Many, if not all, of the table top bean to cup coffee machines that we supply offer a hot water facility. Often the machine will not produce tea and so it is assumed that this hot water button can be used to produce tea, using a tea bag. In theory this is true, however it does sometimes present problems.
When using a manually filled bean to cup coffee machine such as the some of the Jura range, regular use of the hot water button will simply deplete the hot water tank very quickly, meaning that you will have to very regularly fill it up. Probably more regularly than is practical.
Obviously you could go for a plumbed in coffee machine such as the Jura Giga X9 or the Korinto bean to cup machine. This does solve the problem of having to constantly fill up the water tank. However there are still issues as regular use of the hot water button on these machines will lead to down times where the machine is heating up. When cold water is introduced into the tank, for instance after use of the hot water button has depleted the tank, the machine will have to heat the hot tank back up. While this is happening you will be unable to use the machine. In some instances, such as in an office, this is not necessarily the end of the world. However in a busy café or restaurant this is a problem.
In order to minimise the times when your coffee machine is out of action because it is heating we would suggest one of two things. You can either go for a very high capacity machine with two hot tanks, such as the Kobalto bean to cup machine, or you can add a hot water boiler to take some of the strain off of the coffee machine. It also means that if your coffee machine does break down for any reason you still have the ability to produce hot water.
We have found that if you are renting a bean to cup coffee machine a hot water boiler is a very good idea and will head off a raft of potential problems, particularly if you dispense a lot of hot water. If you would like to discuss renting a coffee machine and hot water boiler please call the office.
