Single Serve vs Full-Pot Brewers: When Is Each Appropriate?
Whether making coffee at home or providing it for the office, today’s coffee drinkers can choose between standard full-pot brewers or single serve machines. The single serve machine has enjoyed a surge of popularity over the last five or six years. However, are these the best choice? It turns out both kinds of brewers have their advantages and disadvantages. Let us look at when each one is appropriate.
Maximum Convenience
The strongest selling point for single serve coffee is convenience. Just make sure the tank is filled with water, place a pod in the machine, and press the button. In under two minutes, you have a single cup of hot, fresh coffee ready to go. There are no filters to worry about, no baskets to empty, no pots to burn, etc.
Convenience is a big factor in many offices where the ‘coffee person’ used to be designated to make sure the coffee area was clean and there was enough product on hand. Nevertheless, with a single server machine, that person’s duties are now considerably less.
Flavor Choices
The single serve machine is also appropriate in environments in which coffee drinkers prefer different flavors. With a full pot brewer, switching flavors throughout the day requires cleaning out filter baskets and pots. It also means the majority of the coffee drinkers in the office need to appreciate the flavor chosen for a particular pot in order to avoid waste. A single server machine eliminates all of the hassles of different flavors by containing a single serving in each pod.
Cost Comparison
Full pot brewers have been around for decades. These have long been the choice for companies providing coffee service to their employees because they are so cost-effective. If you are trying to stay within a strict coffee budget, the full-pot brewer is a more appropriate choice.
According to a 2012 report from The Kitchn, coffee is significantly more expensive when purchased in individual pots or capsules. Some of the more expensive brands can run $50 per pound or more. According to experts, people do not tend to think about this because they are only thinking about the price per cup. Nonetheless, even that is pretty expensive.
If you purchase a box of 12 pods for $12, that’s one dollar per cup. However, if you buy a case of 42 packets at 1.5 ounces each for $42, the full-pot price comes out to just under $0.09 per cup.
In the end, it comes down to the question of cost versus convenience. If you want to spend as little as possible on coffee for your home or office, stick with a full pot brewer and your favorite off-the-shelf coffee. If you are looking for convenience, and you do not mind paying for it, go with a single server machine. Galaxie carries both. As a leading provider of office coffee and beverage service in the New York area, we are proud to offer our customers a full range of choices in equipment, beverages, and allied products.