Filter coffee
Filter coffee is arguably the purest form of this internationally popular hot beverage, with water being allowed to work its way through freshly ground coffee beans and draw out all of the excellent flavour before falling into a receptacle below ready for serving. Some people choose to take the resultant coffee black, while others like to add milk, cream, sugar or a combination of the three to enjoy morning, noon or night.
Filter coffee is typically prepared using one of three main technologies. Paper filters have been around since the early 20th century when they were invented by a German and machines which use paper filters are arguably the easiest to maintain as you can put both the filter and its exhausted contents into the bin in one fell swoop. This does result in a slightly increased impact on the environment and paper filters are not universally available, so in some countries metallic perforated filters are used. Modern coffee machines intended to produce filter coffee will use plastic meshes as permanent filters. Like the metal filters these require more maintenance than those which have disposable paper inserts, but they are greener on the whole because nothing is being consumed other than the beans with each brew.
The paper filter method has one other slight problem in that purists believe that it traps a little too much of the flavour and essence of the bean. On the positive side you will find that your coffee is free from sedimentary deposits which might otherwise be allowed through by the more porous permanent filters.
Hot Chocolate Machines
For those hot beverage outlets looking to cater beyond the tea and coffee requirements of their frequenters, hot chocolate beverage machines offer a great way of achieving a consistent standard of hot drink cup after cup, something that can often be tricky to achieve, especially in venues of particularly high throughput where time is of the essence.
In line with the growing ‘trend to vend’, especially in the UK where we have been relatively slow off the mark when compared to say the Japanese, hot chocolate machines are increasingly sought after and indeed with more of a premium appeal than might have previously been the case.
In the UK’s trendy capital, London, even designers and fashionistas are looking towards vending machines – albeit perhaps as one-off placements – to supply anything from candles, fragrances and cosmetics, to clothing and even vases.
Yet in the hot beverage world, the rapidly growing café culture makes it tricky for coffee shop patrons to keep up, with automated models to perform at least one or two tasks a great asset.
With regards to the models we supply, the low maintenance, user-friendly Bravilor Bonomat Bolero claims to perfect crème layer to your beverage and has the ability to produce up to 240 cups per hour. Meanwhile the Bonamat Solo Chocolate Machine is the perfect solution to complete any outlet’s serving area. Producing an equally impressive 220 cups per hour, this unit is a fast, simple and hygienic proposition for any environment with self-service hot chocolate requirements.
How to Pick the Coffee of the Crop
An Australian online news provider has talked of the Cup of Excellence as being the best way of ensuring award-winning coffee.
Known as the ‘Oscars’ of the coffee world, Cup of Excellence has been making headway in Sydney as a means of guaranteeing both the taste of coffee and high prices for coffee growers.
Ten years old, the programme hails from the US and is an international method of ranking and selling the most superior beans from contributing or participating coffee-producing countries.
Drawing reference to Paul Geshos, one of the two Australian judges on a 26-strong member panel who has not long returned from his recent trip to Colombia to grade coffee beans, the judge is also lauded for the Cup of Excellence coffee available through his Mecca Espresso outlet in King Street, City.
During the recent Colombian-hosted event, over 50 types of quality coffees made it to the table, selected by a panel of judges choosing from between 875 lots entered by coffee growers from across the country.
There is clearly strong competition among these producers to have their beans score highest, with bids being taken from all corners of the world, including Japan and Australia. At last week’s event, 21 top Colombian coffees fetched record prices at auction, average at US$12 per pound in weight of the commodity. Farmers received 80 per cent of this figure, therefore doubling their earnings on last year, according to Geshos, who feels he is “getting a quality coffee and paying a fair price.”