By Paul Ballenger
John Feldhacker told me on Sunday that the church is finally going to replace the percolator urns we have with some new equipment. He was excited because he is embarrassed when showing potential new members the church and they have to walk buy the old urns. Since I sell coffee equipment, I offered to help and sell anything I have at cost.
The bad news I have learned is that the church has only budgeted $500-$600 for the purchase of new equipment, which will only buy more of the urns like we are currently using. Nobody buys urns anymore - urns are 1950’s technology that boil the coffee in order to brew it - coffee should be brewed at 195-205F and not be continually heated. The good thing about urns is that they come in designer colors such as avocado and harvest gold.
To bring us up to 21st century coffee-brewing standards and handle the volume we need would cost $1500-$2100 - I don’t have a clear idea of our volume usage, so the numbers are not exact. The brewer would be able to hook up to a filtered waterline in the kitchen and would brew into 1.5 gallon thermal dispensers, which could be carried to the current urns locations around the church. We could throw in some fresh cream carafes. It could also be programmed to brew smaller batches for use during the week.
Since the church doesn’t have the money budgeted for the equipment, and we have many coffee drinkers in class, is this something Cornerstone would want to fund for the church (above and beyond normal pledges and contributions)? I realize it is a lot of money, and there are needier causes, but it would be an investment that would last for 15-20 years and potentially help with new members.
Let me know your thoughts - and keep in mind that the next step will be sourcing better Fair-Trade coffee.
Thanks,
Paul Ballenger
{ 22 } Comments
Sounds like a great idea.
I’m not a coffee drinker, and _I_ think it’s a good idea. I would be glad to contribute toward this. I agree, Paul — it is about hospitality.
Great idea. Can we get the coffee more in the middle of reed hall and not stuck in the corner? I’m in for $100 and will probably drink at least $200 worth of coffee…
I think Cornerstone should get their own “thermal dispenser” for the class - maybe two
The custodial staff is supposed to be using the Fair Trade coffee I purchase for them already–although they haven’t requested any lately. I don’t drink coffee myself so I don’t know, but some people have told me it often seems to be too strong. I think it’s the way it is being made as I haven’t had any complaints from folks who buy it off the cart in my office. Perhaps they need a lesson in how to make the coffee. (Or I can find out if they ran out of the Fair Trade coffee and are using that other stuff again, I’ll check with Kim when she gets back.)
Paul - have you (or John) tried approaching the Trustees? The endowment should have made some kind of rebound by now. You probably won’t get it all but you might get some. Never hurts to ask - Kirby Davis is chair this year and I believe he likes coffee.
Lois: Fair Trade coffee is great - coffee farmers make less than $1/day, so it is a small premium to pay that makes a huge difference to the coffee farmer. My impression is that we are using Fair Trade at church. My point about the coffee is that fresher is better, and it may be possible to buy fresher Fair Trade coffee than we are currently buying.
Jeff: Susan Brown and John are the ones making the purchase. I don’t know the history of how we got to where we are or if they have approached Trustees. I can find out. Susan said it might be possible to get some money ($100 or so) from the Property committee.
What about using he Bunn industrial coffee machines down in the setup/serving area of the kitchen; they look like they have been untouched and unused for sometime.
If that’s not an option, what about our class (or we could invite another class to join us) offering to prepare a Sunday brunch in between services and let people make a tithe/contribution toward the breakfast and the money goes to the purchase of the new equipment.
I’m sure there have bean a latte of members that urn for a good cup of coffee Sunday mornings, and we should not let the cost try to grind our efforts to a halt. The coffee problem has been brewing for a while and Rev.Feldhacker and Paul are right when they say there are a lot of perks to having updated coffee machines.
I have read that coffee does make a difference in how a church is initially perceived (Laura you were brave to give us a chance without that hook). I will match Tom Hooper’s contribution.
We are both coffee drinkers. We’re definitely in to help with the effort - whatever is decided.
As someone who probably could be perceived as opposing this (outreachy, non-coffee drinker), I wanted to chime in that I think it’s a good idea. If we’re going to upgrade, we ought to do it right. Paul, how about maintenance costs? Thanks for working on this. You apparently were inspired the sermon on nard last week, eh? (John 12:1-8) I would usually end with something witty, but I can’t top John Nance.
John and I support this (I’m often heard to complain about the coffee and started bringing my own, which has led to me losing my thermal mugs). We will match Tom and Jean’s contributions.
Elizabeth and I are in as long as we get a pledge to get good fair trade organic coffee to brew in the new equipment. I really would like avocado, though- will that be extra? We have to have something to remind us of the good old days. We’ll match Tom also.
if im not mistaken, there is funding for new cappucino machines in the new health care reform bill.
i agree with paul ballenger completely. and i think our class could do this.
Hello, all. I’m a visual person, could you please direct me to the unit we are considering on Paul’s Web site? Also, are we proposing to simply store the coffee in the urns for dispensing vs. actually brewing it in them? Because, my first impression is that we would still have the same urns out on display, right?
Seth: I’m talking about the Bunn ICB Tall: http://www.bunn.com/pages/commercl/1coffee/satellite.html#ICBTall. Either the single or twin brewer, depending on volume.
Trey: Maintenance costs are fairly minimal. The warranty is 2 years parts and 1 year labor. The water filter will need a new cartridge after 10,000 gallons. The brewer can always be repaired if something goes wrong - there is not 1 part that could break that would make it worthless.
John: If there is Bunn brewing equipment in the kitchen, it should be investigated and see if it could be used. Bunn also makes tea brewing equipment, so that might be what it is.
I think the kitchen has Single Axiom. It seems that’s what I recall getting coffee from Wednesday Night.
Yes, yes, yes on the coffee equipment and financial support for it. Tom is absolutely right about moving the coffee station out to the middle of room. Who knows, people might actually pick up the printed materials on the table if the coffee is located there. This new service equipment wouldn’t require electricity at the urn, so moving to the middle of the room shouldn’t be a problem.
Update: Based on comments by John Nance and Chris Ferrara, I checked on equipment in kitchen. It is a Bunn dual commercial satellite brewer that can produce 15 gallons/hour and brews into 1.5 gallon servers that could be distributed to where the coffee is consumed. These servers are not thermal but must sit on a heated stand that needs electricity.
This brewer should work great for producing coffee for entire church. Stay tuned.
If we can spring for the new brewers, I say lets do it, unless there a way to use the existing brewers with thermal servers. I agree that coffee should not be heated continuously. After about an hour, it starts to taste funny. The coffee I had Wednesday night didn’t taste all that great.
I think this is a great idea. I will certainly do my part.
My point about the coffe is that it isn’t the coffee that’s the problem, but the gunk built up in the old pots combined with the fact that I think the custodians might not be using the proper amount of coffee in the pots. If the coffee itself wasn’t good, all our regular customers would be complaining about what they take home and that isn’t the case, it’s only the coffee in the pots here at the church that people complain about.
Post a Comment