There are a few considerations to make when buying a coffee maker for your office, restaurant, church or other large volume application. Making a few decisions at the beginning of the process can significantly focus your search of brewers that will be best for your specific needs.
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The first main consideration is Pourover versus Automatic:
• Pourover – you pour water into the top of the machine to make coffee. All Bunn brewers feature a hot water reservoir, which allows the brewer to make a pot of coffee in less than 3 minutes. Available for regular, airpot and thermal Bunn coffee brewers.
• Automatic – the brewer is hooked up to a waterline. The hot water reservoir is automatically filled up. Most automatic brewers feature a pourover option, which means that if the machine is not hooked up to a waterline, you can still brew coffee by pouring water into it. Digital Brewer Controls models do not have a pourover feature.
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The second consideration is Type of Brewer:
• Regular/Drip – brews coffee into pots. Warmers keep coffee hot. Numerous models to choose from.
• Pod - brews coffee by the cup using coffee pods instead of grounds.
• Airpot – brews coffee into airpots. The advantage of using an airpot is that the coffee stays hotter and fresher longer. Since airpot brewers do not have warmers, the airpots can be taken to a different location for use. Some Bunn airpot brewers feature a gourmet funnel, which means the funnel is larger to accomodate the larger amount of coffee grounds you need for brewing gourmet coffee.
• Thermal – brews coffee into thermal servers or thermal carafes. Similar advantages and features as airpot brewers.
• Satellite -brews large volumes (.5 to 1 gallon batches) of coffee quickly. Multiple servers can be used with brewer and can be set on warmers in different locations.
• SoftHeat – similar to satellite brewers. Can brew .5, 1 or 1.5 gallon batches of coffee. Patented server heat control automatically shuts off once target temperature is reached. Can be set to 175º-190ºF (79.4º-87.8º).
Electronic grinder interface communicates to grinder on exact amount of coffee for selected brew batch size.
• ThermoFresh - brews .5, 1 or 1.5 gallon batches. Stores individual coffee recipes so operator can easily brew many varieties. Smart funnel allows wireless brewer-grinder interface for error-free operation. Coffee extraction controlled with pre-infusion and Pulse-Brew™, digital temperature control, and large sprayhead; coffee strength controlled with variable by-pass.
• Liquid - for large volume production using liquid coffee concentrate. Can brew over 125 – 5 oz. (1.48 litre) cups per hour with a 120 volt, 15 amp electrical connection or over 500 – 5 oz. (1.48 litre) cups per hour with a 240 volt / 30 amp electrical connection.
• Urn – for very large brewing capacity – from Brews 11.4 to 18.8 gallons of coffee per hour depending on model.
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Once you’ve made some decisions on the above considerations, your choices should be much more narrowly focused. Here are a few other options to consider:
• Hot Water Faucet – Hot water faucets are an option on regular, airpot and thermal brewers. (An “F” in model name means that model has a hot water faucet.) Pourover models do not have hot water faucets. Hot water faucets are standard on larger brewers – satellite, urn, etc.
• Number of Warmers – For regular/drip brewers. Options are from 1 to 6 warmers.
• Digital - Models with “DBC” in model name feature Digital Brewer Control – touchpad digital technology gives you more control over your brewing process by offering better temperature control, more hot water from faucet, faster recovery time, higher brewing capacity, automatic shut-off and built-in electronic diagnostics.
Please consult our Bunn Coffee Maker Comparison Chart for more information on our home coffee makers.