Nespresso machine

RobTang

Zola. wrote: »

Torn between 4 machines the pixie, the citiZ, inissia and the higher end latissima touch.

I am more of an Americano or espresso guy but having the option of latte or cappuccino is a bonus.

Is the latissima worth the extra 80 quid ?

Personally I was far too lazy for the latissima I used it once then never again, the regular coffee and water you don't have to clean so often and its not a problem if you forget about it for a little while.


The milk bit you have to clean it immediately and it doesn't really heat the milk properly either, a separate milk heater/frother or say a microwave is easier and cheaper.


It has a bigger water tank and I suspect its more reliable as well however.

paddyrg

Just get whichever machine you can get the cheapest - they are all built in the same place with different branding, and all pressurise to 19 bar and give identical results by design. They're so keen on maintaining the brand integrity that if it says Nespresso, it's to the same standard.

Zola.

Thanks folks

Yeah my gut says the latissima would be more effort, and I'm a lazy man.

I think I'll go for one of the above with the milk frother option

esuhl

I don't really understand coffee machines. Don't they just mix hot water and coffee? Why does a machine do that better than a person...? :-/ Don't they get gunked up, requiring cleaning, descaling and impairing the flavour of the coffee itself?

They seem pretty expensive, when a simple cafetière or stove-top espresso maker is so much cheaper. At a push, you could even grind the coffee coarsely and you don't really need to filter it.

Mr_Toad

esuhl wrote: »

I don't really understand coffee machines. Don't they just mix hot water and coffee? Why does a machine do that better than a person...? :-/ Don't they get gunked up, requiring cleaning, descaling and impairing the flavour of the coffee itself?

They seem pretty expensive, when a simple cafetière or stove-top espresso maker is so much cheaper. At a push, you could even grind the coffee coarsely and you don't really need to filter it.

I really love my coffee and believe me there is a difference, I have all three types of maker including a bean to cup machine.

Coffee from a cafetière is nice but definitely different to one made in a machine where the water is forced through compacted finely ground coffee under pressure.

esuhl

Mr_Toad wrote: »

I really love my coffee and believe me there is a difference, I have all three types of maker including a bean to cup machine.

Coffee from a cafetière is nice but definitely different to one made in a machine where the water is forced through compacted finely ground coffee under pressure.

Fair enough. What about a stove-top espresso maker, though? Does the water pressure not get high enough, compared to a machine?

I usually have expensive tastes, so maybe I'm just lucky in liking cafetière coffee!

Mr_Toad

esuhl wrote: »

Fair enough. What about a stove-top espresso maker, though? Does the water pressure not get high enough, compared to a machine?

I usually have expensive tastes, so maybe I'm just lucky in liking cafetière coffee!

No there's no pressure as such, the steam percolates through the grounds which is where the electric percolator coffee machines that were popular in the 60s and 70s get their name from. For some reason they went out of favour and filter machines replaced them in many homes.

I like cafetière coffee too but it's very different to the intense flavour of an espresso.

Machines that use high pressure and fine grind coffee only produce a small amount of coffee, the espresso, it's what people do with it that makes a difference to the taste.

Add hot water for an Amercano or hot milk for a latte and so on or just drink it as is, something I really love.

paddyrg

esuhl wrote: »

Fair enough. What about a stove-top espresso maker, though? Does the water pressure not get high enough, compared to a machine?

I usually have expensive tastes, so maybe I'm just lucky in liking cafetière coffee!

The difference is 19 bar of pressure, which helps release the full flavour whilst reducing bitter compounds. Then on top of that is quite a lot of lah-di-dah with steamed milk and aerators, etc which I frankly a bit disappointing compared with coffee shop machines, so you may as well just get the pod/water bit in my mind.

Nespresso do free recycling of the aluminium pods, making them better than the plastic ones with other systems. Or you can buy aftermarket refillable nespresso-compatible pods, which seems to defy much of the point of the frankly excellent coffees they sell.

If you like filter or percolated coffee, my best investment was http://www.studio.co.uk/shop/en/studio/elgento-coffee-percolator one of these (I paid less on Amazon for the same model in white, looks like it's sold under a few brands). You put in water like a cordless kettle, put in the middle bit with coffee grounds in, put on the lid, and in a few minutes you have fresh coffee pour from the spout, it keeps the coffee hot, great for an office and no glass to break and no hotplates to burn yourself on. Everyone on my last job I took it to fell in love with it!

RobTang

esuhl wrote: »

Fair enough. What about a stove-top espresso maker, though? Does the water pressure not get high enough, compared to a machine?

I usually have expensive tastes, so maybe I'm just lucky in liking cafetière coffee!

Those things do have pressure but its not anywhere close enough to be an espresso, Wikipedia says its 1-2 bar where as a nespresso machine is 19 bar.


The brew from them is actually slightly stronger and richer than other European methods.


Nespresso is really about convenience, you just stick a capsule in, press a button and you have a consistently decent cup of coffee in a minute. Also popular in workplaces were you probably wont have access to a stove.


The other thing is it lets you try different beans without having to buy a bag of beans which you might not like or if want a range of strengths.

securityguy

"Torn between 4 machines the pixie, the citiZ, inissia"

I've got three Krups-branded Inissias: one at home, one in my office and one at university with one of my children. They were bought on various special offers and were about sixty quid each, I think. In reality, all Nespresso machines have the same basic mechanism and are all OEM'd from one factory, which is why different brands sell machine identical apart from the odd extra colour choice, so there is very little benefit to the more expensive ones. I live in a very soft water area (kettles don't scale at all, no salt in dishwashers, etc) but I've waved a descaling kit over the oldest of the three once to little obvious purpose or effect; I suspect in harder water areas it's a bit more of an issue.

I previously used stove-top boil-ups, having a bunch of them in different sizes. They use quite a bit more coffee (the basket on even the smallest ones is relatively large) which makes the high price of capsules less bad than it at first seems. The coffee isn't as good as there's precious little pressure in them, and they tend to boil the coffee in the top section unless you're quick to turn it off. And for the modern kitchen there's the rather fundamental problem that they are aluminium and therefore won't work on an induction hob, which I now have. Rather like fifty years after stopped smoking my father claims to miss fiddling with a pipe, I miss the mechanical pleasure of using a boilup, but I don't miss the clearing up, and of course a boilup isn't really usable in the office.

A lot of the Nespresso capsules are dreadful, being over-roasted and rather poor quality. But the "single origin" stuff is pretty decent and if you fish through the options, you'll find ones you like. They have intermittent "limited edition" ones which are in some cases fabulous and always interesting. You can get refillable ones, although I haven't bothered yet, and you can get various third party capsules, which are a bit of a mixed experience.

I have a Nespresso shop to hand, which is handy if I run out, but the easiest thing to do is get 200 capsules (ie, free delivery) shipped to a Doddle or a Co-Op or other collect+ place.