Sponsored by BUNN
There’s a lot more to making coffee and tea than pouring water and turning on a machine. As the coffee, tea and espresso arena becomes more competitive, operators know they need to offer the highest quality beverages. Industry experts say there are some best practices that can turn brewed beverages into traffic-driving winners.
Here are seven best practices for coffee and tea service.
Test the water
The best-tasting brewed beverages are made with clean-smelling, clean-tasting water that has no floating particles, says Philip Fralix, director of water technology for the dispensed beverage equipment manufacturer BUNN. Operators generally get their water supplies from their municipality. If the water doesn’t taste good or leaves a scaly deposit on the machines, the operator can send a sample to BUNN.
“We have bottles that we can provide or the water can be shipped to BUNN in a 18- to 24-ounce bottle. If the customer provides their own bottles they should not previously have contained soda drinks, or milk. Water bottles work the best. Any bottle should be rinsed three times,” says Fralix, who is a Certified Master Water Specialist. “They can FedEx it to BUNN and we will test it within 1 to 2 weeks.”
The tests include pH, Total Dissolved Solids or TDS, turbidity or cloudiness, hardness or water that has a high mineral content, and other details. While TDS affects the taste, hardness, or the presence of calcium, magnesium or other minerals can cause a scaly buildup on the brewing equipment.
Maintain the filters
Based on the findings of the water test, BUNN can recommend a type of filtration system. “We find out what the problems are and what they want to address,” Fralix says. “Are they worried about the machine breaking down or the quality of the coffee or both?”
One important factor is water capacity, so it is important to install the right size system. “If the operator has a 6-gallon-a-minute flow rate, you don’t want a 3-gallon-a-minute system,” Fralix says. Also, the filters need to be replaced every six months.
Purchase The Right Equipment
The operator must buy equipment that can keep up with demand, and not make too much brewed coffee or tea that it has to be discarded. “The operator needs to communicate what they are trying to accomplish, then size the machine for the need,” says Bob Pierce, BUNN senior vice president of the Americas. “Are they are having operational challenges because they have a morning rush, and they are not able get enough volume at that time, or do they have too big a tank and it takes too long for it to heat up?”
An operator that needs a larger system can opt for a plumbed machine or a larger tank. If there are space limitations, the operator can put the brewing equipment in the back of the house, and have satellite servers to dispense the hot beverage.
Watch the temperature
Temperature is important in tea, says Karen Clutter, strategic account manager for BUNN. To make iced tea, the water must reach 205 degrees F in the brewing process. “The target is absolutely critical,” Clutter says. “It’s hotter than coffee water, which is 200 degrees F.”
The process is different too. While coffee involves hot water and turbulence to get the grounds stirred around, tea entails soaking, as the leaves float in hot water to get full flavor extraction. “For tea the water comes in fast and exits slowly,” she says. Another best practice is to use a translucent brew basket, so the user can see the liquid inside. That’s a safety feature so that the person does not pull out a basket full of hot water, thinking it was empty.
Mind the shelf life
Like coffee, tea is an agricultural product, so it changes over time. “After eight hours, brewed tea should be disposed of,” Clutter says. “Not stored in the refrigerator, not served tomorrow.
Operators might be tempted to save money by serving the previous day’s tea, but tea is the most profitable beverage because it is 99 percent water and only 1 percent solids, Clutter says. “It’s not worth serving a bad glass of tea, because you lose a valuable customer for a few cents.”
Clean the Machine
Those solids leave stains, so the brewing equipment must be washed, rinsed and sanitized according to the manufacturer’s instructions, using the recommended cleaning agents. Clutter notes that operators should pay particular attention to the faucet, as that is the last piece the tea crosses before being dispensed into a glass. One new item that can help is disposable plastic liners that include a tube that goes through the faucet.
One detail that operators tend to overlook is purging the steam wand on espresso machines. That means turning the wand on and off to release steam and remove residual milk before each order. “There are one to five holes, and the milk can plug up those holes,” says Melissa Nichols, product manager for the Bean to Cup Team for Bunn. “The wand doesn’t heat up the milk quite as quickly and it will affect the quality of the drink.”
The rest of the equipment has to be cleaned too, especially the parts that hold espresso. Espresso grind is finer than regular coffee and can get into crevices.
Go High Tech
Some models by BUNN feature Picture Prompted CleaningTM which means there is a touch screen that shows the worker how to complete the task versus forcing a worker to retrieve an interpret a manual. Millennial workers,in particular, respond much better to video tutorials.
“When you enter cleaning mode we have step by step instructions, with a photo of every single step the person has to do,” Nichols says. “We show them in beautiful color graphics. They have to agree they’ve done that step, and press ‘Continue’ to get to the next screen.”
From water filtration to cleaning to taking advantage of up-to-date technology, some best practices can help operators offer high quality coffee and tea service, and boost sales in their beverage programs.
