Everything comes back round again, for better or worse - from Spice Girls reunions to bum bags (those are both ‘for worse’, if you were wondering). And sometimes trends get to make a resurgence that should never really have gone out of vogue in the first place…

Filter is back. Or rather, filter never left - but it’s reputation definitely tanked. Why? Well, unlike bum bags and the Spice Girls, it all went downhill in the ‘90s - with the rise of the espresso. Coming over from Italy, exciting and exotic, it fuelled a newfound cafe culture - with coffee shop numbers increasing by a whopping 847%! Suddenly, in a world of gleaming silver machines and the arresting hiss of milk steaming wands, filter fell out of favour in the UK.

But it’s not the ‘90s anymore. Times have changed, realisations have been made. Filter is back and here’s four good reasons why you and your office should make the switch:

\ 1. Cost

Whether you’re grabbing a Grande, Iced, Sugar-Free, Vanilla Latte With Soy Milk out and about, or fuelling your team with milky espresso-based drinks, it’s not the cheapest option. Choosing espresso will have you paying an average of £4.29 per employee each month…

There’s a lot to shout about with filter, but one benefit for your business is that it clocks in at an average of roughly £1 less than that per head. It could even be as little as £1.28! Which wouldn’t get you much on the high street…

\ 2. Quality

We’ve put pricing first, as we know money matters. But what it all really comes down to is quality. You know we’re dealing with the very best coffee - world class, speciality grade and roasted to absolute perfection. And we think that coffee this good deserves the best brew, too.

You wouldn’t mix a 40-year-aged reserve whisky with coke - you’d go for Jack Daniels. And, in the same way, using a delicately-flavoured single origin coffee to make a shot of espresso is sometimes (dare we say it) a bit of a waste. The intense atmospheric pressure and tiny brewing time can blow the balance completely, over-amplifying the flavours until they’re unpleasant.

Filter coffee is the best way to draw out the subtlety of flavours - we think that’s always a good thing.

\ 3. Ease and speed

As you’ll know if you’ve ever had to queue for your flat white at rush hour, it’s a one-drink-at-a-time sort of thing. Fine for a lazy Sunday at home, not so great for office productivity when everyone’s waiting around for their mid-morning caffeine fix.

The filter machines we provide for your office can make a batch of 8-10 cups at a time, staying hot in portable vacuum flasks. Whether you need to fuel a never-ending meeting, or want a social break-out space that allows a quick cup for all, it’ll sort you out. There’s also, to be frank, a lot less that can go wrong. It just… makes sense.

\ 4. Environmental Impact

You’re thinking speed and ease, and you might be thinking - “why not just use coffee capsules or pods instead”? And it’s a fair point: single-use, without the faff and generally pretty foolproof. But if you’re interested in Pact as a business, corporate social responsibility is probably something you care about. And how good your company is to the environment probably falls into that.

Unfortunately, one drawback to pods is that they are generally understood to be an environmental issue. Comprised of different materials, plastics and foils, they end up unrecyclable and stacking up in landfills. They’ve even been banned in Hamburg!

Filter coffee is not only cheaper, easier and of a higher quality than other options… it also produces much less waste. What else could you, or your office, really want?