The $119 Nespresso Machine and pod thoughts

Pablo

Pablo

Joined
Oct 28, 2002
Messages
60,041
Location
Everson WA - Pacific NW USA
Machine is flawless. A real value for the closest thing to "real" espresso. I'm drinking 2-3 per day. Easy to use, Al pods recyclable.

Coffee pod quality varies greatly. My theory is some roasters simply have not figured out secrets of freshness. Pods must be aluminum and hold pressure. No other way.

illy - 100% disappointing Nespresso pods. Great coffee company, great beans, even decent line in Keurig pods but these are off, stale, not good.
Nespresso - what can I say. Namesake brand. They have it down. Even the pod sampler that came with the machine tastes fresh and fine. Minor gripe, they have some odd and too many roasts and some make no sense to me. Tokyo? Just over roasted beans. Nicaragua was too acidic, IMHO. etc. In all that only 3 decafs varieties
Peet's - will try some others tomorrow so stay tuned. Got some 8's and 9's coming today. Have not tried, nor could I find any decaf from Peet's
Amazon Fresh Decaf - actually not bad. Good value, good body. Deeper than I expected
Artuzzi Perugia Decaf - best decaf Nespresso pods so far. Nice flavor. Like Italy and great price to boot.
 
I paid around $75 for a Breville-branded Nespresso machine a few of years back. The quality/taste does not compare to my manual espresso machine, but it is a heck of a lot more convenient if you're short on time. Between Nespresso and Keurig, Nespresso wins hands down, if you can find good pods. Like I mentioned in the other thread, Peet's 9 is pretty good, IMO. Too bad I quit drinking coffee. :)

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Quattro Pete said:
I paid around $75 for a Breville-branded Nespresso machine a few of years back. The quality/taste does not compare to my manual espresso machine, but it is a heck of a lot more convenient if you're short on time. Between Nespresso and Keurig, Nespresso wins hands down, if you can find good pods. Like I mentioned in the other thread, Peet's 9 is pretty good, IMO. Too bad I quit drinking coffee. :)



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You inspired me to start a new separate thread on NESPRESSO. Pod eval in particular. Yes way better than any brewed coffee, for sure.
 
ron17571 said:
I drink instant coffee. 6.99 a jar. I tried drinking coffee from Starbucks, it tastes burnt.
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Charbucks. Worst coffee out there.. their only good coffee is most of their seasonal and limited editions IMO.

I figured Pikes place must have burnt down.. so thats why its such a bad coffee.
French is supposed to be sorta burnt and it is.
Blonde shots are ok in drinks but the brewed coffee is bleh.

Guess which 3 they usually have brewed 95% of the time.
 
Rand said:
Charbucks. Worst coffee out there.. their only good coffee is most of their seasonal and limited editions IMO.

I figured Pikes place must have burnt down.. so thats why its such a bad coffee.
French is supposed to be sorta burnt and it is.
Blonde shots are ok in drinks but the brewed coffee is bleh.

Guess which 3 they usually have brewed 95% of the time.
Click to expand...
I can say that I enjoy coffees of most different roast levels up and down the spectrum, except for extremely dark, so dark that it tastes smoky.

Circa 2005 to 2007, in that era, I used to live in Memphis, and I really enjoyed riding my motorcycle to Starbucks to get a cuppa coffee.

During that time, at least, in the daytime, and sometimes, even in the evenings, most Starbucks locations would have two different coffees on tap, something like Verona, or Italian roast, Sumatra, Etc. It was great, the coffee was fresh, and freshly made. I really enjoyed it.

However, sometime, I want to say, around 2008 or 2009 they did away with that concept, perhaps because most people who go to Starbucks, do not buy regular, brewe’d coffee. Instead, they buy the coffee, flavored milkshakes, whether hot or cold.

At that time, they stopped having more than one type of brewed coffee at a time, and they switched to just having the Pike’s Place. Good grief, that is some of the worst coffee I have ever had. Harsh. Bitter. No redeeming quality about it at all.

If you do some searching about it online, it’s quite funny, you will find where actual Starbucks employees have commented on threads about how particularly bad that coffee is, and how none of them could understand Where the decision came from to have that as their featured coffee. Makes no sense at all.

Anyway, that’s pretty much when I stopped going to Starbucks.

Nowadays, the only time I find myself in a Starbucks, is when we are on a road trip, I will say, it is preferable to gas station coffee.

I do wonder, if Starbucks will hop on the third wave, coffee, bandwagon, and start offering some light roasts.
 
Had a Keurig up until about five months ago. Out of the blue all of our regularly used pods tasted like cra*. Neighbor recommended Nespresso and I picked up a Vertuo. Mornings are Melozio Boost and evenings are Stormio Boost. Every so often I’ll switch to a Diavolitto triple shot for that late day one.

Couldn’t be happier with the switch to Nespresso. The free, pre-paid used pod bags are convenient.
 
Pablo said:
Artuzzi Perugia Decaf - best decaf Nespresso pods so far. Nice flavor. Like Italy and great price to boot.
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Try Lavazza DEK, it's my favourite decaf; they are plastic though. New packaging is with aluminum capsules, but I have not tried those yet; I hope the roast did not change. Glad to hear you're enjoying your Nespresso. Yesterday, I pulled out this again:

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Pablo said:
I'm so flush with pods right now my wife is no longer speaking with me. It happens. :cool: :D
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Im about to be in the doghouse with ya. I just bought a MoccaMaster. A few weeks after buying a new Behmor. LOL.

Seriously though, I’m thinking of getting a Nespresso machine for my sister and mom for Christmas. They live together, and both drink coffee, albeit with a good amount of Coffeemate flavored creamer added.

A few years ago for Christmas, I got them their first Keurig. Before that, they used a Mr. Coffee, but theyve gotten addicted/spoiled by the convenience of the Keurig. My sister is the kind of person who is not a morning person. Like, don’t speak to her until that coffee mug is halfway gone, at least, and she’s had a few minutes to wake up. So, she enjoys the ease of making coffee with the Keurig.

But, being my sister, she’s also been exposed to “good” coffee, so she has some realization that the Keurig doesn’t exactly produce a stellar quality cup of coffee, but the convenience aspect is more important to her than having the absolute best quality cup.

However…if she could get a BETTER cup, with not much more effort…she would probably like that.

Enter….my thoughts on getting her a Nespresso.

Everything I have heard seems to indicate that the Nespresso makes a better cup than a Keurig.

So, if I were to get them a Nespresso machine, which one would you recommend that I get for them?

How much are these pods? That is the other question.
 
john_pifer said:
So, if I were to get them a Nespresso machine, which one would you recommend that I get for them?

How much are these pods? That is the other question.
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Seems like two different questions to keep it simple. Nespresso duplicates "espresso " better or worse. Do they like espresso and can they build from that? I am OK with it as I don't need a big old 16 oz mug of coffee. One of the reasons I respond this way because there is now the larger capacity Vertuo line which I know ZERO about. It might make more coffee per shot. Dunno.

Back to the Original Nespresso. It makes a regular shot (which is not small as a shot goes) and the lungo shot which definitely over fills a regular small espresso cup. I love a lungo. If I need more coffee I will have a second and it will typically be decaf. Again the love for quick espresso is the driver. If that doesn't exist, there may be different roads to take. I wanted a REAL espresso machine, but ~$500 seems like a high hurdle.

The regular pods generally end up between .50-.90US$ each. Aside from Nespresso branded pods (.90) price does NOT always dictate quality. Peets are decently prices at Amazon.

One weakness is the pod selection at most stores is a bit weak, but I notice, Target, for example is increasing inventory of the STANDARD pods.

Hope these few sentences help.
 
Pablo said:
Seems like two different questions to keep it simple. Nespresso duplicates "espresso " better or worse. Do they like espresso and can they build from that? I am OK with it as I don't need a big old 16 oz mug of coffee. One of the reasons I respond this way because there is now the larger capacity Vertuo line which I know ZERO about. It might make more coffee per shot. Dunno.

Back to the Original Nespresso. It makes a regular shot (which is not small as a shot goes) and the lungo shot which definitely over fills a regular small espresso cup. I love a lungo. If I need more coffee I will have a second and it will typically be decaf. Again the love for quick espresso is the driver. If that doesn't exist, there may be different roads to take. I wanted a REAL espresso machine, but ~$500 seems like a high hurdle.

The regular pods generally end up between .50-.90US$ each. Aside from Nespresso branded pods (.90) price does NOT always dictate quality. Peets are decently prices at Amazon.

One weakness is the pod selection at most stores is a bit weak, but I notice, Target, for example is increasing inventory of the STANDARD pods.

Hope these few sentences help.
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They don’t drink espresso, unless they go to Starbucks and get some kind of a latte, or other coffee flavored milkshake that has espresso in it.

I was thinking, maybe they could learn to like it.

For me personally, I do not like Keurig, because I feel like it produces a pretty weak cup of coffee.

I do like espresso. I order espresso at a café, I do not mix it with anything. I enjoy the strong flavor. And the Magnification of the complexities and flavors within the coffees that you get, with a shot of espresso.

Some people don’t. Enter milk drinks, etc.
 
Quattro Pete said:
I paid around $75 for a Breville-branded Nespresso machine a few of years back. The quality/taste does not compare to my manual espresso machine, but it is a heck of a lot more convenient if you're short on time. Between Nespresso and Keurig, Nespresso wins hands down, if you can find good pods. Like I mentioned in the other thread, Peet's 9 is pretty good, IMO. Too bad I quit drinking coffee. :)

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Now I’m tempted to buy everything in your photos and take a sip….
 
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