Is your coffee operation ready for the Autumn rush?

Delivering consistency to customers is integral to protecting customer expectations and brand reputation. The BRITA Professional iQ range of water filtration systems helps operators serve high-quality coffee with every pour

The weather turns cooler, demand for hot drinks rises – and the pressure on your coffee operation starts to build.

For operators, Autumn brings increased demand for premium and seasonal hot drinks. Higher volumes mean equipment will be working harder, while staff changes following the summer can introduce new challenges around consistency.

Fine-tuning water treatment, equipment and operational processes before peak trading can help protect coffee quality, reduce downtime and support profitability.

Consistency starts with water

Water is a key ingredient in coffee, yet it can be one of the most overlooked. Its chemistry has a direct influence on extraction and flavour.

“Coffee needs some mineral content to extract effectively: too little can result in sour, thin flavours, while too much can make flavours dull or muddled,” explains Paul Whitehead, Business Account Manager, BRITA.

For multi-site operators, maintaining consistency can be particularly challenging. Thomas Sangiovanni, Head of After Sales at Volcano Coffee Works and Assembly Coffee, says: “In places like London, where the water supply can change completely from one borough to another, even the less trained palates can spot flavour incongruences caused by water when working across different sites with the exact same equipment and coffee.”

That matters when premium drinks are a key part of the autumn offer; customers expect their favourite drink to taste the same each time. For operators, that consistency is vital to protecting customer expectations – and ultimately, brand reputation.

Choosing the right treatment

So, what is the right approach? Both filtration and reverse osmosis (RO) have a role to play.

Ion-exchange filtration targets specific components of the water to optimise it for coffee extraction while helping protect equipment.

“We always push for customer awareness regarding filtration. Limescale and gypsum are the culprit of 65% of equipment callouts in Greater London, Kent, Sussex and, generally speaking, the whole of UK below Manchester,” adds Sangiovanni.

Meanwhile, RO removes almost everything from water before adding selected components back in. It can be appropriate where an operator has specific requirements, but it can come with greater costs and lower water efficiency.

“For larger-volume and multi-site operations, cartridge filtration can provide a good balance between water optimisation and commercial and financial practicality,” says Whitehead. “There are also situations where an operator has very specific requirements and RO is the better solution. We can help operators chose the best solution for their business."

For Liam Pickett, Espresso Technician at Coffee Doctor, the biggest mistake he sees in the trade is using a filter but not changing it when necessary.

“Scale can coat the heating element, which means it can't dissipate heat correctly. The element then starts struggling and can eventually fail. Because the element is electrical and sits inside the boiler, that can also cause the machine's electrics to trip,” he explains.

To remove scale and fit a new element would cost around £275, Pickett says, while a full machine de-scale could cost between £1,400 to £2,400.

When autumn demand arrives, preparation helps keep quality, consistency and equipment performance on track, giving operators the best chance of making the most of every trading opportunity.