What Happened to the Rubi Coffee Machine?

Isaac Brown

Illustrated by: Carla Cieza Espinoza                                                                                                                         

            What’s more suspicious than silence? Any clearer sign that something is amiss?

            I’m of course referring to the red Rubi coffee machine on the north side of the Murdock Library. And I’m not only talking about the fact that it doesn’t work and hasn’t worked for a while, but that no one is talking about it and no one is giving answers―should we be suspicious? Possibly; but there is still plenty we don’t know. 

            Here’s what we do know:

The Rubi coffee machine (let’s just call it Rubi) once provided both affordable and accessible drinks. The coffee was what many students described as “not bad”; the hot chocolate was “pretty good.” And Rubi didn’t just offer black coffee, but coffee with flavors and creamers. It was shut down in 2020 for obvious reasons, but why hasn’t it been put back into service yet? 

            Well, it has. Or it had been. And moreover, it should be still.

Multiple students reported Rubi was fully functional at the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester. Then Rubi stopped working and has remained that way since. 

Illustrated by Carla Cieza Espinoza.

So why the quiet on the subject? Is it the question people are afraid of, or the answer? One student, careful not to level any allegations, said: “How much does the … Murdock coffee machine decrease business revenues … for Coffee Cottage, Chapter’s … and other coffee shops?” I am unsure of the answer, but an educated guess would be “somewhat.”

            Recently, I did some investigating into the supposed answers behind our questions. Frank Charles, Director of Purchasing at GFU, said that he has been “in touch with the Rubi cafe rep and they are working to fix the machine as soon as possible,” but that COVID-related issues have made it difficult for a Rubi technician to come out. Further, Charles said that he’s “hoping to have it up and running in the next few weeks,” and if not, then he’ll “arrange to have some other vendor set up their machine.” 

            So, it seems that though the machine was first shut down, right after it was back in service, it broke down. Isn’t that convenient? No; it’s inconvenient. But perhaps by next semester or even by the end of this semester, students will once again have their most accessible coffee machine. Even if this effort is frustrated, Charles also said that “this month we are arranging a snack vending machine to be set up as well,” which one student described as “considerable,” and even “impressive.”

            Whether there is foul play at hand remains unclear. But students want Rubi back.