Home brew better than bought, say coffee lovers
April 30th, 2012
A recent coffee machine survey has uncovered some surprising ideas about Australia’s latte love affair.
The survey set out to pitch a few popular espresso coffee machine brands against each other, measured by customer satisfaction of their ability to make a good cup of coffee, ease of use, reliability and value for money – pretty stock standard metrics.
What the surveyors at Canstar Blue found however, was that only a third of Aussies purchase ethically sourced beans, also at a third are those who admitted to being so addicted to caffeine that they suffer withdrawal headaches when they don’t have a cup, that they use dirty machines, and they’d rather make their own coffee at home (from their uncleaned machine) than sip on a profesional barista pour.
Over 70 per cent of the 642 questioned in the national survey said that they loved their coffee machine so much that they now drink more coffee at home rather than out and about. This stands to reason; a quarter reported that they spent over $1,000 on their home machine.
But loving the machine and making an investment in it apparently didn’t translate to taking good care of it through regular cleaning and maintenance.
According to the results, a quarter of espresso machine owners could be drinking bad milk due to not regularly cleaning the steam wand of the machine, something Canstar Blue’s manager, Rebecca Logan said was a problem.
“It is concerning to see a quarter of respondents failing to regularly clean their machine’s steam wand which puts the drinker’s health at risk. The steam wand should ideally be cleaned after every use,” Logan said.
As for the coffee addicts, Logan said it can be a huge challenge to cut coffee intakes to more balanced levels.
“It can be particularly difficult for those with a high caffeine intake who tend to experience the most severe withdrawals, however headaches can still be experienced after skipping as little as one cup a day.
“Most medical experts warn against reducing your caffeine intake suddenly. The best plan for those looking to cut down is to drink lots of water and reduce your intake gradually to ease the withdrawal symptoms.”
A mere 36 per cent of respondents said that they preferred to buy ethically sourced coffee beans and grinds, the more contentious being the younger generations.
Who won?
Nespresso aced the consumer survey for the second year in a row, topping the charts for overall satisfaction, ahead of De’Longhi, Sunbeam, Breville and Saeco.
While the validity of the survey has been called into question for a “small sample size”, Logan said Nespresso’s win was deserved.
“Nespresso has done the work to remain the Australian consumer’s favourite this year in an increasingly dynamic and competitive coffee machine market. Nespresso has maintained its focus on quality, innovation and personalised service and in this case it has paid off.”
Leave a Reply