Office Coffee Consumables and Supplies

Your office coffee consumables stock list

Start with the checklist below, deleting anything your machine does not use. Record the exact product reference for filters and cleaning chemicals rather than relying on descriptions such as “coffee tablets”.

Do not assume the initial machine delivery includes an ongoing supply of these items. Ask for a written handover list showing what is included, what needs replenishing and who orders it.

Keep this stock plan with your wider installation and maintenance arrangements, so responsibilities survive changes of staff or supplier.

Beans and optional ingredients

Choose the coffee first, then standardise the ordering reference and pack size. For flavour and machine suitability, see choosing office coffee beans, rather than treating this stock list as a bean-buying guide.

Decaffeinated coffee needs its own demand estimate. Before buying it, check whether the machine accepts whole beans in a separate hopper, pre-ground coffee through a designated chute, or neither.

Chocolate and milk powders belong on the list only where the machine is designed for them. Keep their ingredient information available alongside the milk information.

Cups, lids, sugar and stirrers

Reusable mugs need a washing and replenishment plan, not just a cupboard. For disposable cups, order samples first and check clearance beneath the outlet, room for the selected drink and compatibility with the exact lid.

Avoid automatically issuing a lid and stirrer with every drink. Make them available where needed, and measure use separately from total drinks. Sugar sachets and sweetener portions can likewise have their own stock count rather than an assumed one-per-coffee allowance.

Match cleaning products and filters to the machine

Cleaning tablets, milk-system cleaner and descaler are different supplies, not interchangeable versions of one product. For example, JURA’s WE8 instructions specify separate procedures for coffee-system cleaning, milk-system cleaning and descaling.

Build the replenishment list from your machine’s current manual. Record the approved product, amount used per procedure and expected number of procedures before the next delivery. Do not copy another office’s cleaning schedule simply because its machine looks similar.

For water treatment, record the cartridge reference, installation date and replacement instructions. Filter requirements can depend on the machine and water-hardness setting: the WE8 manual, for example, links its replacement prompt to that setting. There is no useful universal “one filter per month” rule for this stock list.

Keep a replacement available before the prescribed change is due, where shelf life and supplier instructions permit. Confirm whether your team or the service provider changes it.

If the machine develops a fault, use the breakdowns and repairs guide rather than experimenting with stronger chemicals or improvised cleaning products.

Set stock levels from attendance and actual use

Headcount is a starting point, not a consumption measurement. For initial planning, use expected daily attendance, then replace assumptions with machine-counter readings and stock records.

The following matrix is an illustrative scenario, assuming two coffee drinks per attendee per working day. It is not a consumption benchmark or a machine-capacity recommendation.

Turn drinks into quantities

Suppose your planning assumptions are:

• 40 people attend daily.
• Each takes two coffee drinks.
• Each drink uses 9 g of beans, with no additional coffee dose.

That gives 40 × 2 × 9 g = 720 g of beans per working day, or 3.6 kg over five working days, before any allowance for dialling-in, discarded drinks or other losses. These are example inputs, not recommended settings.

For milk, multiply the number of milk drinks by the actual millilitres dispensed per recipe. Add recorded discarded milk separately. Do not multiply all coffees by the volume of a latte, and do not confuse milk volume with the finished volume of foam.

Count disposable cups from takeaway demand, not total drinks. Estimate cleaning products from prescribed procedures and doses, not from cup numbers alone.

Use a reorder point

A practical starting rule is:

Reorder point = expected use during delivery lead time + safety stock.

Using the example above, a three-working-day delivery lead time and one working day of safety stock gives:

720 g × 3 + 720 g = 2,880 g, or 2.88 kg.

Choose your own safety allowance for supplier reliability and demand variation. With fixed ordering days, also allow for the interval until the next stock review.

Check stock on hand and confirmed incoming deliveries before ordering. Round to pack sizes only after checking storage space and usable shelf life. Milk will usually need a different delivery pattern from cups or cleaning tablets.

Store supplies safely and rotate them properly

Beans and dry ingredients

Keep beans airtight, cool and dark, away from the coffee machine’s heat, sunlight and damp areas. The National Coffee Association identifies air, moisture, heat and light as enemies of freshness.

Use first-in, first-out rotation, abbreviated to FIFO: bring older stock forward and place new deliveries behind it. Record opening dates and retain the product and batch information if ingredients are transferred into suitable containers.

Buy quantities that move through the office rather than treating spare cupboard space as a target. Refill the hopper for expected use instead of using it as long-term storage.

Milk refrigeration and dates

Keep refrigerated milk in a fridge operating at 0 to 5 degrees Celsius, checking the temperature with a suitable thermometer. Check the machine’s milk-cooling arrangement too, rather than assuming that a cool-looking enclosure provides refrigeration.

Follow each carton’s storage and “use within” instructions. Refrigerate shelf-stable milk after opening when the label requires it, and mark when it was opened. Keep milk out of refrigeration for as little time as possible.

A use-by date concerns safety; a best-before date concerns quality. Milk can carry either, so read the actual label. Do not use milk after its use-by date or rely on smell to override it.

Apply FIFO to milk, but use earlier-expiring stock first if delivery dates and expiry dates differ.

Allergens and chemical separation

Keep dairy milk and alternatives clearly identified and separated to prevent spills and mix-ups. Retain ingredient labels, use dedicated utensils or containers where appropriate, and check replacement products before accepting substitutions.

Separate cartons do not make a shared milk circuit allergen-free. Shared equipment is a potential cross-contact route, so assess it and communicate its limitations rather than promising an allergen-free drink.

Store cleaning chemicals in a separate designated cupboard, following their labels and storage instructions. Keep them in clearly identified packaging, away from ingredients, cups and utensils. Cleaning tablets should never sit beside sugar or sweeteners.

Ordering and cost control without compromising supplies

Give one person responsibility for the master list and nominate cover. Use a stock sheet containing the product reference, pack size, stock on hand, reorder point, supplier, lead time and storage location.

At receipt, check the product, quantity, condition and dates before putting it away. Agree acceptable substitutions in advance, especially for allergens, cup-and-lid combinations and machine-care products.

For cost control, ask suppliers for itemised written quotations separating ingredients, serving supplies, cleaning products, filters, delivery and any compulsory purchasing commitments. Check which supplies are already included in the machine or service agreement, and ask for the VAT treatment of each line.

To work out your own consumables cost per drink, total the supplies used over a chosen period and divide by drinks actually served. State the period and VAT basis, and include discarded stock. If assessing the whole coffee service, add machine provision, servicing, utilities, washing and waste collections separately.

Do not reduce prescribed cleaning doses or extend filter intervals to control consumption. Instead, investigate over-ordering, expired milk, duplicate supplies and unnecessary disposable items.

Choose supplies that fit the waste arrangements

In England, the relevant bans started on different dates: plastic drinks stirrers were banned from 1 October 2020, while the ban covering single-use expanded and extruded polystyrene cups began on 1 October 2023. These are not blanket bans on every disposable coffee cup.

Choose reusable teaspoons or suitable non-plastic stirrers. Check the rules for the UK nation where the workplace operates rather than treating England’s requirements as UK-wide.

England’s Simpler Recycling workplace requirements began on 31 March 2025, with micro-firms having fewer than 10 full-time-equivalent employees given until 31 March 2027. Coffee grounds count as food waste.

Do not put compostable cups, lids or pods into food waste simply because the packaging says “compostable”. DEFRA says such packaging needs residual disposal or a dedicated collection, rather than ordinary food-waste recycling. Confirm the collection route before ordering office coffee consumables and supplies.