4 Tips to Amp Up Your Church Coffee Ministry

Welcome people to your church with the rich aroma of coffee. Let the scent waft through the building, causing them to relax as soon as they walk through the door. Church coffee ministries can enhance the Sunday morning experience and make lasting impressions upon visitors—but only if done right. We have a few, easy tips to help build your coffee ministry into an effective service that your members and visitors will love.1. Buy Stylish CupsLet’s face it; Styrofoam is passé. It feels cheap, looks cheap and can dramatically change the flavor of your coffee. Upgrade to a quality paper cup and give your customers a far better early morning experience. You can also use the cups as promotion. Print a logo for or information about your church, building program, mission trip, volunteer need, etc. That space is an opportunity to communicate with your congregation.2. Use Quality EquipmentDrinking a morning coffee should be a refreshing, soothing experience. Don’t ruin it by serving from old pots stained with years of neglect. Brew your coffee with quality equipment that is calibrated to allow enough time for the water to extract flavor from the grounds.A good brewer does cost a bit more upfront than your granddad’s old Mr. C., but it makes a significant difference in taste. Werecommend Curtis Brewers. The company provides incredible equipment and nationwide service. It sells everything from simple pour over 12-cup brewers to machines capable of serving thousands every hour.And once you buy a brewer, set it up properly. If you don’t, the machine won’t work efficiently and you could lose thousands of dollars a year in wasted coffee grounds3. Brew Top-Notch CoffeeThis is a simple—perhaps obvious—tip; but we feel it’s worth saying. There is a stark difference between good coffee and bad. Coffee lovers may be so starving for caffeine that they will choke down common swill, but they adore the smooth taste of drinks made from quality beans. It you’re going to provide early morning coffee at your church, don’t skimp.One of our church partners recently told us about a couple who visited their worship service and eventually joined. The couple said they had never been to a church that served such great coffee. The experience made a solid first impression.4. Streamline the Serving ProcessGet organized! Churches usually face a coffee service conundrum. They only have time to offer it before or in between services and small groups. Some churches with which we work serve as many as 500 cups in 20-minute windows. To meet that demand, volunteers may work for one or two hours before morning worship, filling airpots in hopes of beating the mad rush. That’s too stressful.Brew the right beans (we already talked about that) and line those folks up. A simple line will organize the mob and take the chaos out of the church coffee experience.