The best way to increase the intake of both hot and cold beverages is to improve quality in terms of flavour, aroma and appearance, and these improvements are possible when suitable filtration and water treatment is put in place.

Water & Hydration

Water is the single most important ingredient for both hot and cold beverages; therefore its quality will have a dramatic influence upon taste, aroma and appearance, which in turn affects desirability and consumption. Water coolers use 100% water, post-mix/soft drinks are 83% water, with coffee and similar hot beverages being 98% water.

Poor tasting beverages could be a factor in why a high percentage of society is not meeting their recommended daily fluid intake. Children should, on average, drink 1 litre of water per day, female adults 2 litres per day, and adult males 2.75 litres per day, but how many of us actually manage this on a regular basis? So what does hydration offer, well it will improve:

• concentration
• alertness
• memory and cognitive skills
• productivity

Also poor hydration can lead to;

• daytime fatigue and lethargy
• headaches
• raised body temperature
• dizziness
• nausea
• cracked skin

Good hydration is important for everybody, however the above benefits are particularly relevant for people in current employment or education. So it would seem that making sure staff are well ‘watered’ is good for the productivity and performance of a business!

Mains water in the UK is some of the best in Europe, however quality varies dramatically between regions, some of us just simply do not like its taste, smell or appearance, or the effect it has on our favourite beverage. Possible causes for concern with UK mains water are shown in the table below, with chlorine and scale the most common problems. There are solutions available however, for instance inline carbon filters will reduce chlorine levels improving waters taste and odour, and ion-exchange systems, such as ‘Everplus’, offer scale control which is vital for coffee and other hot beverage applications.

As time passes, chlorine and chemical treatment of mains water will rise, whilst water scarcity increases and natural demand for water escalates through population growth. The net result is that mains water quality is unlikely to improve in the future, which the public seems to be aware off as the increased demand for water purification in the home has grown, examples being; under sink and counter top filtration systems, water jugs and resin tanks. The ‘Aqualyze’ range of under the sink drinking water systems have proven popular, providing a comprehensive solution to most residential drinking water requirements. From the production of pure reverse osmosis water, to chlorine, bad taste and odour reduction by carbon block, Aqualyze offers a cost effective, easy to install, complete filtration system specifically for residential application.

So why if we drink filtered water at home and it offers benefits such as increased concentration and productivity, do we accept that some hot and cold beverages served outside of the home offer poor quality and limited satisfaction? Public opinion is changing. Consumers now demand improved quality from their beverage, with easy access to information and greater choice at the heart of this shift towards consumer sovereignty. Access to vast amounts of information allows the consumer to make more informed purchasing decisions; price is no longer the key factor in this process with beverage quality and satisfaction taking greater prevalence.

Competition for custom is growing too, not only increases in different suppliers and types of beverages available, but also the outlets from which they can be purchased. Coffee shops now provide real competition to traditional bars and restaurants as a place to relax and meet your friends. The success of high street coffee shops centres around beverage quality, and its now up to bars, restaurants, and other users of beverage vending machines to try to catch up or even steal the lead. You maybe able sell a beverage with low pricing, but for repeat custom and sustainable business growth you need to offer superior quality.

So how can businesses, which manufacture or use water coolers, vending machines and hot beverage equipment meet these new consumer demands for quality and satisfaction?

Hot Beverages

Everplus is a range of tanks and cartridges from Fileder Filter Systems, designed to control alkalinity based hardness in water, ideal for coffee and other hot beverage applications. The main advantages for choosing Everplus are that it protects expensive hot beverage machinery from possible breakdowns and excessive servicing, and improves the flavour, aroma, and appearance of the beverage. So Everplus not only helps to improve product quality, it can provide cost savings to the user in terms of increased machinery life and reduced servicing costs.

Protection - Hot beverage vending machines are expensive pieces of equipment, therefore it makes sense to preserve their working life and help them run efficiently. Machinery that is not working to its maximum potential will be costly in terms of more ingredients required, increased maintenance, and most importantly downtime; if the machine doesn’t work you can’t sell cups! Through ion exchange, Everplus is able to control alkalinity hardness and reduce scale formation in distribution lines and build-up on the heating element, which could reduce the machines performance.

mproved Quality - Everplus tanks include an adjustable bypass, which allows the user to select the optimum hardness and pH level for their hot beverage application, providing control over beverage quality. The new Everplus ESO inline cartridges have pH control through out the life of the filter, maintaining a constant pH of 6.5 for optimum beverage flavour. The ESO utilise a unique ‘twist-lock’ head for quick cartridge change outs, reducing service times. Both the tanks and cartridges have post carbon filtration, removing chlorine to further enhance the beverages flavour, aroma and appearance.

Drinking water

Carbon filtration is popular for water cooler applications due to its high chlorine absorption capabilities for taste and odour improvements. In particular carbon block filters, which offer many advantages over traditional granular carbon, including: a cleaner filtration process through less carbon fines, higher absorption capacity and the ability to offer lower micron sizes, key for protecting against harmful cysts such as cryptosporidium.

Fileder offer Inline filters and QC systems, which have been specifically designed for pointof- use drinking water applications and have proven popular with numerous major vending and water cooler companies. All filters utilise John Guest pushfit connections, for easy connection to industry standard tubing, and are available in a range of different specifications, including:- sediment removal, chlorine reduction, cyst protection, lead removal, scale control, and pH stabilising. Quick change-outs are possible, in particular the QC systems with their ‘twist and lock’ heads allowing for cartridge change-outs by anyone in a matter of seconds. A valve contained in the head, which automatically shuts off the water supply when the expired cartridge is removed, also assists QC cartridge changes.

So why is beverage quality being overlooked by some businesses?

Do they consider product quality a small price to pay for slightly lower operating costs? This may prove to be a costly decision with consumer demand turning towards product quality rather than price. Firms sacrificing quality may find it difficult to compete in the long-term with rivals offering a superior product. Filtration and water treatment is an affordable way to ensure product quality and create new sales, whilst at the same time benefiting from long-term cost savings such as lower ingredient requirements, reduced maintenance and servicing, and less downtime.

It’s not just up to the vending machine manufacturers to instigate this change however; businesses, schools, restaurants etc., all have a role to play, by demanding improvements in the quality of dispensed drinks.

Through a well watered workforce businesses have the opportunity to benefit from increase concentration levels and productivity, and reduce daytime fatigue, but in order to entice staff to drink more fluids during the day the beverage must appeal in terms of flavour and aroma, placing quality as the driving-force for the dispensed beverage market.

For further information contact Fileder Filter Systems Ltd, t: 01622 691886, f: 01622 621932, e: info@fileder.co.uk or visit www.fileder.co.uk.

---

Water Facts

VI has discovered a few amazing facts about water and its treatment:

• A quarter of the world’s population is without safe drinking water.
• Less than 1% of the water treated by public water systems is used for drinking and cooking.
• In the time it took you to read these first three facts another child has just died in the developing world from unsafe drinking water.
• According to NASA the natural rotation of the Earth has been altered slightly by some 10 trillion tons of water stored in reservoirs over the past 40 years.
• Water makes up 75% of the human brain. 75% of trees are also made from water!
• Water expands by 9% when it freezes, making it less dense, which is why ice floats on water.
• You could live for a month without food, but you would be dead after a week without water!
• In the United States forty-eight million people receive their drinking water from private or household wells.
• 500,000 tons of pollutants pour into lakes and rivers each day in the US alone.
• Once it evaporates, a water molecule spends around ten days in the air.
• If you donated £10 or $15 to providing Safe Water that would be enough to give one person safe water for life.
• 1 Gallon (approx 5 litres) of oil can cause an eight-acre oil slick if spilled or dumped down a storm sewer!
• 97% of the worlds water is salty or otherwise undrinkable, 2% is stored in glaciers and the ice caps, the remaining 1% is left for humanity’s needs.