Research commissioned by Nespresso found that the average coffee run to the cafe down the road takes 11 minutes out of the working day.

For the nation’s roughly 7.1 million workers, that equates to around 1.3 million hours lost for every coffee trip made.

However, is this time really a dead loss, or an investment in employee wellbeing?

Apart from the obvious caffeine hit, 81 per cent of the 1,000 adults surveyed said that having coffee with a work colleague actually enhances their conversations and communications at work.

Just over half (57 per cent) said that of the things important to them for a positive working environment, good quality coffee is one of them.

An unlikely downside of our love of coffee, though, comes down to the type of coffee people drink.

The research found that almost one in 10 (8 per cent) of people admit to judging a person by the type of coffee that they drink.

Humble coffee losing employers 1.3m hours of productivity

Adam Zuchetti

Last Updated: 30 November 2017 Published: 02 November 2017