I have not owned Nespresso & Illy iperEspresso machines, but I've had espressos from both. I was pleasantly surprised by the iperEspresso -- my first taste was at an Italian restaurant in Varenna. It was closer in texture and flavor to a "proper" espresso than anything I've had from the Nespresso. Had the chef not shown me his Illy machine, I would not have guessed it was capsule espresso.

Nespresso's main advantage is its larger range of coffee choices, including single origins. Illy offers only medium, dark, & decaf. If I were content with the standard Illy blend, day in, day out, then that would be my pick. Please note that my sampling of iperEspresso was close to the source, and I do not know if the quality of capsules imported into the U.S. is equal to what I had in Italy.

Buona Fortuna,
Wayne

Wayne,
Thanks for sharing the experience. Very tempting, Illy offers 30-Day Risk Free Trial Hmmm, really tempting. BTW, I used to have a PV Export wish I have not sold it.

Alex

I think the iper system is a big step up over ese pods, which I am not a fan of. As stated earlier, not many offerings by Illy- dark, medium, decaf, and lungo. I asked the reps if there would be other blends, they replied that there is only one blend, just different roast/grind.

Nespresso (which I like, sorry) has more blends and convenience. The Illy machine is more traditional in that the user must steam his/her milk whereas Nespresso's push button simple milk frother is easier/faster and yields a result that many are immediate fans of. Variety+Convenience+Quality=Advantage Nespresso. I know many here will take exception to my use of 'Quality' so let me say that many of our samplers/customers find Nespresso to be very good and enjoyable. Suffice it to say you can do a lot worse than Nespresso and that a lot of our customers are not fans of an 18gr double.

Quality wise the iper capsule is a good step forward for Illy. I saw an email for an iper machine made by Gaggia, I'm wondering how well it steams. Good microfoam could help sell that machine.

My company was purchased by a Brazilian company. The new owners like espresso so our chef was asking me about machines for the executive conference room. He was going to get a super auto but they are simply too complicated for someone that does not speak English. I recommended one of these. Simple, easy, two button operation. He ordered two of them, I suggested the Gaggia machine. They will be in tomorrow. He is going to stop by my office when they arrive and we will give them a run to see how they do. I will post a few notes on my findings.