Office Coffee Makers

If you work in an office you know the importance of being properly caffeinated. Especially if you are a cube drone stuck behind a computer screen all day fighting to stay awake. Which is why all corporations should recognize the importance of providing a good selection of caffeinated beverages to their employees, and invest some money in a state of the art office coffee maker.

I’ve worked for companies where the office coffee maker is so filthy and old that no one but the most brave of souls dare drink from it. It is obvious the coffee maker has not been washed in ages, and this has to be evident in the taste of the coffee. I’ve also worked for companies where the office coffee maker is simply a fancy vending machine that charges money each time you want a beverage. This does nothing for workplace morale and the very idea of charging employees for coffee should be banished from all corporations. Free coffee is a worker’s right, not a privilege, and good coffee that doesn’t taste like an old tire is even better.

At one of the offices where I worked we had an office coffee maker that was free and meticulously maintained by a vending company. I think of this as the sole perk of an otherwise miserable and soul-sucking job. Every morning I would drop my bag off at my desk, fire up my computer and then head down to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. It was the highlight of my day. I didn’t have to bother making coffee at home because I knew the office coffee maker would be waiting for me each morning with the promise of a fresh, delicious cup of liquid energy. This fact alone made the job almost bearable.

I’ve worked for many companies over the years and have enough workplace experience to feel qualified to talk about good and bad office coffee makers. The bad coffee makers are the ones like you have at home. Someone, usually the first person into the office in the morning, makes a pot of coffee and everyone pours their own cups from it. The problem with this setup is that you are at the mercy of the early bird of the office, who may like coffee that is too strong or weak for your tastes. They also may choose to brew a pot of coffee in a flavor you hate, like hazelnut. This can be enough to ruin a caffeine addict’s whole morning.

The best kind of office coffee maker is the kind that brews individual cups of coffee and has a selection of flavors and strengths of coffee to choose from. Since everyone has vastly different tastes when it comes to coffee, the ability to brew the perfect cup, just the way you enjoy it, is enough to make even the most surly office worker happier in their job.