...or you could try Nespresso coffee capsules

[OldVillain]

I use a Magimix M100 Essenza Nespresso machine and Nespresso coffee capsules for repeatable quality, every time.

[HB]

I use a Magimix M100 Essenza Nespresso machine and Nespresso coffee capsules for repeatable quality, every time.

I've seen them at Williams-Sonoma, but never tried them. You mention in your blog that you worked there. What is your relationship to this company?

View from the factory...
Thursday, 3 May 2007

On the edge of the village of Orbe, Switzerland lies a coffee factory. Two coffee factories to be exact. One produces Nescafe and the other is currently the only place where Nespresso is manufactured.
There is also a coffee Product Technology Centre (PTC) there too.

I was lucky enough to work there last week. I certainly enjoyed my time at Orbe and the hospitality and assistance of Monsieur Daniel Sautrey and his factory team. Thank you!

[miKe mcKoffee]

I use a Magimix M100 Essenza Nespresso machine and Nespresso coffee capsules for repeatable quality, every time.

Nice that that the easy no brainer no skill Nespresso system suites your style. I believe you when you say their quality is repeatable. Their quality may in fact be decent in the cup but like Dan I have not tried them. Would be interesting to have the range of Nespresso capsule espresso shots included against normal espresso preparation in a serious espresso taste judging like a major barista competiton.

Pre-prepared frozen foods also tend to be of repeatable quality. Some are actually pretty good these days. Personally I prefer higher quality, versatility and creativity of tastes afforded by scratch preparations.

[Grant]

A friend of my wife's has a Nespresso capsule machine, and while I admit it actually produces a product better than many coffee shops, it has a "funny" taste to me...not bad really, just kinda weird/artificial - fast food kinda way.

Sort of like how a frozen supermarket pizza tastes in comparison to a pizzaria pizza...not the same, not necessarily bad...just "different". definitely a lesser quality product, ...but you still can live with it if you had to and have nothing to compare it against.

Would I ever buy one...hell no.

[OldVillain]

I've seen them at Williams-Sonoma, but never tried them. You mention in your blog that you worked there. What is your relationship to this company?

I work for Nestle who owns and started the Nespresso brand back in 1988/89, in Switzerland. I first tried them back in January 1992 when I visited our headquarters in Vevey on Lake Geneva. They didn't have the varieties in those days.

I've seen them being made at the Nespresso factory in Orbe, Switzerland. The factory looks more like a boutique that a coffee factory.

They source the best beans from around the world and then blend them into the various recipes for the individual capsules.
Then the roast them very precisely, store the roasted grounds whilst the quality sample them and taste them (as well as analysis their characteristics using equipment to 'taste' the blend and roast.
If it's out of recipe/parameter, they don't use the batch.
That rarely happens because of the exacting methods used by the highly skilled staff.

The fresh ground coffee is then fed to the capsule filler and sealed in the aluminum 'cup' with an aluminum/foil lid.

Depending upon the capsule, the extract time varies (governed by the density of the packed grounds and the lid/filter in the capsule), along with the amount of crema produced.

I've had better at some exceptional coffee shops (or rather at some coffee shops with exceptional Baristas!), but not often.
But every time I lift the lever and drop a capsule into the machine, I get a great tasting coffee at about £0.21/$0.42 per cup (that's with my 10% staff discount).

If I had the time and space in my kitchen, I'd probably roast, grind and pull my own espressos. But I don't so this is the alternative that gives me great tasting coffee every time.

[danblev]

At this price you would think that the coffee is at least the CoE coffee. Without the discount you are paying 6.5 cents/gram for flavored coffee or if you look at it the other way it is $30/lbs for roasted coffee which is very close to the price of roasted Brazil CoE third place.
You should compare them out.

[OldVillain]

At this price you would think that the coffee is at least the CoE coffee. Without the discount you are paying 6.5 cents/gram for flavored coffee or if you look at it the other way it is $30/lbs for roasted coffee which is very close to the price of roasted Brazil CoE third place.
You should compare them out.

As I said in my earlier post:

If I had the time and space in my kitchen, I'd probably roast, grind and pull my own espressos. But I don't so this is the alternative that gives me great tasting coffee every time.

But thanks for the information, the CoE Web site was very interesting.

[King Seven]

I used to sell Nespresso machines back in the day. They were mildly entertaining to take apart and interesting to see they used a system that is similar to the "perfect crema" discs you get in cheap espresso machine brew handles.

Some of the coffees were rather high in robusta and a bit rough - some just plain boring. I've never had a coffee with any top notes from a preground capsule (which isn't particularly surprising) and the mouthfeel was often surprisingly fluffy.

It is insanely expensive coffee when you get down to it. The domestic capsules are barely 6 grams most of the time - CoE prices is about right and to be honest I never had a cup worth the cost...

[OldVillain]

Wow Jim! If your coffees taste as good as they look, they ought to be fabulous!

Nice Web site too! I'll have to read that once I'm back from working in Russia.

[darrylr]

Nespresso drinks are very consistent and taste fine enough (for a capsule/pod kind of beverage) but the shots sure don't taste like espresso. It's basically a strong coffee.

Any kind of brew that starts with fresh ground beans is, of course, worlds better.

That being said, the Nespresso machines are well made for their price point and certainly are fast and convenient. One must just have the right expectation about the drink they make.

Darryl

[jesawdy]

I won't knock it until I try it. The whole design seems to have some merit, more so than PODs in my mind. Assuming it is encapsulated as soon as the coffee is ground, it should retain more aromatics than I would expect from a POD. I have only had POD prepared coffee twice, and both times it was overextracted and dreadful.

For the convenience, I think $0.49 per drink isn't that terrible... but $1.00 per drink at home seems to be pushing it if you end up using two capsules per beverage (if you want a double). Of course, you may have only spent $200 on the Nespresso machine, and not $1500 on a grinder and machine. $1300 will buy you 2600 capsules!

The wikipedia entry for Nespresso is mildly interesting.

[mattwells]

I will admit to trying it - at a mall about a month or two ago, maybe William-Sonoma or another of the kitchen stores were doing a little demo.

Everything said was about right on. I have definitely had worse cups, but I can always make better at home. It tasted a little 'off,' but that could be attributed to the fact I was having it in a mall (literally the only time in the past 2 years I have been to a mall) and the odd surroundings could have made it taste off. It didn't really taste like espresso, more like strong coffee with subdued flavor characteristics. The economy of it doesn't really add up (as noted), but it was WAY better than the other super auto (that ground and brewed) they were demo'ing next to it. I will also add that it tasted better than what I remember pods tasting like (but time from one tasting to the other may have a lot to do with that).

One thing that irritated me (and I pointed out to the person doing the demo, much to my wife's chagrin) was that they have "espresso" capsules and "lungo" capsules. One of the espresso ones is called 'ristretto.' This has nothing to do with extraction time, just their name for it. Minor point, but bothered my aficionado-sensibilities.

[darrylr]

Actually I've had ESE pod drinks that are a good deal better than Nespresso drinks, but the result with ESE pods does vary a lot depending on what machine is being used and the brand of pod, whereas Nespresso is pretty consistent. Neither of course is a good choice when you want real coffee.

Darryl

[gabriel]

One thing that irritated me (and I pointed out to the person doing the demo, much to my wife's chagrin) was that they have "espresso" capsules and "lungo" capsules. One of the espresso ones is called 'ristretto.' This has nothing to do with extraction time, just their name for it. Minor point, but bothered my aficionado-sensibilities.

I read once that the Longo capsules are using coarser grind so you will get more liquid in the 25 seconds
I'm not sure, but the ristretto might use finer grind (just guessing)

I had two Nespresso machines at home and family members start buying them as well after trying them so I got lot of experience with them (side note, the C190/290 make better coffee than the C/D90/100)
Can you compare Nespresso to freshly roasted high quality espresso made on a proper machine by an experienced Barista ?
Of course not, but if you try to do better than SB etc. than Nespresso can hold their own and than some
Nespresso will never produce burn/bitter/sour coffee, on the other hand the taste is very flat compared to good espresso

One more thing, if you try them in WS ask the PBTC to stop extraction after 1-2oz (they aim for the 3-4oz mark)
/gabi

[Soshry]

Hello:

I owned a Nespresso machine and used it daily for 2 years. Ironically, it was on a trip to Switzerland, home of Nespresso, that I started drinking real espresso in some of the cafes and I was convinced that Nespresso does not compare to the real thing. After doing much research (on this site and Coffeegeek) I purchased a Quickmill Alexia and Macap M4 grinder. Nespresso makes a good drink and if you like milk drinks, it does a great job there as well. Once I tasted real espresso, I realized that Nespresso is not quite there. The crema looks great but it disappears after one sip. If you want espresso, Nespresso does not come close to a good home setup. While Nespresso has done a great job at creating a system that anyone can use, a knowledgeable espresso drinker will never be convinced.

Steve

[OldVillain]

I read once that the Longo capsules are using coarser grind so you will get more liquid in the 25 seconds
I'm not sure, but the ristretto might use finer grind (just guessing)

You're basically correct Gabriel.

A Nespresso Ristretto is meant to be drunk in half the quantity of regular espresso's. Lungo's tend to be twice the volume of the regulars.

I watched the capsules being filled and sealed at the Orbe Nespresso factory in Switzerland (see centre of the panoramic view).
The blend of beans is roasted and then allowed to rest in silos. The next day, the contents of the silos are ground to an exact particle size and filled into capsules and hermetically sealed for use by lazy coffee drinkers like me.

[Ross]

Had a few Nescafe dolce Gusto pods at a friends this morning. First time I have seen them in the US. Many airlines have them in their first/business class galleys. That is the first place I tried them and they are really not bad for a quick, clean, consistent shot, they are not really espresso but sort of a strong good tasting coffee. The documentation on his machine said it brewed at 19 bars, I thought that was a typo but it's true, some use 14 bars, obviously a lot more pressure (somewhere) than standard 9 bar espresso. I liked the black canister, called a "ristretto" , I guess for someone who just wants a fast shot on the way to work or wants to make one decaf for a guest, this is a great way to go. I took a canister apart and was impressed by the grind and aroma. Nescafe did some homework on this stuff. I have seen specialty coffee shops in Paris packed with these little pods and people, I guess it will soon be available all over in the USA. My wife was impressed by the fact that the machine created no mess in the kitchen. I tend to scatter fine grinds everywhere in the quest for the perfect dose. There will be a huge market for these in the US when the pods are more available. Of course I have had better shots, but I have had worse ones too. These babies will set a new minimum standard for coffee that is a lot higher than todays standard.
Ross

[HB]

During the holiday shopping, I stopped by Williams-Sonoma where a salesman was enthusiastically demonstrating the Nespresso capsule system. I tried two samples (Ristretto and Capricco). If I applied the SCAA barista competition scoring, they would be in the 1.5-2.0 range. It was a pleasant surprise since I was bracing myself for the super-auto dreck I sampled during my last visit. The salesman also demonstrated a combo milk heating / frothing unit ("Nespresso Aeroccino Automatic Milk Frother"). It produces airy "white cap" foam that looks inviting, but is devoid of texture and sweetness. To their credit, the Nespresso capsule / frother was about as good as a typical cafe in my area and far more consistent.

Together the pod system and frother go for around $300. Each capsule makes a single espresso and costs around $0.50. If you simply must have espresso/cappuccinos and have no time, it's worth stopping by Williams-Sonoma to judge for yourself. It's cheaper than a super-auto and the two drinks were better than the super-auto espressos I've tried. That said, my recommendation for the no-budget no-time crowd remains a good grinder and presspot for a truly memorable coffee rather than a minimally acceptable (N)espresso that is forgotten moments after it's consumed.

[edwa]

Okay Ken, I'm sitting here in my pajamas, and I'm going to add my un-expert comments!

There is a Nespresso machine at the studio I'm working at in Melbourne. In fact that is the only form of coffee available. No drip, no press pot, not even a percolator. Oddly enough one of the few Starbucks is close enough to reach by a long walk but after watching the kid make an espresso and a latte I got worried for my health and haven't returned.

On the positive side the little machine is a workhorse serving over a dozen people throughout the day. We have all the different varieties and decaf to boot, though no one seems to use those much. I've not tried the milk gadget but a few of the crew use it regularly.

On the negative side:
my first and foremost complaint is the waste of materials used for the pods. I'm not sure they can be recycled, these Aussies certaintly aren't, so we are just adding to landfills not to say anything about what the creation of the pod materials caused.
second, is taste. In this case beggars can't be choosers, I have nothing else at hand. I've tried them all and as straight espresso I have found them lacking in any kind of depth or complexity. Forget any tastes of chocolate, caramel, fruit, etc., you end up with what tastes like instant espresso. A far cry from the Klatch roasted beans I pull at home. After much experimentation my usage has come down to 2 pods per cup, add about 3-4 ozs of hot water and then some milk. I suppose the coffees would be better accepted by those who like some sugar in their espresso. As a diabetic I don't have that option.

My family certaintly rolls their eyes at my coffee obsessions. If you like the taste of nespresso, good on ya, as the Australians say. BUT take some responsibility and investigate whether the manufacture of the pods are just adding to the problem and find out if you can recycle them. At least the pucks from conventional machines can be added to the soil and compost.