How Do Coffee Vending Machines Work?

With coffee shops lining almost every street and people flocking in those shops to grab a cup of the beverage, Melbourne is regarded as having the best cafes in the world. Some of them even have their vending machines operating all throughout the day, to serve customers 24×7. But what makes the cafes here globally popular? Have they got some special brewing process mysteriously passed down through generations? Or is it something in their vending machines? If you are wondering there is some trick in those freestanding equipments, then let me tell you that they work in a way quite similar to that of the drip or table-top devices at our homes.

Some of the popular coffee vending machines in Melbourne are the ones serving hot drinks, the in-cup variants and the manually operated units.

Hot Drinks Servers
These big, all-in-one type of units basically work by mixing the ingredients which have been put into it. Some units require freeze dried and grounded coffee beans for more freshness, while others take beans directly to grind them as necessary using a built-in grinder. There are still some others which are fed with instant granules. As soon as payment is made, the internal sensors become active and respond to the pressed buttons in a typical hot drink server. The integrated boiler starts heating the water and pours required amount of it through the grounds placed in a mixing chamber. Sugar and milk are added into the chamber as per the user’s choice and hot coffee is released into a cup placed under the spout.

In-Cup Machines
Just like the hot drinks vending machines, these units also have a boiler and chamber for mixing pre-stocked ingredients and creating a drink according to the customer’s specifications. But one unique feature of these machines is that cups are stocked into it as well. The coffee prepared is poured out into a cup and presented to the user all ready to drink.

Manually Operated Machines
These are the most inexpensive among the three variants, and as a result, remarkably different from the regular automatic types. Manually operated units are more like the domestic filter or drip machines. There are basically two subtypes of manually operated vending units. The first subtype has a water tank into which hot water is poured, which drips through a chamber containing grounds of coffee. The second type is more simple, working almost like a hot water dispenser, releasing hot water into a cup containing instant granules kept under the spout.