Coffee could be described as a necessity in today’s world – whether you’re brewing a cup of cappuccino as a professional barista or fueling the start of your workday with a cup of filter coffee.
We wanted to see, could common professional and consumer coffee machines be powered with instagrid ONE max and how long they would run: we tested powering five different coffee machines with the instagrid in multiple different settings.
Professional machines
Nothing beats a cup of cappuccino brewed by a professional barista. But what makes the experience even better is enjoying that cup of cappuccino in a beautiful nature location. Serving espresso-based artisan coffee outside in an off-grid location, without a proper electrical infrastructure, comes with challenges. Brewing a cup of well-made cappuccino or espresso requires a professional machine – the lack of electricity infrastructure often prevents serving barista coffee outside of cafés.
Brewing the coffee requires the right machines to go along with. Typically, off-grid coffee carts have a quality brand coffee machine that can provide the best quality coffee. But what seems to be underestimated by many consumers is the amount of energy that a professional coffee cart requires to brew the perfect espresso.
To start with, we decided to take on a challenge and to test the biggest and most powerful professional espresso machine available, that still runs on 230V. That would be a two-group machine, as any machines larger than this would require 400V. In our test, this machine type was represented by the Nuova Simonelli Appia II compact (2800 W). The professional espresso machines require a lot of energy, because before you can start preparing coffee, you need to heat the machine up and to get the pressure up. Did you know that the best espresso is brewed with water temperature of 95°C and with 9 bars of pressure? Well, to get to this point, you need ca 400Wh of energy.
Luckily, with instagrid you have that energy easily available, and heating up this monster of a coffee machine was not a problem at all. With one charge of instagrid ONE max, we raised the machine pressure and brewed ~90 espresso cups. If the machine is already heated and has enough pressure, the amount of espresso you can brew with one instagrid unit is ~120 espresso cups.
Sometimes also in the professional setting, you choose to rather rely on an industrial filter machine over an espresso machine for efficiency and easiness. To test this scenario, we chose a commonly used professional filter machine, Bravilor Bonamat TH (2310 W). With instagrid ONE max we were able to brew ~160 cups (1,25dl) with one charge of the unit.
Powering an espresso machine with instagrid ONE max
Office machines
Sometimes you need an additional power source at the office setting, or you would like to utilize the office coffee machines in a different location, for example in an event setting.
We tested powering two typical office coffee machines, Coffee Queen CQube (2450W), and the Jura EF560 (1400W), with instagrid. With Coffee Queen CQube, we brewed filter coffee, and with Jura EF560 espressos and special coffees. With both coffee machines, one charge of instagrid ONE max lasted for brewing ~100 cups of coffee. This would easily cover coffee needs for example in a small off-grid event.
Powering office coffee machine with instagrid ONE max
Consumer machines
Regular filter coffee machine can be an easy and convenient coffee brewing solution either for professional or consumer setting. We powered one of the most common consumer machines, Moccamaster (1520W), with instagrid ONE max. With only one charge of instagrid, we brewed ~200 coffee cups (1,25dl).
Powering coffee machines without direct emissions and noise
Based on our numerous tests, instagrid works perfectly for powering coffee machines in off-grid locations. Using instagrid as your off-grid power source, you are able to avoid all direct emissions and work completely without noise. Removing unnecessary noise from the setting improves the overall customer experience but increases also employee work satisfaction.
With instagrid, you are able to avoid all direct emissions and utilize renewable energy sources while you work at off-grid locations. Ultimately, this gives you the possibility to decrease your CO2 emissions and become more environmentally friendly in your actions.
