Coffee Break - Home and Office Coffee Machine News and Information

Caffe Latte Anyone?

August 5, 2008 – 11:41 am

A caffe latte is literally a “milky coffee” - espresso with both a steamed milk and milk froth.

A key part of the the traditional Italian breakfast where they are served in a bowl accompanied by your favorite pastry or biscotti, you are unlikely to see caffe lattes severed in Italian cafes except to foreigners.

Caffe latte and it’s variation the flat white are today two of the most popular espresso coffee drinks served from cafe’s and Office Coffee Machines throughout Australia.

Caffe Latte Australian Version
Extract 30mls of espresso into lattee glass
Pour creamy textured milk into glass leaving 1cm of foam
draw crema to the surface of the coffee

Variations
8oz cup - 1 shot of coffee
12oz cup - 2 shots of coffee
16oz cup - 3 shots of coffee

About the Author:

Paul and Cathy Ballardin are the founders of Coffee Shrine , Australia’s premier Coffee Machine, Office Coffee Machine and Coffee Vending Machine specialists.

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Office Coffee Machine - New product Launch – HLF Aroma 3500F Modena with Fresh Milk

June 24, 2008 – 10:00 am

Compact - Stylish - Reliable - Revolutionary!

The new HLF Aroma 3500F Modena Coffee Machine is the latest bean to cup fresh milk offering in the HLF range. This fresh milk version of the popular HLF 3500 is an ideal Office Coffee Machine for work places of up to 45 staff where size, style and features are important.
In addition to fresh beans, the HLF 3500F Modena features 3 instant powder canisters - perfect for Hot Chocolate, Chai, Soup or Decaffeinated or flavoured Coffee - a unique feature that is usually reserved for much larger and more expensive Office Coffee machines. And the in built autonomous water tank with 3 litre capacity means the Modena can be installed anywhere - perfect for smaller kitchens or where a mains water supply is not readily available.
The look is stunningly elegant and modern continuing on the same stunning silver / black themes of the existing HLF Office Coffee Machine range - where , technology and modern Italian design blend together perfectly in the HLF Aroma 3500F Modena.
A simple to use single puch button system the HLF Aroma 3500F Modena features:

• 12 drink selections and 3 pre selections
• 600 grams storage for fresh beans - enough for 75 coffees
• 3 Instant powder canisters
• 3 Litre autonomous water tank
• Optional base cabinet

The HLF Aroma 3500F Modena Office Coffee System is available from August 2008 from Coffee Shrine: Australia’s premier Office Coffee Machine Specialist

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Office Coffee Machines - 2008’s must have end of financial year capital item

June 19, 2008 – 10:37 pm

High interest rate, petrol prices and inflation outside the reserve bank’s comfort zone. These are not typically the economic conditions that you would expect would to accompany a significant rise in sales of luxury capital equipment items such as Office Coffee Machines.

But then again, are Office Coffee Machines still a luxury item, or are they becoming an essential in maintaining a competitive and rewarding Office Environment.

“Despite the doom and gloom we are hearing about every day, this June has seen a 30% increase in sales of high end Office Coffee Machine’s over the same period last year,” said Cathy Ballardin, National Sales director for one of Australia’s leading Office Coffee Players, Coffee Shrine. “We are experiencing a record number of leads every day and we have had to boost the number of installation technicians in most states over the last 3 months.

The apparent boom in Office Coffee Machine sales is appearing to be counter cyclical to general spending in the economy. A highly competitive labour market and employers ooking for productivity increases are cited as the top reasons why more and more organisations are considering this sort of capital expenditure as an investment rather than a cost to their business.

Brands such as Saeco, HLF, N&W Necta, Schaerer and Isomac are all reporting strong year on year growth and smaller office coffee companies seem to be feeling the pinch - struggling to meet demand.

About the Author: Paul Ballardin is the founder of Coffee Shrine - Australia’s Premier Office Coffee Machine Specialists.

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Saeco Authorised Service Centres and Repairers

June 4, 2008 – 10:27 pm

If you are in Australia and your Saeco Coffee Machine is not working as it should or you need to make a warranty claim, you will need to get in touch with a Saeco Authorised Service Centre or repairer.

Your Saeco Service Centre is the first stop for all Saeco coffee machine queries and Warrnty repair claims.

VICTORIA

Brighton Coffee Machine Services

603 Hawthorn Rd, Brighton East | Ph. 03 9597 9099

CMR Coffee Machine Repairs

9/306 Albert St, Brunswick | Ph. 9380 2112

Dr Bean

4 Sturtons Lane, Long Gully, Bendigo | Ph. 03 5442 8812

East Link Espresso Repairs

11/603 Boronia Rd, Wantirna | Ph. 03 9738 2516

Farquhars

38 Hadfield St, Bairnsdale | Ph. 03 5152 6144

Glenn’s Coffee Repairs

2 Campbell Street, Shepparton | Ph. 03 5831 2566

Sunshine Coffee Machine Services

21 The Avenue, Ardeer | Ph. 03 9361 2075

S&P

8 Gibbs Rd, Colignan, Mildura | Ph. 0429 951 978

The Bean Barn

217 Sturt St, Ballarat (Drop off only) | Ph. 03 5334 4449

The Coffee Man Shop

409 Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre, Geelong | Ph. 03 5244 1410

Westgate Coffee Machines

78 Hudson Rd, Spotswood | Ph. 03 9391 4237

TASMANIA

Quality Equipment

53 Federal St, North Hobart | Ph. 6234 8300

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Saeco South Australia

18 Croydon Rd, Keswick | Ph. 08 8297 5799

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Espresso Italia

67-69 Scarborough Beach Rd, North Perth | Ph. 08 9201 1350

ACT

Frozpack

16 Tralee Street, Hume | Ph. 02 6260 1711

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Denver Enterprises

PO Box 36895, Winnellie | Ph. 08 8984 4428

NEW SOUTH WALES

Bravo Repair Centre

5/2 Bishop St, St Peters | Ph. 02 9516 0333

Clifford Electrical

2/21 Dehavilland Crescent, Ballina | Ph. 02 6686 2638

Coffee Fix

Shop 6 Central Av, South Nowra | Ph. 02 4423 5353

Coffee Tech

5/24 Enterprise Drive, Beresfield | Ph. 02 4966 4382

Essential Coffee Services

60 Kitchener Pde, Bankstown | Ph. 02 9742 6622

Euro Coffee and Appliances

11 Beach Rd, Batemans Bay | Ph. 02 4472 8338

JP Distributors

152 Church St, Wollongong | Ph. 02 4229 9523

Premier Products Australia

16-17/12 Mars Rd, Lane Cove | Ph. 02 9420 2007

Ronita Catering Equipment

316 Hume Highway, Liverpool | Ph. 02 9600 6779

QUEENSLAND

Appliance Spare and Repairs

151 Victoria St, Mackay | Ph. 07 4951 1766

Beverage Marketing

Shop 1A/4 Mammoth Business Centre 7172 Bruce Highway,

Forest Glen, Sunshine Coast | Ph. 07 5476 8400

Cairns Power Tool Service

Shop 1 /19 Donaldson St, Cairns | Ph. 07 4031 2638

DAR, Downs Appliance Repairs

123 Campbell St, Toowoomba | Ph. 07 4632 0366

Flexible Technologies

1/9-11 Babdoyle St, Loganholme, Brisbane | Ph. 07 3451 2400.

Regal Coffee Company

110 Scarborough St, Southport, Gold Coast | Ph. 07 5591 5323

Robinson Appliance Service & Spares

41 Harold St, West End, Townsville | Ph. 07 4771 2131

This information is provided by Coffee Shrine, Australia’s premier Saeco Coffee Machine  Specialist

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Product Review - HLF Trevisio

June 4, 2008 – 7:30 pm

The HLF Aroma 4500F Treviso automatic office coffee machine is a high capacity fresh milk machine. The machine combines an automatic milk frothing and heating device that runs to an external milk cooler. This office coffee machine can also produce hot chocolate and another hot beverage of choice in addition to your favorite espresso coffee drinks. Fresh coffee beans are ground for each cup to provide the perfect espresso, cappuccino or latte.

The HLF Treviso is perfect for an office or catering event where cup after cup of the highest quality coffee needs to be produced with an excellent taste. With 12 different drink selections available in 3 different sizes you’ll never be short of choices and flexibility. An easy to use computerised interface allows you full flexibility for programming your own drink selections and tracking usage a great feature of your office coffee machine.

The option of either an internal 5 litre water tank or connection to a mains water supply will cater for a wide range of usage requirements. The HLF Aroma 4500F Treviso will automatically detect whether you’re using the tank or the water connection without any user input.

Liquid waste is reduced and safety enhanced with the built in cup sensor which detects the presence (or absence) of a cup and stops dispensing drinks unless a cup is in place. This is a great safety feature. The key machine features are:

• fresh milk
• 12 selections
• 3 drink sizes
• cup sensor
• 1.8kg freshly ground beans
• 2 powders (chocolate, soup/decaf/chai)
• 5 litre water tank
• dimensions(HxWxD): 544 x 440 x 530 mm
• cup size: up to 14oz
• water line connection
• optional payment system
• optional base cabinet

The HLF Treviso office coffee machine is available from Coffee Shrine who can arrange a demonstration in your office in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane.

In summary, the unique and stylish design of the HLF Trevisio results in an office coffee machine that’s easy to use and easy to maintain. The internal mixer bowls are self-cleaning, requiring very little maintenance. The smooth baked enamel surfaces are also very easy to clean. The full metal construction underlies the robust reliability of this wonderful coffee machine.

The Aroma Treviso comes with a 1yr, 100,000 cup parts warranty.

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Descaling or Decalcifying Coffee Machines

April 23, 2008 – 10:09 pm

We receive a large number of queries about the mysteries of descaling Coffee Machines so we have put togther the following guide based on our experience with a extensive range of Coffee Machine Brands and Models.

General Mandatory Disclaimer:

The following is a General Guide only on descaling (sometimes called decalcifying) your Coffee Machine. Please always follow your manufacturer’s directions as failure to do so may void you warranty

Ok, so now that we have that out of the way.

1. Always, always use the right descaling products.

Coffee Shrine sell and recommend Cafetto Organic Descaling products. Descalers or coffee machine cleaners purchased at supermarkets may not be suitable for your machine and the use of vinegar is prohibited by almost all manufacturers and may void your warranty. Avoid commercial back flushing chemicals as home, office and vending espresso coffee machines should never be back flushed like commercial machines.

2. Consult your instruction manual.

3. Dissolve your Descaling or Decalcifying product in a container first and the pour into the water tank.

Never add descaling powder direct into your Coffee Machine the water tank as the undissolved crystals of chemical may enter the filter & pump and restrict flow of water. In fully automatic coffee machines, restricted flow of water will display red flashing warning lights or a digital display sign. A Ventilate message may appear and shut your machine down – you get the picture.

4. Remove the water tank prior to adding your dissolved descaling solution.

In many automatic machines, the coffee bean hopper is adjacent to the water tank. The descaling solution water can also be accidentally be poured into the bean hopper and damage to the grinder. Do not fill the water when the tank it is on the machine.

5. In twin boiler machines make sure you descale both sides.

Water passage in most double boiler machines is separate for the hot water dispensed from the steam pipe or auto frother and the hot water dispensed when extracting coffee. Make sure to flush the descaling solution through both sides, alternatively. In many fully automatic models, a pre-programmed descaling cycle may be incorporated into the machine. The electronic descaling completes only half the job by flushing the descaling solution through the steam pipe only. It is very important to also flush the descaling solution from the coffee extraction water system. Where available use the bypass doser. When a bypass doser is not available, do not hesitate to descale by making shots of coffee. In semi automatic models make shots of coffee without any ground coffee in the filter basket.

6. Turn machine on for 30 seconds to warm up just a bit. Flush one cup of descaling solution from steam pipe and the turn machine off. After a pause of 3 to 4 minutes turn machine on again and make one large (pretend) coffee. Repeat this process until all of the solution in the tank is used up.

This method is best both for semi-automatic & fully automatic espresso machines.

7. When the descaling solution is all used up, rinse the water tank and fill with fresh clean filtered water.

Flush the descaling solution out from the water system in the machine (both sides – the steam side and the coffee side). Repeat the rinsing process alternatively until at least one to 2 tanks of water is used up to flush the chemicals out.

Caution:

1. Do not leave the machine before completing the rinsing with clean water.

The solution left inside will corrode & tarnish metallic surfaces.

2. In an office environment place a do not use sign on the machine during descaling operations and do not remove until the chemicals have been completely flushed out with fresh water.

3. Do not leave any chrome plated objects submerged in descaling solution for more than 10 seconds as the chrome will dissolve and leave the item permanently corroded and black.

4. Do not leave descaling solution un-used in any container as it can be accidentally mistaken as water causing discomfort and serious irritation to the teeth and digestive tract.

About the Aurthor:

Cathy Ballardin is the founder of Coffee Shrine - Australia’s Premier Office Coffee Machine Specialists.

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Choosing a Coffee Vending Machine

April 16, 2008 – 5:27 pm

Coffee Vending Machines have many forms, features and brands and choosing the most suitable one for your office or workplace can seem to be an imposing task.

It is easy to be dazzled by the endless array of features and options it may even take a while to understand the language used by your Coffee Vending Machine provider. See out article Coffee Vending Machine - Useful Facts

We have prepared the following guide to assist you in determining the features and capacities that you require in your Coffee Vending Machine. Once you are clear about exactly what you need it becomes simple for us to help you identify which Vending Machine or Machines best match these requirements.

Step 1: Choose your preferred beverages

The most important first step is for you to determine the types of beverages you want to serve from your Coffee Vending Machine. Options include but are not limited to:

• Fresh Bean Coffee and Fresh Bean Decaffeinated Coffee
• Instant Coffee and Instant Decaffeinated Coffee
• Hot Chocolate, Mochaccino, Chai and Flavoured Coffees
• Hot water
• Hot Milk
• Soups

The number of choices you make will determine the number of canisters required – but there is a catch. In most good Vending Machines dried powders and water are combined in “mixing bowls” that can usually receive powders from multiple canisters prior to being dispensed. It is important to be aware that strong flavoured drinks cannot share the same mixing bowl as more delicately flavoured drinks - Spring Onion soup does not enhance the flavour of you Chai.

Step 2: Fresh Milk, Dried Milk or Both

Fresh Milk requires refrigeration, some additional mik frothing equipment, additional storage and more diligent cleaning – both the up front equipment cost and ongoing consumable cost are higher than with dried milk.

Dried Milk can come in a number of forms including granulated, powdered, skim, non-dairy and frothing varieties.

While fresh milk may be the first choice, the quality the dried milk has improved remarkably over recent times and in many cases it may be hard to distinguish the difference when a top quality dried milk is used in your Coffee Vending Machine.

Step 3: Tanked or Plumbed

Plumbed units do not need refilling so provide the greatest capacity of drinks for high volume or hassle free applications. These units are connected to mains water supply, usually through a set up that includes pressure reducer, water filter and stop tap or valve. Obviously the Coffee Machine needs to be located near a water supply.

Tanked units may operate from a gravity fed tank that can be filled by a hose, jug or bucket or they can use larger water tanks that can be placed in the base of the machine and utilise a small pump to feed the water into the machine for dispensing.

It must also be remembered that plumbed machines must be located near a mains water supply while tanked machines can be moved around without fuss.

Step 4: Storage Capacity

The storage capacity of the Coffee Vending Machine, including the amount of dried powders, coffee beans, milk and water is one of your most critical criteria for determining the type of Vending machine that best suits your application.

At a minium it is critical that during peoples of high use, such as morning tea and during lunch breaks, your Coffee Vending Machine can store sufficient quantity of hot beverages to minimise the need to refill.

Step 5: Dispending Capacity

Equally important as the volume of ingredients stored by your Coffee Vending Machine is the rate at which the available selections can be dispensed. To this end it is important to understand your need in terms of cups-per-hour that will need to be made during peak consumption times.

The number of cups per hour required may impact your decision to provide fresh bean coffee - which may take 20-40 seconds to grind the beans, tamp the ground coffee, extract the coffee and add milk or water depending on the selection. In higher output locations it may be necessary to provide either instant machines or provide multiple machines.

Step 6: Dispensing of Cups, Straws and Stirrers

Coffee Vending Machines can be completely self contained and even dispense disposable cups, sugar and stirrers. The advantage of this type of machine is that all of the consumables are contained within the machine itself and the beverage selections can be programmed specifically for the vending cups that are used by the machine. This also eliminates the need for additional space to store and display cups, stirrers and sugar.

Step 7: Financing Your Purchase

The final consideration to make once you have identified a machine that fits your needs is to determine the most suitable method of financing your purchase. Financing options such as leasing and rental may have certain tax benefits and can be beneficial in matching the cash inflow from beverage sales with the cash outflow of the ongoing consumable cost and monthly lease or rental payments, or at the very least spread the cash outflow over the life of the machine - Read more about our equipment finance options

Coffee Shrine make choosing your Coffee Vending Machine simple!. once you have completed the evalutaion above our feature search and feature comparison functionality make it easy to compare your Coffee Vending Machine options.

Espress Enquiry Form

Show me the machines

See the original article from Coffee Shrine here…

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Useful Facts about Coffee Vending Machines

April 16, 2008 – 3:13 pm

Researching a Coffee Vending Machine can be a confusing and daunting task with an array of terms used to describe the myriad of feature. To help unravel the mystery of Coffee Vending Machines we have created the glossary below which will hopefully assist understand these simple, yet complex beasts.
Dimensions (Height x Weight x Depth)
The maximum amount of space that your Coffee Vending Machine physically consumes. When considering your space requirements it is also important to be aware of whether the machine requires additional room at the top - to fill beans or water - or sides - to fill vending consumables or clean the machine.
Number of selections
This is the number of pre-programmed options available on the machine. Your Coffee Vending Machine provider will programme your drinks selections to your desired requirements. Don’t forget that you may want to allocate preselections for hot water and hot milk in addition to your preferred beverages.
Numbers of pre selections
The preselections are buttons that are programmed to determine an option to use with your selection. For example, your Coffee Vending Machine may have 2 preselections for cups size - big cup and small cup. This would be selected prior to choosing your beverage.
Fresh bean or Bean to cup
Fresh bean Vending Machines store coffee beans that are automatically ground, dosed, tamped and extracted after make a coffee selection. While most fresh bean machines only provide for one type of bean, more sophisticated models may provide 2 bean hoppers so that the users can chose the option of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee drinks.
Coffee beans capacity
This is the physical holding capacity of the bean hopper, usually in grams. Many Coffee Vending Machines may also have the option of expanding the bean capacity.
Number of instant powder canisters
Instant powder canisters store and dispense dry vending powders that may be used in your beverage. In dry milk machine at least 1 canister must be allocated for milk powders or granules.

Instant powders can include instant coffee, specialty flavoured coffees, hot chocolate powders, chai, instant tea and soups. While the choices of beverages may seem unlimited in machines with a large number of canisters, for higher volume applications multiple canisters may also be used for the same powder to increase the time between restocking.
Additionally, multiple canisters may share the same mixing bowls - see next point - and care must be taken not to share mixing bowls between b flavoured powders - spring onion soup - with more delicate drinks such as Chai.
Mixing Bowl
The mixing bowl is where the action happens in your Coffee Vending Machine. When you choose a selection that uses a powder canister, the powder/s are dispensed into a mixing bowl, hot water is added to dissolve the powered then the solution is extracted into the cup. For example, in a machine where we may have a drinking chocolate, the selection of this drink would dispense hot chocolate powder and maybe even milk powder in to a mixing bowl, which is then combined with water and dispensed.

The mixing bowl / dried canister combinations are important factors for determining the number of drink varieties available from your machine.
Cup size fitting
The gap between your dispensing head and cup surface, cup holder or drip tray will determine what sized cups can be used with your machine. Some Coffee Vending Machines will have adjustable height cup holders and some will even have sufficient room for a coffee carafe or jug, while others may only be able to accommodate certain cup sizes.
Autonomous water tank
Coffee Vending Machines that are not located near a water supply or that need to be moved around may need an autonomous or internal water tank. In some cases this could be a gravity fed tank. In other cases, this could be a large water tank in the base stand of the machine with a small pump.
Water tank capacity
The water capacity of your water tank, usually measured in litres.
Mains water connection
A mains water connection will mean that you do not need to fill your Coffee Vending Machine with water. The setup will usually require a water filter, pressure reducer and stop valve or tap.
Payment system
Payment systems can be added to some Coffee Vending Machines. These systems can accommodate coins, or notes, or swipe cards, or a combination of the above.
Base cabinet
You Coffee Vending Machine may be bench top mounted or you may choose a free standing machine. Your free standing machine may require a base cabinet. Base cabinets can accommodate waste (water and ground coffee) or water can be plumbed to your drainage system. Base cabinets may also be able to accommodate spare consumables such as coffee, vending powders, cups, sugars, and stirrers.
Cup sensor
Cup sensors significantly reduce the amount of wet waste created by your Coffee Vending Machine. The machine will only dispense when the cup sensor detects your cup and as soon as a cup is removed, the machine will cease dispensing product.
Fresh milk system
Fresh milk systems have a separate milk boiler and frother unit. When using a fresh milk system, thought also needs to be given to milk refrigeration. In some vending machines milk refrigeration is internal where as in others a separate milk fridge or cooler may be required.

This information provided courtesty of Coffee Shrine. Read the orignal article here.

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Coffee Pod Machines

April 9, 2008 – 12:16 am

Coffee Pod Machines use Coffee Pods – vacuum sealed, pre dosed, pre tamped single portion of coffee. The Pod Machine uses a preset quantity of water so you get a perfect cup of coffee every time, in about a minute, with no messy coffee grounds.

Pound for pound Coffee Pod Machines tend to be a little more expensive than traditional coffee machines and cheaper than automatic coffee machines however the coffee pods are a little more expensive than buying ground coffee or fresh beans - though they can quickly pay for themselves if you’re in the habit of buying your drinks at the local coffee shop.

There are numerous different designs and styles of Coffee Pod Machines on the market however the basic idea is the same in each case. The ground coffee is sealed inside a disposable plastic pod with a small piece of filter paper inside. You put the pod into the machine, where it’s locked in place. When you switch on the machine, water heated to the ideal temperature is forced at high pressure through the coffee pod, releasing the flavour into the cup below.

In some pod machines, you put in a coffee pod followed by a milk pod to make a perfect cappuccino or latte; in others, you add the milk or cream separately just as you would with any other coffee-making method.

About the Aurthor:

Cathy Ballardin is the founder of Coffee Shrine - Australia’s Premier Office Coffee Machine Specialists.

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Coffee Shrine sponsors Child through World Vision

April 7, 2008 – 9:09 am

Coffee Shrine have recently taken over sponsorship of a 7 year old boy in Tanzania.

“Coffee is one of Tanzania’s major exports and is grown by 400,000 small household farmers. So the decision to choose a child from Tanzania was easy” says Coffee Shrine’s founder Cathy Ballardin.

“We are always looking at new ways to make our business heart reflect our own community vision. This sponsorship is one small way we can make a difference to one community in Tanzania”.

About the Aurthor:

Cathy Ballardin is the founder of Coffee Shrine - Australia’s Premier Office Coffee Machine Specialists.

Posted in Coffee News, Office Coffee | No Comments »