Best automatic office coffee machine?

Best automatic office coffee machine? Any suggestions for using some of Tony's Tradies money on topping up my office caffeine supply. Cheers, B

I know it's not travel but I'm sure there's a few wanna be barista CEOs here!

I've got a great machine: The Intern... you just SMS "want coffee" to 04something and then the robot fetches your coffee and delivers it to your desk!

Oh, you wanted serious suggestions...

Not sure how heavy-duty you'd want it to be - depends on number of staff and degree of caffeine-dependency – but I know quite a few people who've got Aldi machines at their homes and also (small) offices and they reckon they're great value for money.

maybe hire a barista instead

Whatever you do, don't get the Nespresso "commercial" model - the one with pods that are circular and flat-ish.

The coffee from those machines taste horrible and nothing like the lovely Nespresso "home" models.

David is correct. How heavy duty does it need to be? 

We have a JURA X9    about 5 years old, done 10,000 coffees and stil in magnificant condition

Any machine you get is only going to be a reflection of the quality and type of the coffee you buy and the regular maintenance you put into the machine.  The commerical Nespressos with the pods (not capsules) are very good provided they are well calibrated and a good selection of coffee is provided. The same goes for Jura, Seaco and so forth - any of them are only as good as what you put in. As for the milk - any of the commerical options that include milk dispensers are going to produce sour tasing, watery muck very quickly unless regular cleaning and maintenance is performed.

So if it's ease and simplicity you're after then go for the home variety Nespresso (whith the capsules) and separate aerochino (for the milk).  Easily cleaned after each use and relatively fool-proof.

Anything else will required an on-going committment to cleaning and maintenance to keep the coffee quality top notch - if not, staff will very quickly start going out for coffee again.

Thanks all so far. 

It'll make about 30-40 coffees a day. Keen not to have pods as there are some great roasters around so automatic grind would be handy. I agree those units where you add milk to a reservoir can get nasty so a frothing wand (?) would also be good. 

Breville Oracle an Automatic dual boiler machine. Grinds & Tampa your fresh coffee beans, insert group & it'll froth your milk automatically. 

I love the QP ones, that most people don't know how to get it started, just that you have to press the selection hard and deep.  Each QP usually has 2 types.  Don't know the name of each, probaby not cheap.

Don't know the brand name, but the coffee (not the Barista), but I always go for the DIY one, don't know the brand name, but it always gives me what I need.

Just hot coffee without having to answer a "Hi how are you" each time.

There is the ones that have a service person who comes twice a week to service the machine, so you share the profits, but don't have to deal with it if it breaks down.

You do loose money, (profits), but also gain from expertise if something goes pear shaped.

Is this a money making venture of staff appreciation venture.  

A Nescafe bottle, sugar, milk, hot water urn, thats cheap.

staff appreciation.  It'll be free (and a free for all)

Breville Oracle without a doubt. you press a button and it grinds it for you, select how you want your milk and it does it for you. the only manual part about it is moving the filter holder from the grinder to the extractor.

It is even cheaper than most commercial model nespresso machines, can use whatever beans you want and even better, you dont feel guilty about the level of waste because it doesnt use pods.

the Breville Oracle is basically designed so that someone who has never made a coffee before can make a decent one without screwing it up

The oracle looks good.  I'll bring it up with my colleagues.  Any other thoughts