Espresso machines .....educate me!

monquixote

chillidoggy said:

WTF is " lungo"? Sounds like some kind of disease of the genitalia.

The only treatment is immersing your balls in frothed milk.

It's an espresso where you let more water run through the coffee rather than topping up with hot water to make a putrid americano.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Have tried Nespresso at a friend's house.  Very unimpressed.  Seemed like a small step up from instant... and a step down from even a cafetierre... and no comparison with coffee from a half-decent espresso machine.

 

Just my view. 

markblack

I've used this and a bag of Lavazza rossa for years. I can't stand pods, too much waste.

Couple of bad reviews on Amazon but I think it's great, gives a nice crema on the coffee and the frother works well although I never used the rubber attachment, and just gently move the metal jug down and double the volume of milk in size, gives and nice creamy froth. I'm bias but it make a really nice cup, better than any pod I've tried (I work in advertising and agencies love a wanky machine that dosn't work! ) I've also spent many, many, hours working in hipster coffee shops all round Soho so I'm not expert, but I've been fleeced for coffee a few times

monquixote

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Have tried Nespresso at a friend's house.  Very unimpressed.  Seemed like a small step up from instant... and a step down from even a cafetierre... and no comparison with coffee from a half-decent espresso machine.

 

Just my view. 

Weird, sure it was a Nespresso and not a Tassimo etc?

The pod systems aren't all the same.

DulcetJones

I picked up this Salton machine at a yard sale for a couple bucks barely used.  It works great, I suspect most of the units that have the steamed milk capability would do the job.  I've had it for 7 or 8 years, no problems.

Strat_a_tat_tat

monquixote said:

Weird, sure it was a Nespresso and not a Tassimo etc

 

 

Another friend has Tassimo.  To my taste buds... even worse!

Just my opinion.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Interesting article from last year...

 

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/10/rise-coffee-pod-machines-nespresso

 

capo4th

Where coffee is concerned you get what you pay for. This is the custom shop department. We have had this for seven years. It uses a bag of beans every 2 weeks or so = £4.00. Freshly ground coffee every morning at the press of a button. If it went wrong I would buy another one tomorrow. http://www.neff.co.uk/product-showroom/compact-appliances/coffee-machine/C77V60N2GB.html

richardhomer

I'm a committed Nepresso user. The variety of coffees available is mind blowing - it's entirely possible that anyone who's tried it and not liked it has just not found the right one.

For very good, hassle free coffee - I rate them very highly - though the pods are expensive.

capo4th

I have tried the Nesspresso coffee it's ok but lacks a certain freshness of a freshly ground coffee. Coffee beans are a bit like overdrive pedals lots of flavours.....

chillidoggy

monquixote said:

chillidoggy said:

WTF is " lungo"? Sounds like some kind of disease of the genitalia.

The only treatment is immersing your balls in frothed milk.

It's an espresso where you let more water run through the coffee rather than topping up with hot water to make a putrid americano.

That's all well and good, but WTF is an Americano? I thought it was Mexican-speak for a U.S. resident? Presumably a putrid one is an unwashed version?

monquixote

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Interesting article from last year... 

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/10/rise-coffee-pod-machines-nespresso

Yeah I thought that was quite a poor bit of journalism to interview someone who's business is threatened by pod coffee and print their opinion verbatim. 

The article they link to is a much more balanced account 

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2013/03/nespresso-sold-at-michelin-starred-restaurants.html

"Theyve taken something extremely variable and made it foolproof." He compares the consistent quality of Nespresso to Krug Grand Cuvée: Better bubbly exists, but "everyone agrees its the benchmark for Champagne across the world."

menamestom

I have a nespresso machine, it makes better coffee than most high street coffee places, Costa used to be okay but they must have changed the beans lately because it's gone awful. Starbucks is weak rubbish, nero is okay. There's an independent place near my work and that's on another level. The thing is about nespresso, not all the machines are created equal, if you are having milk in the coffee you need a steam attachment to get it hot enough. Also, the pods that you can get from the supermarket now that are nespresso compatible are rubbish. I'd like a bean to cup machine though, somebody gave me their old nespresso machine but I don't like being tied to nestle, but they do make a very good product.

the_twin

Buggering around with the milk and cleaning up the mess afterwards is likely to be the biggest hassle for the OP.

NervousJohn

Americano - named for the US Army during WW2 who were used to the piss thin dishwater they call coffee there. It's an espresso topped up with boiling water.

I'd recommend a second hand Gaggia classic (which I've got). They are well made (ie sturdy) and if something does go wrong spares are cheap and easy to obtain. Mostly it means you got a bit slack on the descaling.

Yes the pod machines make a passable coffee but the pods are stupid expensive and with only a tiny amount of extra effort you can learn to make espresso approaching the Italian stuff. Pods will only ever get you as good as a pod. And you'll still need to descale.

TinLip

Stop fucking about and get a Gaggia Classic.

There, now you can close this thread.

meltedbuzzbox

+1 for the nespresso. It is 100% consistent. 

There is far too much bollocks in hand selecting your beans that have been fed with the heat of a Javian volcano and watered with the tears of baby komodo dragons etc 

JohnPerry

strumjoughlamps said:

I adore our KA Artisan mixer and use it daily so was obviously interested in the matching coffee machine but absolutely no one recommends it; boiler problems, inconsistent shots and premature failures.. I could've got one on offer for £450 and would have happily paid that and replaced the Gaggia but decided against, I was pretty gutted..

tell your mate to use Hasbean, you'll not get dried up nasty beans from them

I am on my fourth Kitchenaid Artisan Espresso maker in 6 years. They make great, great coffee and are built like a tank externally but are - or were - as unreliable as everyone says. Every time mine goes wrong, I ring them up, they send someone out to fetch and two weeks later a brand new machine arrives. Brand new. Not reconditioned. They wrote the old one off every time. They even did it once when it was out of guarantee.

Last time this happened, two months ago, I asked them how they were still in business. They laughed and swore I would never have another problem with this machine. Although it looks like the last one, they have redesigned it entirely inside because the last one was such a disaster.

I will see how it goes. KA seemed very sure about this one - indeed I can't believe they wouldn't get serious about solving a problem that must have cost them a couple of hundred quid a time thousands of times over around the world.

monquixote

KitchenAid have amazing service. They gave my brother in law a blender to say sorry for his breaking down a few times.

ThePrettyDamned

I always thought coffee was coffee until I had a few in Greece, Serbia (yuk!), Croatia (pretty good) etc.

The Greek one kicked arse. In every way.

At home, I'm perfectly happy with azera, which makes me some kind of heathen on this thread. It's nicer than your average burnt tasting instant, and I like it.

But my brother has a nespresso and makes delicious coffees. None compare to the Greek one, but the range is so, so vast and I've never had a bad one from it.

I wanted a proper coffee machine, but I'm going to get a nespresso and I don't feel I'll be missing out taste wise. Also, washing up.

Balls to that. The simpler it is to clean, the better.