Coffee...

[Deleted User]

Thank you to all the wonderful replies I will let you know what I decide to buy soon!

[Deleted User]

MattMattMattUK said:

[Deleted User] said:

I am used to a daily coffee shop flat white or portadown but soon I may need to cut down due to budget and buying a house. 
I am here to ask what's the next best thing to a coffee shop which saves a bit of money?
I have expensive taste so won't be using instant coffee just want to reduce from £4 a day. 
I also value convenience so things like the pods interest me.
Finally I'm slowly going towards less milk so happy to try a new habit of black coffee .
I know my sister has a nespresso and mother has a tassimo, are those the way to go and buy pods in bulk?
Or are there other ways which are just as easy? I really don't like mess and granules etc.

When you say you have "expensive taste" do you mean you only perceive quality based on the cost of something? Good quality instant is as good as pod coffee whilst being considerably cheaper. Freshly ground beans (or even pre-ground coffee) produce both considerably better coffee and are considerably cheaper than pods, not to mention both being vastly better for the environment. 

Ease is subjective, it takes me about 15-20 seconds to hand grind the beans for my morning coffee, maybe a minute in total to add to the espresso machine, tamp down, make the coffee and tap out after to empty. The alternative would be a bean to cup machine, similar quality and time, huge initial outlay for a good machine. You could use a cafetiere and will get good coffee but it will lack crema. If you want hot/foamed milk you could get a milk frother, the electric ones are easy to use (add milk, press button), slightly different texture to steamed milk but easier to operate and clean, especially if you do not know what you are doing when it comes to steaming the milk.

So in summary, go with instant or make it properly, pods are no better than instant whilst also being much more expensive, they are a costly gimmick. 

I would add I am slowly moving away from milk, don't have latte or cappuccino anymore, it's now flat white and cortado.  Eventually would like to ditch the milk.

saajan_12

Can you try a coffee from a pod machine before you buy? Eg at a friend's house or there's some Nespresso stores in some cities. If you prefer them to instant then that might be the happy medium, getting a machine for £100 ish, so you're saving money in a month or so. With the pods, they're 25-50p a coffee. 

If you don't like them, then you've saved the £100 waste and can then make an informed choice whether you want to go for "proper" ground coffee machine or just get high quality instant, etc. There might also be other options eg Pret's filter coffees at 50p when you have their £5 a month subscription. 

-taff

I had a tassimo off someone once and bought the pods and stuff and while it was lovely coffee [ better than instant] it was such a faff to keep trying to find somewhere to recycle the pods or take the pods apart so I could recycle the grounds. I just went back to a cafetiera instead. And it was never hot enough.

MattMattMattUK

[Deleted User] said:

MattMattMattUK said:

[Deleted User] said:

I am used to a daily coffee shop flat white or portadown but soon I may need to cut down due to budget and buying a house. 
I am here to ask what's the next best thing to a coffee shop which saves a bit of money?
I have expensive taste so won't be using instant coffee just want to reduce from £4 a day. 
I also value convenience so things like the pods interest me.
Finally I'm slowly going towards less milk so happy to try a new habit of black coffee .
I know my sister has a nespresso and mother has a tassimo, are those the way to go and buy pods in bulk?
Or are there other ways which are just as easy? I really don't like mess and granules etc.

When you say you have "expensive taste" do you mean you only perceive quality based on the cost of something? Good quality instant is as good as pod coffee whilst being considerably cheaper. Freshly ground beans (or even pre-ground coffee) produce both considerably better coffee and are considerably cheaper than pods, not to mention both being vastly better for the environment. 

Ease is subjective, it takes me about 15-20 seconds to hand grind the beans for my morning coffee, maybe a minute in total to add to the espresso machine, tamp down, make the coffee and tap out after to empty. The alternative would be a bean to cup machine, similar quality and time, huge initial outlay for a good machine. You could use a cafetiere and will get good coffee but it will lack crema. If you want hot/foamed milk you could get a milk frother, the electric ones are easy to use (add milk, press button), slightly different texture to steamed milk but easier to operate and clean, especially if you do not know what you are doing when it comes to steaming the milk.

So in summary, go with instant or make it properly, pods are no better than instant whilst also being much more expensive, they are a costly gimmick. 

I would add I am slowly moving away from milk, don't have latte or cappuccino anymore, it's now flat white and cortado.  Eventually would like to ditch the milk.

I would really look to go for an espresso machine then, without milk a proper crema really makes a difference, you get the full mouth feel, where as the pod machines have fake crema as they do not have a high enough pressure or compressed enough coffee grounds to produce a real crema. 

CarolWHerts

Although I'm happiest with instant, my husband likes real(er) coffee so we have been getting rescued pods from Wonky Coffee for the Nespresso machine for several years. About £25 for 100 on subscription. Apparently they come from a mix of high end suppliers, although it's a lucky dip as to exactly what you get. We've got a great little gadget to squish the coffee grounds out of the used pods for the compost and the pods then go in the metal recycling (with any plasticy bits removed). Their routine coffee delivery has always been very good although I've twice had a bad experience when trying to order other things from them (although that was very large packs of rescued chocolate so maybe for the best that they never arrived).

PipneyJane

@[Deleted User] colour me biased.  I love my coffee.

Don’t get a nespresso.  They are expensive, fiddly, constantly require replacement pods, and the pods are rarely recyclable.  (The machine only exists so that Nestle can sell you pods.). Environmentally, they are your worst option.

I have a drip filter coffee machine and a cafetière.  The former was a wedding present.  It is straightforward to use and easy clean.  I use a re-useable filter and just dump the coffee grounds into the food-waste-compost bin. When doing the washing up, rinse the filter while filling the sink and set aside to dry, so no residual soap residue is left on it.  (Before I bought the re-usable filter, I used paper filters and composted them with their contents.). Use 1 tablespoon of ground coffee per mug.

If I only want one cup, I use the cafetière.  For years, it lived on my desk at work.  (My current office has a filter coffee machine.  Yay!)  Again, use 1 tablespoon of ground coffee per mug.  Pour on boiling water, put the lid on and leave to sit for 5 minutes before pushing down the plunger and pouring into your cup.  To avoid having very wet coffee grounds left in the cafetière, you will have to wait patiently for the last few drips and may find it useful to turn the plunger a little.  (I find that clears the filter.). Tip the coffee grounds into the food compost bin.

Regarding ground coffee, I’d suggest working you way through the different varieties sold at L!dl.  Their best value coffee is Bellarom Medium Roast, which comes in a 400g pack and costs about £4, while their more expensive is about £2.50 for 200g.  (Apologies for the vagueness on pricing - I’m still working my way thought ground coffee bought when I was in France last year.  I like a French Roast so I stocked up on Carrefour’s Essentials brand and also SuperU’s Bonne Maman brand - the latter is made by Douwe Egberts. Both are yum!)

On the instant coffee front, the best is Douwe Egberts.  it’s freeze dried, so not boiled down and burnt in the process.  Unlike most coffee jars, their jars are airtight, which means that you can store coffee in it for years without it oxidising and going off/bitter.  (I don’t remember when I bought my instant decaf, but it still tastes fresh.)  The jars are also perfect for reusing later as storage jars, with a 200g jar holding a 500g bag of ground spice.

To take coffee with you, the best travel mugs are by Contigo.  They don’t drip; they don’t leak; they hold 2 mugs worth; and they last for years.  Your coffee will remain very  However at nearly £30 a mug on Amazon, they aren’t cheap.  They also sell mugs and replacement lids via a European partner shop.  

To bring things back to price, a cafetière with ground coffee bought at L!dl is your best value for money.

HTH

- Pip

Einst

Not so much the cost, but rather the taste...
The freshest and best tasting is from the bean..
Buy beans, and a grinder (conical burr preferred) then brew however you like. french press, moka pot etc.
Buying beans can work out fairly cheap as well.
A bean to cup machine although expensive, can make it a lot easier to have a proper cup of joe in the morning..  and midday, afternoon, evening, etc

Rosa_Damascena

Beans / ground just end up going down the drain, no matter how careful you are with the disposal. That is why I used my French press all of once.

Hutchy5

Nespresso is good but pods getting expensive.

we invested in a Gaggia bean to cup machine which was an expensive outlay but if you love a coffee that is coffee shop standard this in the long run is a great buy.
we rarely buy coffee out anymore and buy 1kg beans at great prices on Amazon and other brands and works out much better quality and value for money than capsules.
If you add up your coffee spending over 6 months the machine will have paid for itself in no time and you won’t be missing out on great coffee!