I’m looking at what’s available for a reasonable bean to cup machine for lower level commercial purposes (maybe 50-100 coffees per day). Don’t really want to go down the route of pods, sachets or anything else with a tie in. I’d describe the level of coffee desired as being “that’s a nice coffee”, rather than “I’m getting notes of ”, if that makes sense. The cheapest Cimbali appears to be about 7,000€, which is soooo not happening.
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Jura have an outlet store, sometimes with there higher end machines. Not sure though if suitable for 50-100 coffees a day.
The Giga 6 may be suitable but constantly filling it maybe a chore.
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One of the roasters in Bordeaux has a few Jura options for machines, so that’s a useful reinforcement. Literally the only brands I know that operate in this sphere are Cimbali and La Marzocca, and they’re both way too high end for my needs.
I have the basic E6 which does us. We used to go out during the pandemic for two large latte’s three times a week but decided the cost was too high and went for the Jura bean to cup machine. We now have daily coffees for much less cost. In fact machine will soon have payed for itself.
You’d be far better getting a commercial grinder for about a grand and a separate machine. I woudn’t trust anything with a built in grinder for 50-100 cups a day.
Eureka make some good value stuff
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Youll probably get a sh mazzer jolly at a reasonable cost.
Id be looking for a duel boiler machine if you expect to make a few drinks back to back
Ok, that’s worth knowing. I’m trying to strike a balancing act between faff / quality / cost / kitchen space, so trying to keep things to one unit has its appeals, but if it compromises too much then it seems a poor tradeoff. Plus I don’t actually have to keep the grinder up on the countertop necessarily, the balance might be I grind a day’s worth of beans in the morning and then put it away.
@Penance double boiler suggestion sounds excellent, hadn’t even realised that was a thing.
A lelit elizabeth would potentially fit the bill.
If you stick with the same beans that would reduce faff.
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Yeah, I think it will be the same beans for everything.
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The other important aspect is it’s unlikely to be me using the machine for the most part, I’ll be busy doing food in this situation. So something foolproof is probably quite important in that regard.
A timed dose grinder would certainly help.
Do you actually want to be making coffee or not? The point of a bean to cup is that it’s a button push - you just load in coffee and milk.
I reckon that if you used great quality beans and some really creamy milk, people would fucking love the coffee. This fits your brief.
If you’re going separate grinder etc, you’re making the coffee. There’s time and skill involved here. You can get better results, sure, but is it where you want to go?
Don’t agree. B-C machines have different faffs and are more prone to going wrong.
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It’s more about servicability, Adam. At a price X, an internal grinder is going to break down making 50-100 coffees a day and then that’s bye bye coffee as it’s integral to the machine.
So do you buy a £7k bean-to-cup with a mandatory service contract too, or do you buy a proper commercial grinder for a fraction of that which is easily serviced infrequently on an ad-hoc basis? This should appeal to your inner accountant.
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A decent grinder with timed dose will reduce faff considerably. Assuming same beans being used, a bit of trial getting the time correct for the desired dose and it shouldnt need touching again.
Dose, tamp and pour.
I used an Eureka Specialita with timed dose before swtching to single dosing. Once the time was set it remained accurate do dose weight.
I still have that grinder and its still accurate.
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I have too many grinders 
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At my old office we had a bean to cup that looked inferior to that Jura linked above; it did maybe 200 coffees a day, and never broke down. It was serviced every few months.
I have no clue about the pricing etc, but Jon wanted an easy machine, not something that required a barista for each cup, I thought.
Important addition that I forgot to mention - this is for what will almost certainly be a seasonal venue, running May - October inclusive. So rental is a possibility in this regard.
So you made a judgement from a photo, based on a sample size of one.
Never change, mate.
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All I’m saying is that the grinder in a bean to cup can do hundreds of grinds a day