Talk to me about Coffee Machines.

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
I'm looking for a Tasimo/DolcheGusto/Nespresso thingy for the office - I'm thinking this is the best option because the kitchen area is shared, milk doesn't keep and I can't stand the UHT stuff so pods are looking like a better option.

I want something small and sleek to go in the corner of my office and not stick out like a sore thumb with readily available and reasonably priced good quality refills.

My go to is a flat white/Latté - the stronger the better, as well as an occasional hot chocolate on a winters day.

There are a lot of options and I'm not sure where to start - It'll be budget end but I don't want a machine that will be obsolete within a few months because I cant get the pods or I need to reportage to keep a stock on - pod recyclability is also a consideration.

Tried and tested recommendations gratefully received!
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
We use a Dolce Gusto, and if it broke I'd get another. I have the one that looks like a small penguin, it doesn't have a huge water reservoir but unlike the original nespresso it does larger drinks and has a variety of hot chocolates. Also, unlike the new nespresso, you can buy pods from loads of places. The pods are however generally more expensive than the original nespresso.

I got it mainly because I drink bigger drinks than the nespresso offer, and it saved using 2 capsules every time I wanted a coffee. Bear in mind that the milky drinks for any machine are basically just milk powder, while the nozzle on the capsule does whip it up a bit it's no replacement for a proper milk frother. That said we never use the frother anymore as we're lazy! For work purposes it seems perfect.

If cost was no issue I'd get the new nespresso virtuo, but I don't want to pay those prices for capsules.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Thanks, that looks perfect! I hadn’t considered cup size funnily enough even though everyone at work calls my cup a barrel because it’s so big!

If I see the offer again I'll try to remember to post it here. Regarding cup size, nespresso cups are tiny. The dolce gusto using the full setting is still only 25cl though, it fills one of these mugs to the upper handle:

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/droembild-mug-clear-glass-00417452/

Using a milk capsule means more space used, so a latte for example would probably be getting closer to 30cl. I usually drink black though. They do a few XL sized pods, which are one go at full then another at 2 bars, which I think is about 30cl too. As I'm using the above mugs though they're no good for me!
 

rudie111

Well-Known Forumite
With a Tassimo you can press a button to push more water through the pod once the program has stopped. You will fill a larger cup but it will be weaker. We have just 'upgraded' from a Dolce Gusto at work to a bean to cup machine. Nice coffee but frothing the milk takes a while. you don't want to be doing a round of cappuccinos!
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
With a Tassimo you can press a button to push more water through the pod once the program has stopped. You will fill a larger cup but it will be weaker. We have just 'upgraded' from a Dolce Gusto at work to a bean to cup machine. Nice coffee but frothing the milk takes a while. you don't want to be doing a round of cappuccinos!

You can do that with the DG machines too, I've been known to turn two espressos into a 'normal' coffee when running low on the usual pods! I'd love a bean to cup, but I also know they're a bit more hassle to use.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
The cheap little Nespresso machine we have at the office I absolutely hate as it’s entirely manual… ends up taking more work than just using instant. You have to set the quantity manually to match what it says on each pod rather than it being a fire-and-forget, as there’s no bar code on the pods like Tassimo have

I have a Tassimo My Way at home, so can configure strength, heat, quantity, etc and save presets. Much prefer it tbh. This isn’t a standard thing for Tassimo machines mind you, it’s just something the My Way machine does to let you tweak the existing settings embedded in the pod.

It may well just come down to what flavours you want too: my morning latte is a Costa Caramel Latte, if I was buying Nespresso pods I’d not have that available to me. However Tassimo pods are also more expensive too, as there are no off-brand versions like Nespresso has.
 

Wormella

Well-Known Forumite
My friend had a Nespresso machine and you can buy compatible pods for them, and I've seen refillable one too - but they all still seem like a bit of a faff. My inlaws have a tassimo which does make a decent coffee but the plastic waste from the capsules is horrific.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
My friend had a Nespresso machine and you can buy compatible pods for them, and I've seen refillable one too - but they all still seem like a bit of a faff. My inlaws have a tassimo which does make a decent coffee but the plastic waste from the capsules is horrific.
Unfortunately the waste from all these is pretty bad, but I think the latest nespresso ones are foil? Most offer a recycling scheme now but you have to post them off, and obviously not the compatible ones.
 

rudie111

Well-Known Forumite
You can do that with the DG machines too, I've been known to turn two espressos into a 'normal' coffee when running low on the usual pods! I'd love a bean to cup, but I also know they're a bit more hassle to use.

Its a decent machine but the drinks are not particularly hot. Its a De'Longhi
 

Gadget

Well-Known Forumite
We have a bean to cup after years of a Tassimo, also years of replacing the Tassimo as I think we wore them out. It took some getting used to but it's fairly simple now. Work out how strong you want your coffee, by either or setting the grind and then setting on the dial how much of the coffee you want to go through. You probably will only need to do this once, then just push the button for either espresso sized, double espresso sized, regular cup or double cup (mug) after a bit of noise your coffee will come out. Then just press the steam button when it flashes froth your milk. If you read the instructions carefully you can change the temperature everything comes out at and the length of time before the auto shut off.
We don't get all the fancy pod choices but you could fiddle around with syrups etc yourself. It even has a choice for adding ground coffee instead per cup if you wanted a different blend to your beans or decaf/caf, we have decaf beans in and I do husbands 1 caffeinated mug a day this way.
We tried the Lavazza a modo mio machine just before but we didn't really get on with it. We were sold on the compostable pods for it but then read on the small print on the box, it's not home composting. Still got the machine, barely used, £20 or a 1kg bag of Pelican Rouge/ Rounton's Swiss water decaf beans and it's anyone's who wants to pick it up. We have some compatible pods I can throw in too.
https://www.lavazza.co.uk/en/coffee-machines/desea.html It's this one. You can see how much it could be from new.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Is this really a year ago? Came on because I thought I'd told someone I'd let them know about the next time a DG machine was cheap, but apparently I did. Yay me!

Gone up this year, machine and 9 boxes of pods for £53. Our machine is dying but it's used several times a day and I knocked it off the counter last week so buying another.

 

Gadget

Well-Known Forumite
Lol and I've still got that Lavazza going for a bag of coffee if anyone is interested. My bean to cup machine is still going strong I'm spoiled now and couldn't be without it.
 
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