Do You Know What’s Growing In Your Office Coffee Maker?
The office coffee maker is an indispensable tool in most offices, especially in these post-holiday days. Without the precious caffeine dispensing liquid it produces, your workplace might grind to a sleepy halt.
But did you ever ponder exactly how clean that coffee maker might be?
According to Fast Company, a research trio from the University of Valencia in Spain conducted the, “first systematic analysis of coffee machine-associated bacteria.” In the study published recently in Scientific Reports, they examined 10 Nespresso machines in both office and home settings and found “significant bacterial diversity” the machine’s drip tray.
That indistinct brown sludge is home to a bacteria colonization process described as “rapid,” “rich” and “dynamic.” Among the bacteria identified, two main taxa showed up in moderate to high abundance in nine of the machines: Enterococcus and Pseudomonas.
Gross.
![Images of bacteria from the lab-tested drip tray sample taken after 4 (Image A), 8 (B), 14 (C), and 21 (D) days. Via Scientific Research.](https://eadn-wc04-4752213.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/3054889-inline-i-2-the-first-study-of-shared-office-coffee-machines-is-as-gross-as-youd-think-e1451936989723.png)
Via Scientific Research.
But don’t despair. Despite the fertile colony of bacteria frolicking beneath your coffee maker, the coffee the machine produces is still safe. So drink up.
“I want to stress that bacteria accumulate in the leach tray, not in the coffee itself,” co-author and biology scholar Manuel Porcar told Fast Company. “Nespresso coffee is microbiologically flawless.”
Whew.