Even though I have thousands of dollars worth of espresso machines and grinders I have to admit there will always be place on my counter for my little Pixie. Oh how I love you, little guy. Always willing and ready as my backup machine when I'm out of beans.

Tonight's nightcap is two shots of Rosabaya w/4oz of 2% milk, nuked and frothed with my trusty $2 electric whisk.



Certainly fresh beans would better but this latte was pretty darn good given the circumstances

Milk chocolate, caramel notes abound.

Who dare says you aren't legit!

Great, I don't think so. But I have had some good results with the Nespresso U, especially using the ristretto setting with their limited edition capsules. I got the U and an Aeroccino Plus electric frother for pretty much free, so it was a low-investment try-out. The Aeroccino produces a pretty stiff foam of course, nothing like microfoam.

Like you, I have mine as a backup and also for use in the office where I can't tolerate a messy grinder/spent grounds situation.

Have either of you tried the refillable capsules? Have been keeping my eye out for a fixer-upper Maestria jut to see what these things are about.

cuppajoe wrote:Have either of you tried the refillable capsules?

No, I have not. I have heard bad things about the off-brand capsules.

I looked into them and decided that it'd take too long a trial-and-error period to find the right grind for each bean or blend. And it doesn't seem possible to tamp consistently or uniformly into a little cup like that. With no way to know if perfusion is even and regular, it just seems too unregulated to trust.

Some of the Nespresso capsules are excellent (e.g. Arpeggio and Ristretto), so I've always bitten the bullet and paid the cost. There are a few tubes of Dharkan and of Roma on my office shelf right now, along with Arpeggio.

As a long time nespresso user I can only say that I hardly touch the thing anymore and both me and the girlfriend instantly recognize its taste profile..guess we have evolved.
To it's defence I have to say I keep one in the office as the alternative coffee (is it?) is just horrible.

Have played around with empty caps some years ago, and did not get good or consistent results, it's very hard to get a decent amount of grounds into a capsule and tamping is nearly impossible. Btw: there is a mere 5 grams of grounds in a capsule...