of coffee.
3. Adjustable warming feature will keep the coffee at just the right temperature
4. Cup trip handle make one hand dispensing easy.

Consumers should consider all these different features and decide which ones they need or don’t need when they are ready to purchase their large coffee maker.

Budget: Consider how much you want to spend when you make your purchase and shop around for the best deal. There are many different choices when it comes to large coffee makers and several different price ranges.

Brewing Capacity: Since the large coffee makers can brew anywhere from thirty cups to one hundred cups, consider which one would best suit your needs before you purchase one. A thirty cup coffee maker might be just perfect for your home when you have a dinner party or guests over. However, a business may need a hundred cup coffee maker to keep their customers happy and the coffee easily flowing.

Brand: Do some investigating and decide which brand is the best one for you. Read reviews of consumer that have purchased each brand. There are many different brand names of large coffee makers out there. DeLonghi, Hamilton Beach, West Bend, Bunn, Krups and Saeco are just few brands that are listed on the market. The top selling large capacity coffee makers on Amazon are:

• West Bend 58030 12-30 Automatic Party Perk
• West Bend 58002 12-42 Cup Automatic Party Perk
• West Bend 33600 100-Cup Commercial Coffee Urn
• Hamilton Beach 40515 42-Cup Coffee Urn, Silver
• DeLonghi DCU500T 50-Cup-Capacity Stainless-Steel Coffee Urn

Large coffee makers can help trim the cost of providing coffee by brewing more efficiently, saving electricity, and cutting down on the amount of time people spend making repeated pots of coffee. Isn’t it time you considered buying one for your home or business?

There are a few things to consider when deciding to buy one. First is the price or affordability. A single serve coffee machine may not be that easy on the pocket. The most recent models are definitely higher in price compared to the older ones. Expensive, yes, but the quality is outstanding. So when talking about reliability and durability, expensive coffee makers may be worth the price.

Second, functionality is also a major consideration. Don’t we always consider this when we buy any gadget or appliance? Of course we do.

Third, some folks are pretty particular about the design and appearance of their kitchen appliances. So this could also be another factor to consider.

Lastly, and this you have to give it much thought, just how important is your need or desire for a single serve coffee machine for yourself.

Let’s pinpoint the top ranking single serve coffee machines in the market.

Topping the list are the K-cup selections, particularly the Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System. As a pioneer in the single-cup market, the Keurig coffee makers still remain to be popular in this coffee maker segment. Keurig machines have simple, user-friendly controls, attractive-looking style and conduct fast brewing on desired brew strength or temperature. It has three brew sizes settings: 5.75 oz more intense cup for extremely rich coffee taste, 7.25 oz regular cup for a typical or traditional coffee taste, and 9.25 oz travel mug for taller mugs. Its enhanced features include a digital clock with a programmable on/off timer, blue backlit LCD display and water reservoir, chrome handle and faceplate, descale indicator for longer machine life, and fast brewing, three minutes after turned on. Even after 100 cups brewed, the machine doesn’t easily get grimy.

Tassimo Beverage System produces sophisticated line of coffee makers. Tassimo coffee machines have bar codes that automatically adjust brewing temperature, procedure, and amount of coffee. Two of its top models are the Braun Tassimo TA 1400 Hot Beverage System and the Bosch Tassimo Suprema.

Then there’s Senseo Single Serve Coffee Machine. Its latest is the Senseo HD7832 Supreme Single-Serve Gourmet Coffeemaker. What makes the Senseo unique among all the coffee makers is that each cup has a delicious-looking frothy head which makes it seem like the not-regular-looking type of coffee. It can brew two coffee cups simultaneously. Also, the Senseo has a remarkable design and small compact form that doesn’t occupy much space in your kitchen or in the office. However, it cannot brew steamed milk beverages.

If price is no object and you want a typical functionality and simple design, then the BUNN MCP1 My Cafe Single-Serve Coffee/Tea Pod Brewer is a good choice. This maker produces great coffee or tea. One of its best features is that it doesn’t limit to just one line of coffee pods.