Dedicated hot water tap

Delivers hot water to a cup or pot on demand from a plumbed source, without occupying a kettle, a hob or a barista.

There are two very different taps that look identical on a counter, and confusing them is the most consequential error in this category. The FIRST is the tap on the espresso machine: on most architectures it draws from the steam boiler, which means the water is at whatever temperature that boiler runs for steam, it has been standing in a vessel whose job is not to make drinking water, and — decisively — every litre you take out of it is heat and volume the machine had reserved for steaming milk. The SECOND is a standalone tap fed by its own flow-through or tank heater, on its own filtered supply, at its own set point, with no relationship to the espresso machine at all. Some machine taps add a cold-water mixing valve so the operator can temper at the tap; that fixes the temperature question and leaves the steam-capacity question exactly where it was.

• Decide first what the tap is FOR, because americano water and tea water are two different specifications wearing the same fitting. Americano water is added to an extracted shot, at volume, where boiler character is masked and precision matters least — the machine tap serves it honestly. Tea water is the drink, and a delicate green or white tea will show you every fault in the source. A bar that sells both should not assume one tap answers both.
• Cost the machine tap in STEAM, not in money. It is the only item in this category with a hidden price, and the price is paid at peak: pulling water out of the steam boiler while a queue is forming reduces exactly the reserve you sized the machine for. If your milk drinks already suffer on the third jug of a round, adding pot-filling to the same boiler is not a saving.
• Volume decides independence. Occasional tea and a milk-light menu can live on the machine tap indefinitely. Sustained tea volume, or a milk-heavy menu at peak, is the case for a source that is not the espresso machine — and at that point the choice is between a counter boiler and an under-counter instant tap, which is a space decision more than a performance one.
• Choose under-counter when counter surface is the scarce resource, and counter-top when service access is. An under-counter heater gives back the most valuable square centimetres on the bar and hides the maintenance behind a cabinet door — which is also where maintenance goes to be forgotten. A counter unit is in everyone's eyeline, which is why its filter actually gets changed.
• Check the filtration path, not just the filter. A dedicated tap on its own line may be running through different treatment from the espresso machine, or through none. Water is the largest ingredient in a tea by a wide margin, and a tap plumbed off an untreated branch will taste of the building.
• Measure the pour height against the tallest vessel and the fastest movement. A tap set for a cup means a teapot is filled at an angle, and a teapot filled at an angle is spilled sooner or later onto the hand holding it. Height and reach are a scald-risk decision before they are a convenience one.
• Prefer a metered dose where the team turns over or the menu has a fixed americano and pot dilution; prefer a held-open lever where a small trained team wants the control. Be honest about which you have — the same honesty the espresso side needs about volumetric dosing.
• Confirm the water connection, the electrical supply for a heated tap, and any drainage for the drip point with a licensed professional before the counter is fabricated. An under-counter tap is a joinery decision as much as an equipment one, and it is very expensive to add after the cabinetry is in.