# Vending Machine Coffee

Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/vending-machine-coffee/
Last updated: 2026-10-20

> It heats water in a boiler, then mixes it with the coffee for the drink you choose. Instant machines stir soluble coffee and powdered milk into hot water in a mixing bowl. Fresh-brew machines pass hot water through ground coffee, and bean-to-cup machines grind beans for each cup and press espresso. A vend takes about 10 to 45 seconds.

## At a glance

- Category: Machines, Pods & Commercial (Industrial)
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Origin: United States, 1947
- Also known as: coffee vending machine, Kwik Kafe, coffee vendor, office coffee machine

## Steps

1. **Choose your drink**: Pick the drink on the buttons or touchscreen, along with any options such as extra milk, a stronger brew or sugar.
2. **Pay, or use the free office machine**: Public machines take coins, and many take notes or cards; workplace machines are often free.
3. **Place a cup if asked**: Some machines drop a cup for you; others prompt you to put your own cup under the spout.
4. **Wait while it mixes or brews**: The machine heats the water and mixes or brews the coffee, then adds milk. A vend takes about 10 to 45 seconds.
5. **Collect your cup**: Take the cup once it stops pouring. Stir in any sugar or creamer.

**Vending machine coffee** is coffee made to order by a machine, in a few seconds, at the push of a button: in offices, factories, stations and other public places. Inside, a boiler heats water and the machine either **mixes it with instant coffee and powdered milk**, **brews it through ground coffee**, or **grinds beans and presses espresso**. The first one, the **Kwik Kafe**, was built in a Philadelphia garage and sold its first cups at an American football game in 1946. Here's how the machines work, the three types, and where they came from.

## The short version

- **Three kinds of machine:** instant, fresh-brew and bean-to-cup.
- **Instant** is fastest and cheapest; **bean-to-cup** tastes closest to a café.
- **A vend takes about 10 to 45 seconds.**
- **Invented in Philadelphia** by Lloyd Rudd and Cyrus Melikian: tested in 1946, launched in 1947.
- **Japan** has the most: hot and cold coffee machines on the street, mostly selling cans.



## How does a coffee vending machine work?

Vending Times breaks a machine into four main parts: a **water boiler**, a **brewer**, the **dispenser** and a **control system**.

1. **You choose.** The control system reads your selection, including options such as extra milk, a stronger brew or sugar.
2. **Water is heated.** Many machines are plumbed into the mains, and busy ones have more than one boiler so they can keep up at peak times.
3. **Ingredients are dosed.** Each drink has set amounts, measured in grams, so every cup comes out the same. Powders such as instant coffee or chocolate drop into an internal **mixing bowl**, where they meet hot water. For an espresso drink, beans go to the brewer instead.
4. **The cup fills.** Some machines drop a cup; others ask you to put your own under the spout. Milk follows, either powdered or fresh from a **chilled unit**.
5. **The waste goes away.** Spills go to a drip tray, and used coffee cakes drop into a bin inside the machine.

Vending Times says the whole vend takes anywhere from **10 to 45 seconds**.

## What are the three types?

| Type | How it makes coffee | Trade-off |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Instant** | Soluble coffee, powdered milk or freeze-dried ingredients mixed with hot water | Quick, cheap and low-maintenance, but flavour and texture suffer |
| **Fresh-brew** | Hot water passed through ground coffee | Better than instant, a little slower |
| **Bean-to-cup** | Grinds beans for each cup, presses a cake and forces hot water through it for espresso; often fresh milk | Closest to café coffee, but needs daily cleaning and milk care |

Liquidline, a UK workplace supplier, sums up the choice: traditional vending machines keep costs down and service fast, and suit **unsupervised areas** and big teams on shifts; bean-to-cup machines take more upkeep but give a smoother, more café-like drink. Many buildings now mix both.

## Where did coffee vending machines come from?

**Lloyd K. Rudd** and **K. Cyrus Melikian** were engineers who met in the US Army during the Second World War. According to the Hagley Museum, they founded **Rudd-Melikian** in Philadelphia in **1946** and built their first coffee vending machine in a **garage**. Melikian told the Chestnut Hill Local that they tested it in **November 1946** at a **Philadelphia Eagles** game at Shibe Park: "We sold the coffee for 10 cents a cup, and people loved it because it was a very cold day. We could not make it fast enough to meet the demand."

| When | What happened | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| November 1946 | The Rudd-Melikian machine is tested at an Eagles game | Chestnut Hill Local |
| 1947 | It launches as the **Kwik Kafe**, dropping a paper cup and filling it with instant coffee and hot water in about five seconds | Wikipedia |
| 1947 | Manning & Lewis, Knapway Devices and Bert Mills also make coffee vending machines; some mix liquid concentrate with boiling water | Wikipedia |
| 1948 | Rudd says Kwik Kafe machines serve **250,000 cups a day** | Wikipedia (company claim) |
| 1955 | Over **60,000** coffee vending machines in the US | Wikipedia |
| 1967 | Rudd and Melikian sell the company, which becomes **RMI** | Chestnut Hill Local |

Vending coffee wasn't loved by everyone: Wikipedia quotes one publication's verdict on "vending machines spewing out tar-like fluid in white plastic cups". Melikian kept inventing. The Chestnut Hill Local says that in **1965** he and engineer Harry Klaus perfected a machine to make sealed espresso **pods**, and Hagley credits his later company, ABCD, with work on the coffee pod used in single-cup machines.

## Where are coffee vending machines most common?

**Japan.** The Takeout reports about **4 million vending machines** for 122 million people, roughly one for every 30. Many sell **[canned coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/canned-coffee/)** hot or cold, a trade that took off after Pokka's hot-and-cold machine of 1973.

**Italy.** Wikipedia notes machines offering up to **18 coffee varieties**.

**Workplaces everywhere.** Wikipedia points out that many office machines need no payment at all: the employer provides the coffee free.

*General guidance only. Vended drinks come out very hot, so take care with thin cups.*

## Vending machine coffee vs other methods

- **[Japanese canned coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/canned-coffee/):** ready-to-drink coffee, the vending machine staple in Japan.
- **[Instant coffee sticks](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/instant-coffee-sticks/):** the same soluble coffee, mixed yourself.
- **[Batch brew](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/batch-brew/):** large café filter brewers.
- **[Automatic pour-over machine](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/single-cup-pour-over-machine/):** a machine that brews one cup at a time, by the pour.

Explore every machine method in the [machine chapter](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/machine/).

## Words used in this guide

- [Coffee concentrate](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/coffee-concentrate/): A coffee concentrate is coffee brewed much stronger than you would drink it, using less water, and then diluted with water, milk or ice to serve.

## FAQs

### Who invented the coffee vending machine?

Two Philadelphia engineers, Lloyd K. Rudd and K. Cyrus Melikian, who met in the US Army during the Second World War. Their Rudd-Melikian company's Kwik Kafe was tested at a Philadelphia Eagles game in November 1946 and launched in 1947.

### Do vending machines use instant coffee?

Many do. Liquidline, a UK supplier, says traditional vending machines use soluble coffee, powdered milk or freeze-dried ingredients, which keep them quick and low-maintenance. Others fresh-brew ground coffee, and bean-to-cup machines grind whole beans for each cup.

### What is a bean-to-cup vending machine?

A machine with a built-in grinder and brewer. It grinds beans, doses them, presses a cake of coffee and forces hot water through it under pressure to make espresso, then adds milk, often fresh milk from a chilled unit.

### How long does a vending machine take to make coffee?

Vending Times says a vend takes anywhere from 10 to 45 seconds. Wikipedia says the original 1947 Kwik Kafe took five seconds, using instant coffee.

### Where are coffee vending machines most common?

Japan, where hot and iced coffee machines stand in the street, often selling canned coffee. Italy has machines offering up to 18 coffee drinks, according to Wikipedia.

## Sources

- [Coffee vending machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_vending_machine)
- [Coffee innovation from a Philadelphia machine (1954)](https://hagley.org/node/1858)
- [After 69 years, coffee makers have grounds for success](https://chestnuthilllocal.com/stories/after-69-years-coffeemakers-have-grounds-for-success,7624)
- [How coffee vending machines work](https://www.vendingtimes.com/articles/how-coffee-vending-machines-work/)
- [Coffee vending machines vs bean-to-cup](https://www.liquidline.co.uk/news/coffee-vending-machines-vs-bean-to-cup)
- [The once-popular old school type of vending machine that’s still going strong in Japan](https://www.thetakeout.com/1926891/old-school-coffee-vending-machine-popular-japan/)