Coffee Makers for Churches – 6 Types to Consider

The old coffee percolators are so last-millennium. They boiled the coffee instead of brewing it, which made it bitter, and bitter coffee is bad.

In the age of gourmet coffee and Starbucks on every corner, people expect good coffee. So, if your church coffee is not top quality, people will complain – and maybe even sample the coffee at another church.

We’ve sold coffee to numerous churches of all sizes since we entered the coffee business in 2001. So, maybe we can help.

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The coffee consumed at a church throughout the week is nothing if not highly volatile. Lots of coffee is needed for a couple of hours on Sunday morning, then, very little is needed for the rest of the week.

It’s very important to be able to brew enough for Sunday morning, and it’s also good to be able to brew smaller quantities during the week. Therefore, those are the two features we are emphasizing:

1. Brewing Volume – the main consideration for a church investing in a coffee brewer is to buy a brewer that meets their volume needs. Therefore, we’ve categorized our recommendations by cups served on a typical Sunday morning. We are using 8 oz. cups.
2. Batch Size – coffee usually brews in batch sizes of one-half gallon, one gallon, one-and-a-half gallon, or something larger. Many brewers can brew in more than one batch size.

Here are some brewers to consider:

1. 0-64 cups (pourover): Bunn CW15-TC Thermal Carafe Brewer

• Brewing Volume: up to 4 gallons/hour, which equals 64/8 oz. cups of coffee/hour
• Batch Size: .5 gallon = 64 oz. = 8/8 oz. cups
• Pourover means there is no waterline hook-up and water is added to the brewer every time a pot needs to be brewed. The Bunn CW15-TC uses carafes, which keep the coffee hot for hours without needing a burner. The carafes can be carried to where they are most needed. More than one carafe can be used with the brewer.

 

2. 0-64 cups (automatic): Bunn Axiom APS Airpot Brewer or Curtis D500GT Automatic Airpot Brewer

• Brewing Volume: up to 4 gallons/hour, which equals 64/8 oz. cups of coffee/hour
• Batch Size: .5 gallon = 64 oz. = 8/8 oz. cups
• Automatic means the brewer hooks up to a waterline. It also means the brewer usually has a hot water faucet for making tea and hot cocoa (both brewers listed above do have the hot water faucet). Brewing into an airpot is similar to brewing into a thermal carafe – with either the coffee can be carried to anywhere in the church where it’s needed.

3. 0-92 cups: Fetco Extractor CBS-2141XTS Coffee Brewer

• Brewing Volume: up to 5.8 gallons/hour, which equals 92/8 oz. cups of coffee/hour
• Batch Size: 1.0 gallon = 128 oz. = 16/8 oz. cups. Can also brew in a half-batch size.
• The Fetco Extractor CBS-2141XTS Coffee Brewer can work on either a 15 amp or a 20 amp circuit. At 15 amps, it brews 4.5 gallons of coffee/hour, but on a 20 amp circuit, it can brew 5.8 gallons/hour. It brews into Fetco’s 1.0 gallon L3D-10 thermal dispensers.

4. 65-240 cups (automatic): Curtis D1000GT Automatic Airpot Brewer or Fetco Extractor CBS-2132XTS-3L Coffee Brewer

• Brewing Volume: up to 15 gallons/hour, which equals 240/8 oz. cups of coffee
• Batch Size:  .5 gallon = 64 oz. = 8/8 oz. cups
• Brewing more than 64 cups in an hour is a big step, because it means going from 110V to 220V. The vast majority of the electricity goes toward heating water, so, with 220V, a brewer can brew up to 15 gallons/hour.

5. 65-240 cups (automatic): Fetco Extractor CBS-2142XTS Coffee Brewer or Curtis G4TP2T ThermoPro Coffee Brewer

• Brewing Volume: up to 15 gallons/hour, which equals 240/8 oz. cups of coffee
• Batch Size:  1.0 gallon = 128 oz. = 16/8 oz. cups. Can also brew in a half-batch size.
• Both of these brewers brew into 1 gallon thermal servers with stands. The servers can be moved to where the coffee is needed, and they do not require a heat source.

6. 65-240 cups (automatic): Fetco Extractor CBS-2152XTS Coffee Brewer

• Brewing Volume: up to 15 gallons/hour, which equals 240/8 oz. cups of coffee
• Batch Size:  1.5 gallon = 192 oz. = 24/8 oz. cups. This brewer can brew in 3 batch sizes: .5, 1.0, or 1.5 gallon.

A couple of notes:

1. You may have noticed that none of these brewers brew into the classic coffee pots. This is because the industry is moving toward thermal dispensers, which (1) keep the coffee fresher for a longer period of time (continued heat destroys coffee flavor), (2) don’t require a heat source, which means the servers can be carried to where the coffee is needed, and (3) there is no chance of a warmer being left on and burning the coffee.
2. There are also brewers that can make more than 15 gallons of coffee/hour, and we sell them, but they also require a massive amount of electricity.

Coffee station photo by Pedro Vera,  CC-BY-2.0.