Coffee service refers to the many and various styles in which

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

is made available to people, such as in restaurants and hotels. In particular, it sometimes refers to the set of dishes and vessels utilized to serve and consume coffee, akin to the notion of a

tea service A tea set or tea service is a collection of matching teaware and related utensils used in the preparation and serving of tea. The traditional components of a tea set may vary between societies and cultures. History China The accepted his ...

. Coffee service is also a catch-all term for services related to the delivery of coffee to employees of a

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

at low or no cost to them. Providing coffee to employees is popular among employers since employees will likely not leave the workplace to purchase coffee, subsequently reducing lost work time. Employers also see coffee service as a perk with a low cost.

Coffee services

Vending

Some companies, with high traffic of visitors and employees, opt to install a coffee dispenser (

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise m ...

) as their coffee service. Typically these machines give the user the choice of various types of coffee,

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

and

hot chocolate Hot Chocolate are a British soul band formed by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. The group had at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1984. Their hits include " You Sexy Thing", a UK number two which also made ...

even fresh food and confectionery. Money collected is usually kept by the employer to offset the cost of the maintenance contract and for the purchase of the

instant coffee Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. The product was first invented in Inver ...

used by the machine. However, sometimes companies make the coffee from such machines free. The coffee dispensed by these machines is usually considered to be of low quality.

Electric coffee maker

Another option is to use an automatic

espresso Espresso (, ) is a concentrated form of coffee produced by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Originating in Italy, espresso has become one of the most popular coffee-brewing methods worldwide. It is cha ...

or drip coffee maker which grinds the coffee beans and dispenses the coffee into a cup. These machines do not charge per cup, but often provide a bypass slot where the employee can add their own coffee beans. By providing low quality beans, employees can be encouraged to provide their own beans. The cost of the maintenance contract still falls on the employer, however it is about the same as the cost of the machine per year.

"Frac pacs"

An increasingly popular preparation offered by coffee service providers is known as a ''frac pac''. This is ground coffee in a self-contained packet, enveloped by a filter. This allows a conventional drip coffee maker to be used, but without the mess of cleaning out the old grounds and without the requirement to measure out the right amount of coffee. The user only needs remove the old pack and to place the new pack into their coffee machine. The downside of such a service is quality of the coffee. Unless canned, coffee needs to be brewed within the first week of

roasting Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizat ...

and within four hours of grinding for the best quality. Since local roasters will generally not have a filter enveloping machine, these packs are shipped great distances and may be weeks old before they even arrive at the office.

Onsite espresso bars

Some companies now provide on their premises full espresso bars where employees or contractors provide a full range of espresso drinks, free of charge or at company-

subsidized A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...

prices.

References