Making coffee for a large group?

by Eileen
(NJ)

Coffee urn for party or large group.

QUESTION:

I will be making coffee for a large group of people and hate the way coffee tastes when using a big coffee urn. Any suggestions?

ANSWER:

You make a good point. The larger the number of people being served, the lower the quality of coffee that is served. I don’t imagine that’s always the case, but I think it is true most of the time.

Keep in mind that it’s not always the coffee urn’s fault. When making coffee for large groups, organizers tend to save money by buying cheaper coffee. So you can certainly improve the taste of the coffee by insisting on quality beans.

Also, make sure the coffee doesn’t sit in the urn too long. Sometimes, for the sake of convenience, the “big group coffee” is made well in advance of it being needed. Then it sits there for far too long without being replaced.

If freshly made urn coffee, made from quality coffee beans, still doesn’t pass muster, you can try some other approaches.

You didn’t say how many people are involved, or what your budget might be, but you do have other options.

For instance, is there a quality coffee shop close by? Might they be interested in delivering coffee to your event?

Depending on the nature of your group, maybe volunteers could bring in their own coffee makers, plug them in and share the load.

It’s tough to make a clear recommendation without knowing more. But you can certainly make a better brew with your urn if you buy quality coffee and make sure it is served fresh.

Comments for Making coffee for a large group?

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making coffee for 50 people using an urn
by: Andrea

I am having a gathering of fifty or so people and had planned on getting a one hundred cup coffee urn.

I make a good cup of coffee in a regular coffee maker using coffee beans that i grind myself.

My question is, how many lbs of coffee would I need to make one hundred cups.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

making coffee for large groups
by: Doug

I once saw a coffee recipe for groups of 200 people. It involved dumping several cups of grounds in a huge aluminum urn commonly found in traditional church kitchens.

I normally make coffee in a drip type brewer, dispensed in an insulated pot. The coffee stays hot for a very long time without developing that boiled taste. If we have a group of more than 4 I have a second pot on hand and get ahead of the game by brewing two pots at the start and then refills as time goes on. And yes I have fresh ground beans each time.

If the group is larger still or an office meeting, consider stopping by your local coffee shop (starbucks or paneras) and purchase a "box of coffee." It's not the top flight variety you might otherwise brew, but it's not bad. Once again it's insulated to stay hot.

-Doug

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