Today we’ll move through the five steps to help you choose the best coffee machine for you.

Choosing a coffee machine is not easy, so we developed a cool, easy, five step method in in order to find the right coffee machine for you every time.

So, we made an alliteration to make it easier to remember so here we go. Number one – it’s alliteration with “P”- so number one, price, of course, the most important thing.

What typically happens when people start the search for a coffee machine, they start with features, and it’s a bad place to start because, when we start with features, we go through the following steps.

We say, “Okay, we want a machine that does cappuccinos, yes or no?” Yes, when a machine does hot chocolate.

Yes, chunky cinos. Yes, fresh milk. Yes… The cases for a lot of people, yes. And anyway, we’ve chosen all the features which are obviously the most desirable features.

And then we get to the price – and it’s so expensive. And it’s way out of budget, and then we just end up in a state of disappointment.

Price

So, you want to start with your price and then choose your features after that. So number one, easiest “P” to remember, is price.

People

Next thing, simple “P,” is people. Who are going to be using your coffee machine? So, after you’ve decided what price range you’re in, you want to choose a machine based on capacity.

Certain coffee machines can do a certain amount of coffee, and you want to choose a machine that’s obviously going to be able to do the job. If you find a machine that’s too small, it’s typically going to break quickly and you’re going to have a lot of service and maintenance issues.

And if you choose a machine which is rated for essentially too much, you might be overshooting the mark and you can probably get away with a cheaper machine. So, number two, understand how many people are most going to be using your coffee machine, and choose based on that second “P.”

Place

Third “P” is place. Where is your coffee going to be? Now, coffee machine are typically self-service or not self-service. Now, all coffee machines, once you get used to them, are pretty easy to use, but the first time you come to a coffee machine, you either use it very easily because it’s purely made for self-service, or you use a bit of training on the machine that’s not really designed for first time users.

So, understanding where that machine’s going to be and who your customer’s are, that’s going to be using it, has a lot to do with which coffee machines you choose.

So, third thing, place, super important when choosing the machine and what it can do.

Purpose

Fourth thing – which is really important – is purpose. Why do you want a coffee machine?

Now, this is one of the least asked questions of oneself, but it’s very, very important. So, given the example of a company, and a company says, “I want to get a coffee machine and I want it for my customers to come in.” Now, let’s ask the question, “Why?” That addresses purpose.

I want a coffee machine, if I’m the company, to impress my customers that come in. Now, I might be starting to look for cappuccino machines, hot chocolate machine, chunky cino machines, all the fancy stuff, but if I properly understand my purpose and say, “Okay, I want to give people a nice experience when they come, but it doesn’t have to be the top of the range coffee shop. I want to give them a good experience, but again within reason.”

You might be able to get away with what you didn’t expect initially, maybe a filter coffee machine as opposed to going for the fanciest bean to cup espresso cappuccino machine.

So, understanding the purpose, properly and intensely, allows easily to choose a coffee machine not based on features, almost not based on price, but really on what you really want to achieve.

Product

Last “P,” number five, is product, what products that coffee machine is going to use. Now, besides for price when you’re looking at the coffee machine purchase price or range of price, you want to see what coffee is going to be using it.

So you have capsule coffee machines, you have filter coffee machines, you have bean to cup coffee machines, and each of those has an effect in terms of what it’s going to cost you on a monthly basis based on the product that you use within it.

So, for example, vending machines or bean to cup machines, which use instant coffee or bean coffee, typically are one of the cheapest to run because instant coffee and beans are not expensive products.

Where, if you go the other route, we go capsules or liquid coffee, that’s on the more expensive route on a monthly basis. So, you want to understand not only the price of the machine up front but also the price of the product and what it’s going to cost you on a monthly basis. So, hope that helps.

Try to use the 5 P’s next time you look for a coffee machine, and we’ll see you soon.