Chicago Office Coffee Service

LTHers:

The bean counters are grumbling about the expense of coffee in my office. We currently use B&F, and we buy on average 5 5-lb bags of Intelligentsia beans from them each month. Apparently the Intelligentsia is the cheapest premium whole bean coffee they offer (below Starbucks or Peets). We've been trying some of B&F's pre-ground coffee this week and there might be a revolt if we switch to that. They do have some whole-bean coffee that is "non-premium" that we haven't tried yet.

While at first blush, the $11.60/lb price of Intelligentsia seems high for ongoing bulk purchases, I realize that we are paying for delivery and coffee maker rental as well (we had same-day service on the coffee machine when it recently broke).

Does anyone have suggestions? Are there any other providers in town? If we stop using B&F, what might it cost to buy a durable coffee machine of our own? I am not really sure, but I would guess we brew 5-7 pots of coffee a day.

Thanks in advance.

Bunn machines (Bunn o Matic) seem pretty good and sturdy. In my office we split the cost and get whole bean 8 O'Clock coffee (which is about $5 per pound). One person does the purchasing and we pay her. She also picks up milk. The 8 O'Clock did pretty well in Cooks Illustrated taste test.

Joe, most office supply stores have office-style coffeemakers like Bunn; though you might be better off going to a restaraunt supply place, you could easily do a price comparison online and get an idea.

My company is notoriously cheap when it comes to coffee opting for the mini-paks of the grounds that they sweep up off the floor of some corporate roasting and grinding facility (probably located some god awful place like the Maryland or Atlanta suburbs).

As a result, a few of us set up our own protest pot (purchased at Kohl's) for which we supply and split the cost of a couple of big bags of Papa Nicholas' Restaurant Blend every couple of weeks for $14. I really like this particular PN blend though I don't care for others. The milk comes from the deli downstairs.

If you really want some great (albeit expensive) coffee Blue Bottle out in Oakland will deliver for around $15 a pound. No matter what the blend I order from them, I have found all of their coffees to be extremely superior to even Intelligentsia.

Thanks for the input. So far, they've decided to maintain the status quo, but there's a sense that the issue will return in a few months. It looks like those "industrial" coffee makers are a bit cheaper than I'd been led to believe; the higher price might be for the ones that hook directly to a water line like the one we have now?

Anyway, any more info welcome in case they come back hard in the future!

I think part of the problem with those generic packages is that they are way too small for the amount of water used. Reminds me, one time I had particularly good coffee at Barrington Bistro so I asked the waiter what kind it was. He went and checked and said it was Superior! I could hardly believe it.

teatpuller wrote:I think part of the problem with those generic packages is that they are way too small for the amount of water used. Reminds me, one time I had particularly good coffee at Barrington Bistro so I asked the waiter what kind it was. He went and checked and said it was Superior! I could hardly believe it.

Yeah - I think that's true. My office uses Superior (and have outright laughed off requests for anything better than that -- we have a new Managing Partner this year but I won't be the fool to renew that request - leave it to one of the young associates -- hee hee). The Superior stuff is absolutely undrinkable when just one of those pre-ground in 1977 packages is used per pot. If you're desperate, and here alone on a weekend, for instance, one and a half to two packages makes it infinitely more drinkable (but it still isn't good).