There are three magical words that aren’t said enough at the office: “I made coffee.”
Coffee is there in the morning when your brain is foggy and you’re trying to start the day and it’s there in the afternoon when you need a pick-me-up to finish the last part of the workday strong. Coffee doesn’t judge you and it’s simply there to give you a dose of energy and focus whenever you need it.
It’s the unsung hero of an office setting for so many different reasons, such as the ones below.
It boosts productivity
When coffee is firing on all cylinders, you feel alert, awake, productive, and quite possibly like you could run a dance center with all the energy you have.
Coffee literally makes you not feel sleepy, and it “works by blocking receptors for adenosine.” Coffee has a stimulant in it called caffeine. Caffeine is what gives you that boost and why many people fall in love with coffee (the smell and taste of it doesn’t hurt).
Just smelling coffee can give you a mental boost. According to ScienceDirect, “[a]n ambient coffee-like scent improved performance on an analytical reasoning task.”
On top of improving energy levels which could lead to a boost in productivity, coffee contains essential nutrients and is healthy for many reasons.
It gives workers a reason to stand up and take a break
We live in a day and age in which the 9-to-5 office job has shifted more into a 9-to-6, 8-to-6, or even 9-to-7. The point being, people are working more. In the process, people are sitting at their desks for long periods of time which has many negative health risks attached.
You should take a break from sitting every 30 minutes, and what better way to do so than walking to the break room and pouring a fresh cup of coffee. This break will help you stretch your legs and get your mind away from work so you can focus in when you get back to your desk.
Working for hours without a break might seem productive, but breaks should be a necessary part of your workday and can help your mind feel fresh and alert when you return. They can actually lead to you getting more done.
Having to refill your cup with more coffee gives you a good reason to take a break, and not just a mental break but a physical one in which you get up and stretch your legs with a walk.
No more coffee runs—hello instant coffee!
Having an office coffee service at your disposal (aka in your office) can save time and money, and it can also lead to a fresher and better-tasting cup of coffee when you incorporate high-quality coffee beans and a good coffee maker.
Coffee runs and overpriced lattes don’t need to be the norm. After all, the office assistant probably doesn’t love taking people’s orders and having to juggle multiple cups on the way back to the office. Not to mention, you have to wait for the delivery and your coffee could be cold by the time it arrives.
When you have a gourmet coffee brew in the office, an immediate cup of fresh coffee is a real possibility and you can eliminate coffee runs, which can help to save time for the office assistant so he or she can focus on more pertinent tasks.
Every office deserves a coffee bar, whether it comes in the form of a coffee machine, espresso maker, french press, or whatever it might be. There are many MVPs and office warriors, but coffee is truly the unsung hero of the office setting.