Our office just got the most intriguing coffee machine. Mars, Inc. (yes the ones that make candy bars) has created the Flavia Beverage System.
This thing looks a lot like a regular coffeemaker, except that the coffee (and tea and cocoa and creamy topping) all come in little pouches. You stick a cup in the cubby, put a pouch in the drawer, press a button, and 30 seconds later you have a cup of cappucino, or espresso, or latte, or an espresso shot, or Chai tea… You get the idea.
No more $5.00 Starbucks coffee. Foamy would be proud.
January 15th, 2004 at 2:27 pm - Edit
I believe Oscar’s former employer Healtheon had one of those machines back in the late 1990s. I saw it once when I was meeting him there and it looked very cool.
Cisco does a nice job with the free beverages, but we don’t have any nifty high-tech drink-preparation machines around. Oh well…
January 19th, 2004 at 2:16 pm - Edit
You can get espresso roast coffee out of it, but not espresso. It’s just a single-use filter-pouch coffee/tea system. No espresso, no cappuccino, no foam. (Which is, mind you, fine, and still for an office probably a great improvement over a normal coffeemaker system. But damnit, no espresso.)
If only it really DID make espresso… (The big one claims “espresso strength” mode for normal coffee, which I imagine means simply a longer infusion. Pah. Call me when it can do Turkish. Even the cappuccino is really just a plain coffee with a packet of special “cappuccino topping” goo on it… Man.)
January 20th, 2004 at 11:24 am - Edit
You’re right about the topping goo. There are pouches of that as well, which are added to make the “cappucino” have a foamy topping. But it tastes like ass, and is in no way a substitute for actual steamed milk.
January 22nd, 2004 at 4:23 am - Edit
There’s only one problem with flavia, the coffee and tea out of it sucks.
January 31st, 2004 at 4:48 pm - Edit
Foamy, indeed, would be very proud.