Coffee Equipment

Commercial Coffee Equipment: What You Need to Know

Coffee equipment spans many different applications, from grinding beans to warming hot coffee pots. The supplies covered here help elevate product served in coffee shops, cafes, bistros, and dining rooms, ensuring uniform flavor and precise quality control for every portion. Making and serving a delicious cappuccino, latte, or Americano requires more than just a coffee maker. These pieces of supplementary equipment are an often overlooked but necessary element in efficiently producing high-quality brewed beverages of all kinds.

Common Questions About Coffee Equipment

What equipment do I need for a coffee shop?

Coffee shops need more than just coffee brewers and espresso machines. If you want to craft high-quality beverages of all types, there are several additional pieces of equipment that come in handy during the grinding, brewing, and dispensing process.

• Hot water dispensers are essential coffee equipment. Using piping hot water, baristas can quickly whip up hot chocolate, tea, or even cup noodles for guests who don't drink coffee.
• Commercial coffee grinders facilitate fresh bean grinding, releasing a stronger flavor than what's typically found in pre-ground coffee. For locations wanting to offer a premium product, a high-quality bean grinder is a helpful piece of equipment to have on hand.
• Cold brew equipment enables operators to sell cold brew coffee, a unique and trendy beverage that many consumers prefer over conventional brewed options.
• Coffee concentrate machines are useful for locations such as gas stations, delis, and corner stores, where coffee sales can be intermittent and unpredictable. Designed to provide hot, steaming cups of coffee on demand, these machines produce only the amount of coffee needed for each serving, reducing waste.
• Coffee pot warmers hold freshly brewed pots of coffee at a steady temperature, keeping them hot and appetizing without scorching the beverage. Excellent for high-volume coffee sales, this type of equipment enables operators to brew several pots of coffee from one machine, keeping multiple pots in reserve to meet periods of high demand.

Should I invest in coffee equipment?

Commercial coffee equipment comes in handy at many locations, whether it be a highway truck stop providing hot cups of coffee to tired drivers 24 hours a day or an upscale bistro offering cold brew lattes alongside sandwiches and wraps for the downtown office lunch crowd. Utilizing equipment such as warmers and automated concentrate dispensers helps extend the life of brewed product, reduce waste during periods of low consumption, and encourage self-service at locations without a dedicated barista.

Anywhere coffee is sold, whether it makes up a full menu of caffeinated beverage options or is offered as a grab-and-go addition to packaged snacks, this type of equipment makes production and service efficient and simple.