At Liquidline Ireland we’re passionate about coffee. We supply the very best commercial coffee machines to businesses throughout Ireland, and our very own Café Bonté range of coffees was designed to provide exceptional everyday coffee experiences. Great coffee is at the core of our business, and we’ve learnt a few things along the way, so we thought we’d share a few of our favourite facts and stats about Irish coffee culture.
The coffee market has grown substantially over the past few years, with many tea drinkers replacing their caffeine hit with coffee. Over half of Irish adults now consume coffee every day, with one third consuming several cups per day.
Irish coffee drinkers prefer a stronger cup of coffee than their British neighbours. An iReach Consumer Omnibus Survey conducted in 2020 found that the Americano was Ireland’s favourite speciality coffee with a whopping 32% of votes. This was followed closely by the cappuccino with 24% and latte with 21%.
Whilst only one-third of coffee drinkers have experimented with plant-based alternatives to milk, those that have most prefer almond milk (36%), followed by soya milk (24%) and oat milk (21%). Dairy alternatives are most popular amongst the younger generations, with two-thirds of Gen Z and half of Millenials trying plant-based milk.
Despite the pandemic, the Irish coffee shop market actually grew in 2020 by 1.9% with 7% market growth predicted over the next 5 years.
Over three-quarters of coffee drinkers in Ireland say that taste is the most important factor when choosing coffee over other beverages. Nearly half (42%) of coffee drinkers use it to wake them up in the morning, whilst 37% say it fuels their concentration.
Three-quarters of Irish coffee consumers want their coffee to be sustainable. 65% own a reusable cup, with 23% saying they will sacrifice a caffeine hit if they have forgotten their reusable cup.
Enjoyed widely across the world, this classic mix of coffee and Irish whiskey wasn’t invented until the early 1940s. The story goes that Joe Sheridan, chef at Foynes Port near Limerick, an airbase for transatlantic flights, added Irish whiskey to coffee to warm cold and weary passengers who had their flight delayed due to poor weather conditions. Irish coffee became a popular speciality at the airport and in the 1950s it became a huge hit in the United States.
Costa Coffee operate 122 coffee outlets in Ireland. Former market leaders Insomnia have 95 outlets, whilst the third-largest chain is Starbucks with 79 outlets.
Over 70% of Irish consumers surveyed by World Coffee Portal have used a self-service coffee vending machine. This comes as no surprise with quality and convenience cited as the two biggest motivations for purchasing coffee.
People in Ireland spend more money per person on Fairtrade goods than any other country on the planet, with coffee making up 60% of Fairtrade sales.
If you’re looking to WOW your team and customers with fantastic coffee, produced using the very latest in coffee machine technology, please speak to our friendly team today. We’ll provide a unique quote based on your exact needs, providing a coffee solution that’s custom-made for your business and ensuring you get the most bang for your buck.
Schaerer is a leading coffee manufacturer and supplier based in Switzerland. The Schaerer brand is renowned for its innovative coffee machine inventions, including the famous Schaerer Soul commercial coffee machine.
With Schaerer, a high level of quality is expected when it comes to coffee, whether Schaerer is selling their products to cafés, chain coffee stores or hotels. Supporting you with a range of Schaerer coffee machines, comprehensive services and consultations to serve your customers is at the heart of what they provide.
Schaerer is now introducing their innovative “Hot & Cold Technology” for the Schaerer Coffee Soul model, so you can prepare chilled coffees and frappuccinos with intense flavours at the touch of a button. There are no limits to what Schaerer can achieve when it comes to its innovative coffee technology solutions.
Schaerer has been in business for over 125 years and was founded in 1892 by Maurice Schaerer with an official opening of a small retail shop. Initially, the company focus was on medical devices, rather than fully automatic coffee machines, with Schaerer developing operating tables, sterilisation and disinfection equipment. It wasn’t until 1924 that Schaerer developed its first high-volume coffee brewer.
Today Schaerer is committed to exploring beyond limits and leaving our mark on the coffee industry. In 1997, their revolutionary automatic cappuccino system took the world by storm, in 2007 the Schaerer Coffee Art Plus opened the door to the Schaerer Milk Universe and in 2013 they created Flavour Art, a variety of flavoured hot and cold coffee-based milk beverages.
Schaerer now has a global presence through subsidiaries in Germany, the USA and Belgium and more than 100 partners in Europe, America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. It has been part of the WMF Group and is respected by coffee connoisseurs across the globe.
Schaerer’s hot and cold feature on the powerful Schaerer Coffee Soul machine enables you to brew hot and serve cold, with freshly ground coffee, opening a new world of possibilities. The beverage cooling system cools the coffee down to about 30-35 degrees. When ice cubes are added to the pre-cooled coffee, they melt slowly, keeping those aromatic flavours intact. This new feature is ideal for any coffee specialist wanting to experiment with creative new coffee recipes.
The Schaerer Best Foam technology is a fully patented system that can be used to offer custom coffee of the highest barista standard. Best Foam delivers a quality, silky, glossy and stable milk foam that remains consistent from cup to cup. You can even add your own flavour point with up to four different syrup choices for your coffee machine.
Coffee is at the heart of what we do here at Liquidline. Coffee comes to life with Schaerer, hence why our partnership with them has grown stronger over the years. Schaerer is one of the most loved brands in the industry. It has grown at an incredible rate since its first machine was launched in 1924 and has been responsible for numerous industry innovations since. Thanks to the Schaerer range, we can help companies all over the world enjoy quality coffee and service to the fullest.
There are several models of Schaerer coffee machines that exceed all expectations. There is a machine for any type of business or organisation, whether you are based in an office, restaurant, gym or car dealership. From fully automated barista machines to self-service bean-to-cup coffee machines, that can produce up to 350 cups per day.
Schaerer manufactures their coffee machines to make the most of user-interface technology with a vertical swipe function to help create a clear and ready self-service screen for the user. To this day, Schaerer continues to be a successful provider of fully automated coffee machines, helping provide the morning coffee and afternoon pick me up for coffee lovers in hotels, bars, offices and restaurants across the world.
The Schaerer Barista machine offers the ultimate coffee brewing experience, creating up to 300 beverages per day. Grind and prepare fresh Italian espresso coffee of a consistent quality thanks to its automated processes. This machine is easy to operate, clean and is fully automatic, complete with a manual steam wand to froth milk. This machine is for passionate barista, coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants.
The Schaerer Coffee Club machine has a daily output of up to 80 beverages, with a slim build and large capacity, and is fresh milk or milk powder combined, depending on your choice. This machine is ideal for usage in restaurants, hotels, cafes, convenience stores, catering businesses and offices. It has a 4.5 litre drinking water tank with a level sensor, a simple cleaning concept including a CleanIT for the milk system and the opportunity to connect to payment systems via an MDB interface.
The Schaerer Coffee Soul is the pioneer of a new generation of commercial coffee machines offering a daily output of up to 250 beverages with maximum variety and top beverage quality.
Of all the coffee machines Schaerer provide, we highly recommend the Schaerer Coffee Soul for use in the office environment due to its barista-style super-steam feature and flavour stations that allow you to created flavoured milkshakes, hot chocolates and coffees alongside traditional coffee shop favourites.
This machine is easy to operate and clean ideal for use in restaurants, bars, offices and vending areas.
This is a first-choice coffee machine for coffee connoisseurs producing gourmet beverages at the press of a button and is perfect for self-service. This machine is cost-effective and environmentally friendly to operate with minimal cleaning and maintenance required. The Schaerer Coffee Prime is ideal for offices, cafes, universities, sports centres, cultural events, workshops and car dealerships.
There are a variety of commercial coffee machines to choose from depending on your place of work. Schaerer covers all aspects of the working environment, including fast-paced and high-demand coffee shops, low-key office environments and self-service premises.
The Schaerer coffee range is suited for all operational environments, including restaurants. Schaerer offers sturdy and durable coffee machines with the widest range of beverages and easy operational methods, to help serve your customers the highest-quality coffee. With Schaerer you can provide large amounts of high-quality coffee at peak times.
If you are considering a coffee machine to help create the perfect coffee culture and chilled-out environment for customers, then Schaerer is the brand for you. Schaerer’s impressive range of coffee machines produces high-quality milk beverages, thanks to their innovative Best Foam technology, to create an unmissable coffee experience. The Schaerer range creates commercial coffee machines with sleek, modern-looking designs that are attractive to look at.
Schaerer offers a reliable supply of high-quality coffee at all times with generous connections to conventional payment systems, high volumes of coffee output and a range of different beverages to choose from. The Schaerer range hosts a reliable selection of coffee machines with easy operation thanks to the TouchIT system functionality. They also have lockable storage, bean hoppers and powder containers to ensure protection for your coffee solutions.
There are many coffee solutions for convenience stores within the Schaerer range. Schaerer coffee machines have optimum hourly outputs with minimal space requirements and easy cleaning solutions. They offer a wide range of beverages for all types of flavours with consistency of taste and easy self-service thanks to the TouchIT display system. You can even integrate advertisements via a functional display. They also offer a choice of manual and automatic milk preparation. The quick and easy cleaning and perfect hygiene systems are based on the HACCP concept.
Create the ultimate hospitality experience with Schaerer barista-quality coffee machines in hotels and bars. The Schaerer range is ideal in the breakfast setting, for self-service use during breakfast at hotels, with reliable operation via the TouchIT displace. It is also flexible thanks to its countless configuration points. These machines produce large amounts of high-quality coffee at peak times and can be configured for both professional service or self-service for your customers.
If you’re interested in adding a Schaerer Coffee Machine to your business, please contact our friendly and knowledgeable team today, who will be happy to advise on the best machine for your circumstances.
As we move out of lockdown many businesses are beginning to make plans to get their teams back to the workplace. However, with over a year of homeworking behind us, we’ve established new ways of working from home and as such many employees are a little reluctant to return.
In order to attract employees back to the workplace you need to have a fundamental understanding of what it was that people liked so much about working from home, as well as what they disliked, then fuse these core themes into your workplace. By learning from the lockdown experience you can create a workplace that is mutually beneficial for you and your employees.
Working from home has been a mixed experience depending on your personal circumstances. What has worked for some hasn’t worked well for others. Whilst some individuals were lucky enough to have a home office, others have spent 15-months+ working from their kitchen table. Working parents have also had childcare and homeschooling to deal with whilst in total lockdown.
It’s therefore imperative that business owners consult with their employees to ensure they thoroughly understand each unique experience. Only through listening and building relationships will employees feel properly supported in their return to work.
It’s also important to give your team an element of choice as to when they come back to the office, how often and in what capacity. This demonstrates empathy and creates further respect and trust between employee and employer.
A recent worldwide study found that 8 out of 10 countries ranked not having to commute as the biggest benefit of working from home, as it gave people a better work/life balance with more time to do activities they enjoy.
The research also found that employees consider the ability to concentrate and focus, as well as varying their workspace around the home as significant benefits of being away from the office.
The above factors demonstrate the importance of increased variety and flexibility in the workplace. Hybrid working, where employees spend part of the working week at the office and the rest at home, is expected to be popular post-pandemic. This gives workers the best of both worlds, providing time to focus at home and time to work collaboratively as part of a team in the office.
Hybrid working lends itself to hotdesking, whereby employees aren’t assigned their own desk, but instead use whatever desk is available, whenever it’s required. This also means businesses can reduce their office footprint, saving space and money.
Wellbeing at work has been a hot topic for a number of years now, but with a global pandemic comes further challenges relating to our mental and physical health.
Studies into physical health during the pandemic have given mixed results, with some suggesting we exercised more due to having an abundance of free time, whilst other research suggests we actually moved less as we were at home all day. Research into eating patterns during the pandemic is just as conflicting. With restaurants closed many turned to cooking at home, which is generally healthier. However, there was also a huge jump in snack and takeaway sales during the lockdown, suggesting we weren’t always making good food choices.
There’s also the impact lockdown has had on our mental wellbeing. The Irish Medical Journal suggests that one in five people experienced significantly increased psychological distress at the height of the pandemic.
Most business leaders appreciate that happy and healthy employees work harder and achieve more, and there are many strategies business owner can implement to help boost the mental and physical wellbeing of their team, which will in turn help attract them back to the workplace. Below are a selection of ideas to consider.
Creating a culture where employees feel they can reach out to their colleagues and managers when they’re mentally struggling is extremely important in the modern workplace. Put in place readily available policies so that employees know who to speak to if they’re experiencing issues with their mental wellbeing, and ensure line managers are properly trained and regularly check in on their team.
See Change is an organisation working towards reducing mental health stigma in the workplace. Their website is a fantastic source of information on how to improve mental wellbeing within the workplace. They have lots of free guides and resources to download and even offer specialist online workshops that will help equip your managers with the skills they need to deal with mental health issues.
Promote healthy eating by supplying your team with a complimentary selection of healthy refreshments. A water cooler offering chilled, ambient and sparkling water encourages hydration, which will help team members stay focused and alert.
Encourage your team to move more by offering a bike to work scheme or by organising group activities focused around exercise, such as lunchtime yoga or Friday afternoon rounders. Installing a shower in your office can also help encourage employees to cycle, or even run, to work.
Standing desks also offer several health benefits including improving posture and burning more calories than sitting down.
Creating a pleasant working environment doesn’t need to be expensive or time-consuming and there are a wide range of minor changes you can make that will benefit your team.
Natural light boosts vitamin D, which in turn improves sleep and helps ward off any seasonal blues. Increasing natural light in the place you spend most of your life can have huge health benefits, so get the blinds open and let the sun shine on your workers.
A recent survey conducted by global recruitment specialists Reed found that 40% of workers regarded great quality free coffee and tea as the perk they most value at work.
Whilst it’s not convenient for all offices to have their own in-house coffee shop, a jar of instant really isn’t enough anymore. With a bean to cup coffee machine, you can offer barista-quality coffee that’s great value, delicious, quick and convenient.
As a business, there are many advantages to having a bean to cup coffee machine. Not only does great coffee improve productivity, creativity and overall mood, the antioxidants in coffee also reduce the chance of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Indoor plants are great for improving the overall aesthetic of a workspace, but they also offer health benefits in terms of improved air quality, reducing stress and improving productivity. They’re also a natural soundproofing tool, reducing noise pollution if you’re office is particularly noisy.
Workplaces are becoming increasingly open to the concept of an office dog. The company of animals is scientifically proven to offer comfort, reduce anxiety and lower stress levels. Having a dog around also encourages healthy behaviours such as going for walks and taking regular breaks.
It’s also great for the dog owner who no longer needs to worry about leaving their pooch at home all day, and it’s great for the dog to experience higher levels of social interaction.
However, not all people are dog lovers and some of your team may even have allergies, so it’s vital you consult your team before allowing anyone to bring their pets to work. Not every dog has the right temperament for an office either – relaxed animals are ideal but if you’ve got a border collie that just wants to run around in circles all day, it’s not going to work for anyone.
Your company culture and brand values should permeate through your working environment. If your company is bright, vibrant and fun then your office design needs to reflect this with bright colours and funky furnishings.
Likewise, if innovation and creativity are important to your business then your office should be designed to encourage this. Having your team sat in silence at their desks does not encourage innovation so open up the space to create comfortable areas where employees can bounce ideas off each other.
Liquidline is proud to supply premium coffee and water solutions to businesses throughout Ireland. Discover more about our professional coffee offering or get in touch with our friendly team to find out how a new water dispenser or coffee machine could help you attract your team back to the workplace.
A bean to cup coffee machine is a fully automated coffee machine that takes whole coffee beans and grinds, presses and brews them into a delicious cup of coffee in a matter of moments.
Bean-to-cup machines grind coffee beans individually for every drink to deliver exceptional coffee in the workplace. The coffee beans are stored in hoppers with a separate storage system for fresh milk. They require careful management to deliver their full potential and need to be cleaned and descaled regularly.
Bean-to-cup machines do not require manual operation from a barista and are self-service operated. They produce coffee on-demand and at the push of a button. By grinding coffee automatically and texturising milk to a level of quality that would have heads turning, they are a great option for delivering fresh quality coffee.
If consistency is your priority, then a bean-to-cup machine is the right investment to make, providing premium espresso and offering the flexibility to serve coffee on tap without the need for specialist training.
Whether you are looking for a budget bean-to-cup machine for espresso and cappuccino or a higher-end model with additional features, you can be sure to find a machine that fits your business requirements at Liquidline.
Many models are designed to be super energy efficient, reliable and produce great-tasting espresso-based drinks. Some, for example, are built with the consumer in mind, especially for businesses that operate only in the day and do not require the machine to be in use overnight. Such machines come with an energy-saving mode – after one hour the machine will automatically enter into standby mode using less than 1W of power or less each hour.
Coffee making is easy with a bean to cup machine, so you’ll no longer need to worry about the flow of customers coming through your door and not having enough time to cater for their needs. With bean to cup machines, you can produce aromatic espresso-based drinks with a single button and customise each drink to your liking.
Is your machine going to be well-equipped for offering fresh coffee? Find a machine with a large bean hopper so you can replace your coffee beans regularly.
Most bean to cup machines make coffee with just a few button presses. Some have more advanced systems where you can choose your drink and have it ready within seconds.
If you love having a variety of flavours to choose from at the touch of a button, then a bean to cup machine is ideal for you
Firstly, you will need to consider how many drinks per day you will average depending on how many customers you get during busy periods. If you’re looking for a low volume machine, the Cafétouch Q1 is compact, affordable and produces up to 50 drinks per day. If however, you’re looking to produce in excess of 250 cups per day, then the Cafétouch Q3 would be more suitable.
Some models of machine offer more drinks variety than others. If you want to have up to 8 drinks selections for example, so you can have a range of espresso-based beverages to choose from, then go for a machine that can offer that to you.
The Schaerer Prime Bean to Cup Coffee Machine offers the ultimate in flexibility with over 40 speciality drinks options. Save time by compiling your favourites in the free to use Schaerer coffeeMYsation smartphone app.
Many new models of bean to cup machine have automatic cleaning cycles that notify you when they need cleaning. These cleaning programs often last up to about 1-hour at a time
The more boiler space you can incorporate, the higher your water capacity and the more beverages you can produce.
Some bean to cup coffee machines have a milk frothing steam pipe so you can produce two espressos at one time.
For those looking for a coffee-shop quality coffee with a luxurious extra fluffy finish, then the Shaerer Soul with Best Foam Technology should be your first port of call.
Most bean-to-cup machines have a removable drip tray so you can clean regularly and thoroughly by soaking in warm water.
If you want to turn on your coffee machine remotely or create new recipes then choose a model of machine with WiFi connectivity.
Many bean to cup machines, unlike instant machines, allow you to customise your own coffee. They provide you with fully functional customisation settings to determine how your coffee tastes. They come well-equipped with various pre-sets to help determine grind coarseness, variety and flavour. Additional features may include brewing temperature, coffee strength, automatic milk frothing, cup size and water amount.
If you’re ready to invest in a bean to cup coffee machine for your business, or if you have any questions or queries, please get in touch with the friendly team at Liquidline now.
