Instead of moving bottles and cans around the country by road the machine uses chilled and filtered water from the mains mixed with concentrate and delivers it in sealed pouches.  The machine also relies upon an energy efficient on-demand, flash chilling process removing the need for energy hungry refrigeration. This whole process reduces the carbon footprint of the machine by up to 75%.  As a bonus the customer can see the drink being made through a large reinforced glass window.

The machine will offer well known brands such as Vimto and Sunkist and also range of drinks which meet the nutritional demands of the education and health sectors.  The machine is easy to load with little or no cleaning required and with its huge capacity of 1000 drinks it can be managed by an organizations own staff or if required, by a third party operator.

There is no doubt, given the shift in all sectors to pouch packaging for food and drink to reduce carbon footprints, that the Pouchlink system will be a huge success.

Lavazza, the famous premium Italian coffee roaster is working with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of the USA to develop the Keurig range of single serve coffee machines for the European Market.  Green Mountain own Keurig which is the most successful single serve system in the USA.

The result should be a combination of a well engineered machine with superb quality Italian coffee.  An end product is expected some time during 2013 which should be available to both the home and workplace markets.

Keurig Workplace Brewer

Vending Machines – For

Vending machines provide convenient availability of hot and cold drinks, snacks and other food items.  Schools can provide nutritious food and drink to the pupils and staff at affordable prices through vending machines. Some schools are trying to promote the sale of nutritious food and drink through vending machines.

Vending Machines – Against
The food and drink sold through vending machines is aimed at making profits as well as providing a service to pupils and staff. Many schools earn significant sums of money from vending machine contracts annually – a very useful contribution to balancing the books.

Soft drinks are the most popular items sold by means of the vending machines. Intake of soft drinks accounts for most of the health problems related to childhood obesity. Heart diseases, diabetes, arthritis and high blood pressure are some of the problems that result from the intake of soft drinks. Taking into consideration the ill effects of junk food and drink, many well know brands have been banned from vending machines in schools.

 When the children cannot find what they want in a vending machine they will simply source at the next, convenient location, the shop on the way to school perhaps.  The challenge is to make the healthy options as attractive as the unhealthy ones. 

Snack Vending machine

Making a choice

After inserting the money, the user communicates his choice of product. In older vending machines, pulling or turning a knob activates a strictly mechanical dispensing mechanism. In more modern machines, the user enters either letters and / or numbers corresponding to the desired product, which is then processed electronically, activating a motor to dispense the merchandise. This will only happen if the machine matches the programmed price to the amount of money inserted; if the inserted funds total less than the price of the item, the machine either simply refuses to dispense or sends an electronic message to a display asking the customer to insert additional funds.

So, given that most people when at work don’t do the basics when it comes to making coffee, do you think that anyone will look after the coffee machines?  Will they clean it inside and out?  Will they carry out any necessary daily maintenance routines? Of course not.  This why when it comes to coffee machines for the workplace, the Kenco Singles and Flavia single portion systems have been so successful.

There is only superficial cleaning to do; the hygiene of the system cannot be affected by neglect. They make coffee shop quality drinks all day long and are very reliable.

Flavia Creation 400 Brewer

Kenco Singles Brewer

“I represent more than one million family farmers who need Fairtrade pricing to put food on the table and keep their kids in school,” said Raul de Aguila, a Peruvian coffee grower . “No other label or certification system ensures a fair income for a hard day’s work. This increase will have a direct and positive impact on the lives of Fairtrade Certified coffee farmers around the world.”

Fairtrade is a certification model that guarantees prices to farmers that meet strict social and environmental sustainability criteria, and the FAIRTRADE Mark has become one of the most recognized consumer labels in the UK . Research by DEFRA this year showed that more than eighty percent of the UK public say they have heard of Fairtrade, and more than half of those people said they made an effort to buy it.

According to Ian Bretman, Deputy Director of the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK and FLO Board member, “The conscious consumer demands high-quality products that make a difference in the world. The research is clear: consumers are willing to pay more for Fairtrade products because they help lift farmers out of poverty. This moderate price increase in Fairtrade coffee will not undercut the dramatic growth of consumer demand for Fairtrade products; on the contrary, it gives concerned consumers additional evidence that Fairtrade truly delivers on its promise of farmer empowerment.”

The Fairtrade minimum price for coffee is important because the international coffee market is highly volatile. Frequently international coffee prices have plummeted to under US$ 0.60 per pound, well below the cost of production, forcing literally millions of family farmers into poverty. In this difficult and unstable market, the Fairtrade price makes a tangible difference in the lives of farmers by ensuring greater price stability and a sustainable income.

Nexus Drinks Systems offer Fairtrade coffee, tea and hot chocolate for vending machines and coffee machines.

For example they offer the Klix in-cup drinks system with the choice of Fairtrade coffee tea and hot chocolate or other branded drinks.  The Flavia sachet system offers a range of Rainforest Alliance drinks as does the Kenco Singles cartridge system and the Kenco in-cup range of vending machines.

For coffee machines, such as the following bean to cup brands, WMF, Franke and Jura as well as traditional coffee machines, Nexus offer a wide range of both Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance ( Kenco ) coffee beans.

Please see our detailed Blog about the Rainforest Alliance organization and what it does for growers.

Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee can be found throughout the world. More than 25 million people in the tropics depend on coffee, a crop that is the economic backbone of many countries and the world’s second most traded commodity after oil. Coffee is farmed on about 12 million hectares (30 million acres) worldwide, an area larger than Portugal and nearly the size of England. Most of the farms are in areas regarded as high priorities for conservation. In 1993, the Rainforest Alliance and its partner groups in the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) demonstrated that traditional, forested coffee farms are havens for wildlife. Now, coffee lovers everywhere can support farmers who maintain these rainforest refuges simply by buying beans stamped with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal of approval.

Supporting Farmers and Farm workers

Coffee farming is a grand and noble tradition that is deeply ingrained into the cultures, economies and politics of most producing countries. Millions of families have depended on coffee for generations. Like any farming, growing coffee is risky business. Coffee farmers face difficult challenges: over-supply and low prices, inclement weather, pests and diseases, rising costs and sometimes unhelpful government policies.

The trend toward “modernized” coffee farming, which began in the 1970s, increased supply and also marked a departure from the historic traditions of farming in harmony with nature. The new methodologies put more beans into an already overstocked market and converted coffee farms from self-sustaining sanctuaries into stark and lifeless monocultures. Wildlife disappeared, soils washed downhill and streams choked on silt and agrochemicals. Many farmers sought a balance between the traditions they learned from their grandfathers and the new, high-production, high-cost and high-impact techniques coming out of the agronomy schools. The Rainforest Alliance and its allies worked for years with these forward-thinking farmers, scientists, agronomists, environmentalists and others to develop farm-management guidelines that maintain the eco-friendly traditions, add a growing awareness of social responsibility, and ensure economic sustainability.

Rainforest Alliance certification helps farmers bear the erratic swings in the global market by giving them the keys to improved farm management, negotiating leverage and access to premium markets. By implementing the SAN sustainable farm-management system, farmers can control costs, gain efficiencies and improve crop quality.

The Birds and the Beans For more than 150 years, coffee was widely grown under the leafy canopy of native rainforest trees. When agronomists in the 1970s began promoting a new farm system where the sheltering forest is cleared, and coffee bushes are packed in dense hedgerows and doused with agrochemicals. These monoculture farms produce more beans, but at a tremendous environmental cost. The traditional, agroforestry system is good wildlife habitat. The new monocultures have little habitat, accelerate soil erosion and pollute streams.

Biologists in the SAN have shown that certified, forested coffee farms can be bio-rich buffer zones for parks, protect watersheds and serve as wildlife corridors. These “coffee forests” are also important sources of firewood, construction materials, medicinal plants, fruits, flowers, honey and other goods. Many farms in the certification program protect native forest reserves and community water supplies. Certified farmers in ecosystems that are not naturally forested, such as the “cerrado” in Brazil, are required to conserve the native habitat.

The biodiversity on coffee farms can be awesome. One certified cooperative in El Salvador holds more than 100 tree species. SAN biologists have spotted members of dozens of species of rare birds, wild cats such as ocelots, postcard-size butterflies, Technicolor frogs, seldom-seen orchids, monkeys and (once) a giant anteater. Certification is one way to guarantee that coffee farms maintain wildlife habitat and other environmental benefits.

Rainforest Alliance Certified seal is a guarantee that coffee is grown on farms where forests are protected, rivers, soils and wildlife conserved; workers are treated with respect, paid decent wages, properly equipped and given access to education and medical care. These farms are on a path toward true sustainability. Forested coffee farms are critically important to serve as migration stopovers for birds travelling from as far away as Canada and Alaska. In areas where deforestation is rampant, these coffee farms may be the only habitat available to provide shelter and food for wary birds.

Nexus Drinks Systems offer Fairtrade coffee, tea and hot chocolate for vending machines and coffee machines. For example they offer the Klix in-cup drinks system with the choice of Fairtrade coffee tea and hot chocolate or other branded drinks.  The Flavia sachet system offers a range of Rainforest Alliance drinks as does the Kenco Singles cartridge system and the Kenco in-cup range of vending machines. For coffee machines, such as the following bean to cup brands, WMF, Franke and Jura as well as traditional coffee machines, Nexus offer a wide range of both Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance ( Kenco ) coffee beans.