A look inside a self-serve cappuccino machine

You know those self-serve “cappuccino” machines that vend all different kinds of flavored coffees? The ones that look like this…

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I saw one that was left open yesterday. While I wasn’t expecting a barista on duty, I wasn’t expecting to see this either…

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It’s all powdered mix.

The powdered mix is apparently measured out and sprinkled over a hot water tube and, at least at this location, dispensed through never-cleaned spigots.

Yummy!

Oh, and that spinning whirring noise when you press the button before the “coffee” flows? It’s not a coffee bean grinder revving up – it is just a special effect to sell the product.

I don’t know why I had assumed there were actual coffee beans somewhere in those devices. From now on, I’m sticking to the real stuff.