Given that you’ve found this post, you’re clearly looking for the perfect pod coffee makeking equipment, which tells me you want decent coffee but that convenience is of particular importance to you.
You’re probably a busy person who can’t start the day without coffee, but who also can’t be spending half an hour messing about with a morning coffee ritual, and this is truly what the perfect pod coffee machines are all about.
But keep reading, because while many pod coffee machines are similar when it comes to practicality, they’re not all the same at all when it comes to other factors, including coffee quality.
First, you wanted a bit of history about pod machines, didn’t you? No? Never mind, you’re getting some anyway ;-).
The first ever pod machine was invented by a chap known as Eric Favre, back in the mid 70s, believe it or not. He was Swiss, his wife was Italian, and she liked to tease him about the “bland” coffee they drank in Switzerland, compared to Italian espresso.
Inspired by this marital banter, he decided to try to invent a home coffee machine that would replicate the coffee which had brewed a particular coffee bar in Rome hugely popular.
This clever bloke investigated and found that the difference between this coffee shop which had punters queuing out of the door, vs other not so busy cafes nearby in Rome, was the specific method the Baristas used with their lever machines which he determined would be increasing the degree of oxidization of the coffee.
You haven’t heard of this machine? I think you probably have ;-), it’s mentioned as Nespresso!
Mr. Favre had to play the long game to sell this machine to Nestle’, he ended up working for them in their warehouse initially, working his way up to being one of their food scientists.
It wasn’t until 11 years later in 1986 that Nespresso machines were launched – and this was only thanks to him getting himself an assignment to Nestle in Japan where he could pitch the idea to the CEO there.
So Nespresso was the first-ever coffee pod machine, however that doesn’t necessarily make it the perfect.
There are Lavazza pod machines (which Eric Favre also invented!), other disk and capsule machines, and there are even different types of Nespresso machines these days, so finding the perfect pod machine for you probably isn’t as humble a task as it may seem.
However never fear, Kev is here. I’m modest ;-), and I’ll do my really best to make it as simple as possible for you to figure out which is the perfect pod coffee machine for you.
On the face of it, a pod machine is a pod machine. Open the top, slap the pod or disk in, press the button and your coffee is delivered in under 60 seconds and Bobs your uncle (who’s Bob and why is he suddenly your Uncle?), you have a hassle-free decent caffeinated beverage to ingest and you don’t even touch or see the coffee before it arrives in your cup.
So if this is the case, they should all be much of a muchness? So the perfect thing to do is just buy the cheapest one you can find and then you can enjoy great-tasting coffee forever, right?
Unfortunately, wrong. It’s not rather that humble, because those cheeky little coffee makeking device manufacturers get up to all sorts of shenanigans to get you to buy their machines over anyone else’s.
There are several things they don’t tell you as well because if you knew about them then you may choose differently when finally deciding to take the plunge and part with your hard-earned cash.
So before I get into the best pod coffee machines I’ll take you through some of the pitfalls to avoid and some of the good things to look out for as well.
Price
Everyone is familiar with the adage “If it seems too good to be true then it probably is” and that certainly is the case with some of the pod and capsule coffee machines on the market.
This will take you to Curry’s who sell more pod coffee machines than anyone else:
Currys pod coffee machines
If you change the sort criteria to “price – low to high” the first 6 or so that come up will be either Tassimo or Dolce Gusto and the price will be around £34.99.
It’s extremely hard to find a decent coffee makeking tool that will produce good coffee for that type of price and the fact is that you can’t, in truth.
The business model for the manufacturers of these machines is to sell you a coffee machine below the price it costs them to make the machine and then they make all their money from you when you buy the pods that go into the machine.
It’s exactly the same as printers for home work with. I’m sure lots of people reading this post will have bought a printer for £50 (or less) thinking “what a bargain!”, only to find out that the ink cartridges that you need to print things out cost as much as the machine and don’t last extremely long, either.
Same thing with super cheap pod coffee machines. The machine may be cheap nevertheless the price of the pods can be 40-50p or even more, and you’ll often find that you’re stuck to buying the manufacturer’s coffee pods too.
This type of price may not sound too bad, but I’ll get onto what’s inside each pod in a little bit so you can make an informed decision on that too.
Manufacturer
Once you decide on the pod machine that is right for you you’ll probably end up with one from either Dolce Gusto, Tassimo or Nespresso due to the reality that these 3 brands sell the majority of the pod machines sold in the UK.
The main thing they want from you once you have the machine is to buy their pods for the whole time you own the machine as that’s how they make the most money out of you.
They all have their own little ways of trying to do that but at the end of the day it’s your machine and you can work with whatever pods you want.
With Nespresso and Dolce Gusto you can buy replacement 3rd party pods that are cheaper than the manufacturer’s original ones and often you won’t be able to taste the difference.
You can find some of the many popular ones here:
Amazon Nespresso pods
Dolce Gusto pods on Amazon
Tassimo has been a little cleverer and has barcodes on their pods that the machine reads so it knows how much water to push through the pod so you have to buy the Tassimo original disks as compatibles are not available.
Many people decide to stick with the pods brewed by the manufacturer of the machine so knowing what’s inside each pod helps to get the best out of your machine and get the perfect tasting coffee possible.
What’s inside the coffee POD?
Coffee pods don’t actually contain coffee these days, you’ll also get milk in various forms as well, with some brands of pod machine.
I’ll explain what each manufacturer puts into their pods so you can make your own informed decision and I’ll give you a few money-saving tips too.
Dolce Gusto
Depending on the kind of beverage you like, Dolce Gusto will mix a single pod with both milk and coffee.
Most of the pods contain ground coffee beans, so it’s “proper coffee”, but, there are some Dolce Gusto pods that contain instant, soluble coffee.
According to the FAQ on the Dolce Gusto website: “there are only 2 products in our line that use instant coffee – Mocha and Café au Lait.”
The milk that they use is powdered milk, which as far as I’m worried never aromas as good as fresh milk that has been heated and frothed just before adding it to your coffee.
If it’s ultra-convenience that you are looking for then, by all means, you can just pop in a “Latte” capsule and it will deliver a milky coffee but there is a better way to get a better-tasting Latte from a Dolce Gusto coffee makeking tool.
If you buy the espresso pods and heat and froth the milk yourself then add the milk to the espresso that comes out of the machine then you will get a much more authentic latte than the one that is produced by the all-in-one latte pod.
Fresh milk is always better than powdered milk. If you went into Costa or Starbucks and they served you a latte with powdered milk you would send it straight back and probably never go there again. So why put up with this at home?
You’ll have to make a small investment in a milk frother however you’ll get your money back on that with what you save on not buying pods with powdered milk in them and only buying the espresso coffee pods.
With an automatic milk frother you literally pour the milk in and press one button and by the time your espresso has been delivered the milk is heated and frothed ready for you to create a Latte (or cappuccino or flat white) that is way better than utilizing a pod that has coffee and powdered milk in it.
If you want to go down that road here are some suggestions for milk frothers:
The perfect milk frothers
Tassimo
Depending on the ones you go for these pods are again mixed with powdered milk and ground coffee, and Tassimo likewise offer “milk” pods which are filled with milk creamer (milk concentrate, water & sugar).
As with Dolce Gusto, if you just want a one-touch solution without having to think about anything else then these are a good solution and they also come with a barcode on so the machine reads the barcode whenever you insert a capsule.
The right amount of water will get pushed through the capsule each time so whether you like espresso coffee, cappuccino, latte or flat white you’ll get exactly what you want with the press of a single button.
This is particularly advantageous when there is more than one person using the machine daily so that you don’t need to change any settings due to the fact that the machine literally automatically picks it up from the barcode.
Nespresso
Whether it’s the original Nespresso pods, or pods for the newer “Vertuo” Nespresso machines, all of the pods from Nespresso contain only ground coffee beans.
You won’t find any instant coffee in Nespresso capsules, you won’t find any milk pods or capsules containing milk either.
There are masses of compatible capsules for Nespresso original, so it’s worth double-checking the ingredients when you’re buying compatibles, but I’ve never come across any compatible pod containing anything but ground coffee beans.
Lavazza A Modo Mio
As with Nespresso, you’ll only find ground coffee in Lavazza A Modo Mio capsules. Invented by the guy behind Nespresso original, these machines & pods work in a similar way.
Also as with Nespresso original, you can get compatible pods for this system, so although real Lavazza pods will only contain ground coffee beans, it’s worth literally double-checking, although I’ve never heard of Lavazza compatible pods containing anything nevertheless ground coffee.
Senseo
I’m not 100% sure what’s happening with Senseo machines in the UK these days. It looks like they’re still being produced by Philips, but it seems many UK resellers have stopped supplying them.
I did a search for a retailer on the Philips website, which seemed to indicate that many Argos stores stocked them, but I couldn’t find any Senseo machine on the Argos website.
So I won’t speak about Senseo machines in this post, nevertheless I’ll mention the pods or pads (as they’re sometimes discussed as) for anyone who has among these machines who is searching for info on Senseo pods.
The fundamental Senseo coffee pods contain ground coffee beans, nevertheless, there are also cappuccino pods, latte pods, Café Au Lait pods and so on, both branded pods (Jacobs Douwe Egberts) and compatibles.
These require the dual pod holder, and they can contain quite a few ingredients other than ground coffee, including instant coffee, sugar, hydrogenated coconut fat, glucose syrup, powdered milk, and a few E numbers…
So as with the other capsule machines, if I was utilizing Senseo pods, I’d just work with the coffee pods/pads, and use proper milk or milk alternative via a milk frother of some sort. Re flavourings, if I wanted that, vanilla, caramel and so on, I’d buy the syrups, at least that way I’d know exactly what I was putting in my coffee & how much of it.
The Perfect Pod Coffee Machines
OK so now I’ll give a little bit of info about each machine choice, and then share what I believe to be a few of the perfect options for each machine.
Nespresso Original
Nespresso was the first-ever coffee pod machine, so I think it’s fair first off Nespresso machines. I’m talking about the original Nespresso machines here, not their newer “Vertuo” machines which I’ll talk about a little later.
Original Nespresso machines are still the premium when it comes to pod coffee machines, with a range of machines from under £100 to over £600 depending on how much you want the machine to do and how good you want it to look on your work surface.
An important tip that a lot of people don’t know about with original Nespresso machines is that no issue how much money you spend, whether it be the cheapest machine or the many expensive, they all deliver exactly the same quality of espresso coffee with the same pump at the same extent of pressure.
This is true of the majority of coffee pod machines to be fair, they’ll usually have a central brewing unit which is the same in all of the machines, so you’re usually paying for additional features and not for better coffee.
This is in reality true of a lot of bean-to-cup coffee machines, too.
For example, with the Gaggia bean to cup coffee machines, nearly all of them have the same brew unit, so if you buy for example the Gaggia Brera, or the Gaggia Cadorna Prestige, which is over double the cost, they’ll both have the same Gaggia brewing unit.
The same is true with a lot of DeLonghi machines, too. For more, see:
Best Delonghi Coffee Machines
The good news is this indicates if you’re focused on the quality of the coffee itself rather than bells, whistles and aesthetics, then going for the cheapest end of any range will usually not impact on the coffee quality.
I’ve already spoken a little about the history of the Nespresso machine so I won’t go on about it too much, other than to say that Nespresso utterly dominated the coffee pod machine market for almost 20 years.
They did so initially by being innovators, being the first to market with coffee pod machines & coffee pods, although they could have been the first a number of years earlier if the management team in Switzerland had taken Eric Favre’s invention more seriously, however that’s another story.
They also did so by having the resources to allow them to fight off would-be competitors by registering patent after patent, and not being afraid to launch into legal battles with anyone who dared to step anywhere close to infringing them.
You can argue the ethics of huge companies building monopolies, but I don’t think you can deny the incredible job Nespresso did here, leading to annual revenues of multiple billions by having legions of Nespresso machine owners who could only purchase Nespresso’s own coffee pods.
Anyway, this all began to alter partly due to the truth that patents began expiring (I think, even though it’s all very confusing if you’re not a patent lawyer which I’m indeed not!) however also due to some legal battles which began to go against Nespresso.
One of which was the David & Goliath-like legal fight between Nespresso (well, Nestec – the subsidiary of Nestlé which owns Nespresso) and relatively small UK company Dualit.
In short, Nespresso thought Dualit were infringing their patents by selling compatible pods, Dualit disagreed.
The high court found in favour of Dualit especially on the point that Dualit were creating re the purchasers of Nespresso machines having the right to use whatever pods they see fit in their Nespresso machines.
Ironically, for me this strengthened the position of the original Nespresso machine as being the best sort of pod coffee machines, given that this lead to the floodgates opening for compatibles, meaning that owners of these machines have far more option when it comes to what coffee pods to buy, than with any other pod machine, at the time of writing at least.
I don’t think this is the way Nespresso themselves see it, although – given that they launched a newer type of Nespresso machine which they once again have dominance over when it comes to supply of the pods, however more on that later on..
If you’re set on Nespresso Original, these are what I believe to be one of the perfect options to consider.
Check Price - Amazon UK
Features:
Water Tank: 1L
Dimensions: 13cm wide x 27.7cm tall x 37.2cm deep
Milk: Aeroccino sold separately or as a package
Maximum cup height: 15cm
Capsules bin capacity: 12
My Observations:
I own this Nespresso machine, I’ve had it for a good few years. I play drums in a band, and we have this in the kitchen of the rehearsal studio. Nespresso is the best balance between coffee quality and ease of utilize for this type of use, in my humble opinion.
I’ve been basically impressed with this little machine over the years, it’s had the majority of work with, and it’s proved to be a robust little thing, never had any problem with it.
The only quirk I can speak of is that the pump does cause enough of a vibration to move a small espresso coffee cup sitting on the folding drip tray, so you have to keep an eye on that to make sure your cup doesn’t end up falling off.
Check Price - Amazon UK
Water Tank: 0.9L
Dimensions: 17.3cm wide x 25.8cm tall x 32cm deep
Milk: Integrated milk carafe
Maximum cup height: 13.5 cm
Capsules bin capacity: 10
My Observations:
This is a one touch machine, which indicates you just select your coffee & press the button, and while all Nespresso machines are one touch when it comes to the coffee side of things, this machine is one touch in terms of the milk, too.
So as well as being able to select Ristretto, Espresso coffee or Lungo & popping in the relevant pod, you can likewise select Cappuccino or Latte Macchiato, or literally hot milk, and as long as you remembered to put milk in the carafe, the machine will do it for you.
You can also personalise the coffees, and adjust the milk texture settings, but being perfectly honest I’m always a little skeptical about one touch milk machines, including when it comes to much more expensive bean to cup coffee machines that have this feature.
While there are some machines such as the Oracle & Oracle Touch machines which do remarkable job of automatically frothing the milk to the user’s specific choice, I’ve never come across a carafe milk frother which has literally impressed me in this regard.
If you’re a fan of quite thick milk froth, then you’ll probably be happy with one touch milk carafe machines, if you’re a fan of flat white worthy microfoam, even though, simply keep in mind that a lot of milk carafe machines don’t do this kind of texture particularly well, if at all.
Milk carafe machines can likewise be a little bit more of a faff when it comes to cleaning the milk side of things. With the Lattissima Touch, you have to press down the clean button and hold it for around sizteen seconds after each milk drink, just to rinse it.
There are truckloads of Amazon reviews for this machine, largely positive. The main gripes if you scroll through the negatives do seem to be able the required cleaning, but to be fair to this machine, I think this is basically what you get with a one-touch milk carafe system.
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Features:
Water Tank: 1.5L
Dimensions: 16.8cm wide x 41.4cm tall x 31cm deep
Milk: Auto milk texturing steam wand with 3 froth settings & 3 milk temperature settings
Maximum cup height: 14cm
Capsules bin capacity: 12
My Observations:
I’m a fan of Sage coffee machines, as you’ll understand if you’re a normal reader and/or viewer of my YouTube videos.
Called Breville everywhere else outside of Europe, as they sold the brand name in Europe in the 80’s (if you see a Breville coffee makeking device selling in the UK, just be aware it’s not the same), these guys in reality do innovate, and they produce some game-changing machines.
The Creatista range in my opinion are game-changing Nespresso machines which utlise innovations they developed for the game-changing entry level home barista espresso machine the Bambino plus.
Sage Bambino Plus Review
Where these machines actually excel, for me, is user-friendliness and milk quality.
You’re not going to get any better coffee from one Nespresso machine to the next, however you’ll get better quality milk texture, in my modest opinion, from the Creatista machines than from a lot of of the other options when it comes to Nespresso.
The creatista machines have the same heating system as with the Bambino, Bambino Plus & likewise the Sage Barista Pro and Barista Touch, which suggests crazy fast (3 seconds) heat up time, and almost instant steam.
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Features (which differ from Creatista Uno):
- 8 milk froth settings & 11 milk temperatures
- Stainless steel finish (vs plastic with the Uno)
- Digital colour display screen (vs buttons with the Uno)
My Observations:
This is the middle version (in terms of price) of the Creatista (there’s the Creatista Pro too, which I won’t go into detail about here just due to the reality that I think it’s priced way outside of what many people would consider spending for a pod coffee machine.
This differs from the Uno by having a colour screen display, 11 milk temps, 8 milk texture settings & having more stainless steel in the build & less plastic.
If you look around, you’ll sometimes find the Plus for roughly around the same price as the Uno, and I think if you can it may be worth it particularly if you’re a flat white fan, due to the next-level control it gives you over milk texture.
If you trawl through the Amazon reviews as I have, while you’ll find a few negatives including a couple of faulty machines, you’ll primarily find praise, you’ll even find reviews for people who’re utilizing it in restaurants!
Tassimo
Tassimo is a brand of coffee pod or disk machine you’re undoubtedly familiar with.
By the way, if at this point you’re unsure which pod coffee brewing equipment to go for, keep reading. I’d recommend that you at least make sure you’re aware of all the options before making a decision.
Personally, all things taken into account, Tassimo is one of the machines I’d be the least likely to buy just due to the fact that there are no compatible disks (at the time of writing) so you’re locked into buying disks from the manufacturer.
Not that I’m saying their disks are pricey, however you’re likely to get a better deal, I reckon, when there is some competition.
Going back to the printer and inks comparison, this is like buying a cheap printer where there are no compatible options and buying ink cartridges from the manufacturer who has the luxury of charging whatever they like as they have no competition.
I’ve just bought a new printer, and I very nearly fell for this!
Some printer brands are still managing to charge more for their ink per ml than 1996 Dom Perignon (which can cost up to a number of hundred pounds per bottle) – and they do it in such a slick way that the customer feels grateful about it too, until a couple of years on if they work out how much they’ve in fact paid for their ink over this time.
Anyway, Tassimo have managed to stop anyone from producing compatibles, so just keep in mind that if you buy a Tassimo machine, you will be buying Tassimo pods.
I used to have a Tassimo machine before I caught the home barista bug, so we’re going back numerous years now.
I was fairly happy with it at the time if I’m honest, but I was also fairly happy with instant coffee at the time too, I’d not become completely spoiled by getting used to drinking freshly roasted, freshly crafted coffee as I am now.
I recall that I wasn’t too unhappy with the price per cup I was paying as long as it was coffee only, but I felt it was pricey if buying the coffees which came with milk pods, and I wasn’t a fan of these either, they simply didn’t taste right to me, even then.
Looking at the pricing now, if you’re picking your disks up from the supermarket as the majority of do, you’ll pay around 20-30p per pod for Americano disks for example, yet up to about double this for coffees that require a milk pod.
Given that this “milk” isn’t milk, it’s a creamer crafted from milk concentrate, it doesn’t rather seem right that you’re paying so much for it when it’s bundled with a coffee pod.
Even when it’s not bundled with a coffee pod, if you buy a pack of 16 “milk” disks, you’re paying approx £10 per litre, for a mixture of mainly Milk Concentrate, Water & Sugar – Vs the roughly 80 pence you’ll pay for a litre of cows milk. Still, not a big difference actually – only roughly 1,150% ;-).
As I explained earlier, regardless of the coffee pod machine you decide on, I wouldn’t use milk pods, I’d use fresh milk or milk alternative, and a milk frother.
Here are what I believe to be among the perfect Tassimo machines to consider at the time of writing.
I’m only going to include two Tassimo machines, basically because unless I’m missing something (and I might be, I am known to take three days to notice that my wife has re-decorated a room, or had her hair done, oops!!) a lot of the other options seem to offer little difference from these two, for the extra money.
The first one is the perfect selling (at the time of writing) Tassimo machine, and to me it looks like the best machine to look at if you’re looking for a low cost machine and you’re not too fussed about features such as coffee personalization (strength selection) and the size of the water tank.
The second machine has a lot more going for it in terms of features, and much bigger water tank with an inbuilt filter, but then lots of of the other options have a smaller water tank even than the first machine below, but cost over double, and are a little more pricey than the second machine below which seems to have the best mix of features.
Check Price - Amazon UK
Features:
Water Tank: 0.8L
Dimensions: 16.7cm wide x 25.1cm tall x 30.5cm deep
Maximum cup height: 14cm
My Observations:
At the time of writing this is the perfect selling pod coffee machine on Amazon UK, and I’m not in reality surprised if I’m honest. It’s ridiculously cheap, and other than the machine I’ll discuss in a sec which has a few obvious benefits, a lot of the other more expensive machines on the market have a similar sized or smaller water tank, and not a lot more in terms of real features, that I can see.
This is probably among the manufacturers masterstrokes, in terms of ensuring massive pod sales.
I doubt they make any profit on this machine, however they’ll have sold such a humungous number of these machines over the years that I’m sure it’s paying dividends for them in terms of the number of disks they sell to users of this very cheap pod coffee brewing device.
It has an astonishing number of Amazon reviews, and for such a low cost machine I’d usually be looking for a high percentage of one & two stars, but that’s not the case at all.
If you’re decided on a Tassimo machine, and if you’re only going to be creating one or two coffees at a time (this machine has a small 800ml water tank) and if you’re on a tight budget and don’t need much in terms of bells and whistles, I think this one is worth a look.
Check Price - Amazon UK
Features:
Water Tank: 1.3L
Dimensions: 23cm wide x 29cm tall x 33cm deep
Maximum cup height: Approx 14 cm, or 15cm with drip tray removed.
My Observations:
If I were going to buy a Tassimo coffee brewing device, at the time of writing this is probably the one I’d buy, for a couple of reasons:
Bigger water tank. At 1.3L, this is among the greatest water tank you’ll find on Tassimo machines, literally, even some of the more expensive options feature smaller 0.7L water tanks.
Yes I’m familiar with the old saying “size isn’t important”… nevertheless that depends! 😉
If you want a pod coffee machine for your kitchen, near to a tap – then that’s probably true. If you’re wanting coffee brewing tool for work with in an area where there isn’t a source of fresh water nearby and/0r you’re busy when you want your coffee (such as using in a home workplace) and you want to have to fill the tank as infrequently as possible, then you’d probably be better with a machine like this with a slightly bigger water tank.
Water filter. This Tassimo machine comes with an integrated Brita filter. While water quality is in reality quite a big discussion, one that I don’t want to get into on this article, as an really rough rule of thumb, mainly speaking, I think it’s better to filter tap water for use with coffee machines, or to utilize the right bottled water. So the reality that this coffee machine comes with a Brita filter in the water tank, I think is ideal.
An incredibly quick word on water filters – Brita filters mainly claim to remove contaminants from water. Many of us in the UK are extremely lucky to have really safe guzzling water, it’s the health of the coffee machines themselves that would concern me about tap water, as most the water in the UK has high TDS levels, in especially high levels of Calcium & Magnesium.
Brita themselves don’t in truth state on their website that their filters do anything when it comes to reducing the levels of the minerals which cause limescale, but, my personal opinion is that Brita filters, and other filters, do tend to have at least some impact on reducing the chances of limescale building up. So if you’re in a hard water area, I think it’s probably better to work with a filter, than to not.
Some people living in particularly hard water areas make the decision when it comes to kettles, to just buy a cheap one and replace it quite than to replace a filter, as it’s probably cheaper in the longterm – however a lot of people wouldn’t think of doing the same with a coffee machine. Utilizing bottled water is an option, however you do need to be careful with the option of water, as some bottled water has fairly high calcium levels.
Looking through the Amazon reviews (and there are thousands of them!) there’s the majority of love for this machine from its owners. In terms of gripes, the recurring one I can see is that some people have replaced the earlier version of this machine with the current one, and it appears that while the earlier model could accommodate a travel mug or a tall Costa latte glass – the current model will only fit these taller cups if you remove the drip tray.
It likewise appears that a number of people are impressed with the features of this Tassimo machine when it comes being able to troubleshoot the temperature & volume of their coffee.
Nescafé Dolce Gusto
OK so next we’ll speak about the Dolce Gusto machines from Nescafé.
If you were wondering what Dolce Gusto indicates in Italian, and I’m sure you weren’t nevertheless I’ll tell you anyway, it’s “sweet taste” as I truly discovered from a quick trip to Google Translate.
It’s funny how the the majority of mundane of phrases can sound great in the Italian language!
“Vai dal podologo” for example. I’d imagine this phrase sounds wonderful when spoken with an Italian accent, it in truth means “go to the chiropodist”. Not such an interesting phrase once translated, then.
Dolce Gusto machines were released in 2006, 20 years after the launch of Nespresso, and I think I have an idea of why, but I’m only guessing.
Tassimo launched in 2004 in France, and then in the UK in 2005 – and the initial success of these machines I’m guessing indicated to Nestle that they were missing out on a new wave of cafe culture which was leading to masses of people buying machines which could make their favourite coffee shop coffee from a pod.
While Nespresso had been selling coffee pods via their machines since 1986, consumers were now buying latte macchiato pods, cappuccino pods & so on, allowing those behind this machine (initially Kenco and Braun) to make huge profits on tiny little pods containing milk concentrate, sugar and water.
Nestle’ had masses of patents (almost two thousand of them!), and they’d policed them hard until this point. But I’m guessing that the success of Tassimo and probably the success of Keurig’s B-100 home brewer too, had pointed them towards a mildly different market that they decided to target with a new brand rather than with Nespresso.
So rather than suing the heck out of everyone, though I’m guessing they did that too, they decided to dominate this emerging market too with the launch of Dolce Gusto.
As I explained earlier, the majority of of the Dolce Gusto coffee pods contain ground coffee beans, but just keep in mind that a couple of the pods do contain instant.
Here are what I reckon are one of the perfect Dolce Gusto machines at present. By the way, as with the Tassimo machines, I’m only going to introduce you two to Dolce Gusto machines, for the same reason.
While there are loads of different Nespresso original machines to consider depending on your requirements and budgets, with Dolce Gusto, as with Tassimo, there are only actually these two distinct machines that I see as being two obviously different options, and these two appear to represent the perfect appreciate for money.
There are other Dolce Gusto machines, and of course have a good Google around to see all of the other options if among these two doesn’t float your boat, but for me, the first choice below is great for people who’re on a budget who aren’t bothered about water tank size, and the second one I think is a good option for people who’re wanting to make more than two cups without having to re-fill the tank.
Check Price - Amazon UK
Features:
Coffee delivery: Manual
Water Tank: 0.8L
Dimensions: 14 x 28 x 27cm
Maximum cup height: 14.5cm
My Observations:
This is one of the best-selling coffee pod machines on Amazon currently, and I can see why. It’s a crazy cheap pod coffee machine from a very well-known brand. As with the Bosch Suny Tassimo machine above, this is probably a machine which sells like hotcakes and offers masses of new pod customers for the manufacturer every year.
Lots of people especially when it comes to pod machines, are simply looking for a coffee brewing equipment at the really lowest cost they can find, from a brand name that offers them some peace of mind, so it’s no wonder that lots of people have ended up buying this machine. I’m not convinced it’s the best preference although, so actually keep your debit card holstered for a sec…
It’s a small machine, just fourteen cm wide, twenty seven cm deep and twenty eight cm tall, which brews it a contender if you’re looking for a coffee makeking device to fit into an really tight space, whether that’s in a cramped kitchen, in your office or in a motorhome.
Maybe you’re a billionaire looking for a teeny weeny coffee makeking device to fit in your spacecraft, in your bid to become among the first to sip a latte macchiato from outside of earth’s orbit, if so this will probably fit.
It has an 0.8L water tank, and this is something I’d pay attention to – as I would hazard a guess that the majority of people buy this machine & wish they’d bought one with a bigger water tank.
If you read through the Amazon reviews, you’ll find rather a few people saying that it’ll make no more than two cups of coffee with one water tank, there are some people saying it’ll even struggle with that.
This will depend on the pod and the size of the coffee you’re creating, nevertheless if you’re regularly going to be making coffees for more than one or two people, you might want to look for a machine with a bigger tank. If you’re using it in your workplace for meetings for example, I can see it being a pain if you have to re-fil the tank partway through creating actually three or four coffees.
Check Price - Amazon UK
Features:
Coffee delivery: Manual
Water Tank: 1.2L
Dimensions: 15 x 37 x 28cm
Maximum cup height: 14.5cm
My Observations:
If you’ve decided on Dolce Gusto, and you’re looking for a low cost manual machine however you want to be able to make more coffees before refilling the tank, then the Infinissima is one to look at.
In terms of size, it’s nine cm taller than the Piccolo XS, one cm wider, and one cm deeper – nevertheless the main difference is the 1.2L water tank vs 0.8L.
OK, this isn’t exactly a water tank you could have a bath in, simply, a relatively small goldfish may be a little miffed with you if you give it this water tank as a home. Not that anyone would do this, please don’t, this would be bad for the fish and bad for your coffee.
However I digress, the point is that this machine has a bigger water tank, at 1.2L vs 0.8L – and even though it’s hardly the Hoover dam, it’s the greatest capacity water tank you’ll find from a Dolce Gusto pod coffee brewing device, as far as I’m aware – so you’ll get as lots of coffees from a single tank with this as you would with any of the other options, some of which are rather a little bit more cash.
As a bit side note, there was a model called the Melody 3, which did have a 1.3L water tank, but it looks like this model is no longer in production. There was also the Eclipse range which included a machine with a 1.5L water tank, however it looks like these are out of production now too.
In addition to the mildly bigger water tank, the Infinissima features a drip tray on a riser, instead of one that you have to clip and unclip in order to accommodate different sized cups for different sized drinks.
Nespresso Vertuo
This is the newest range of Nespresso machines. They work differently from the original Nespresso machines, using centrifugal force, and they’re cleverly making a captive market with these machines while reaching out to people who like a bigger caffeinated drink than original Nespresso machines are known for.
I think they’ve been really clever in making this newer range of machines. Not only are they reaching a bigger market, potentially, as this new machine gives bigger pods for much bigger cups of coffee – they also have their captive audience again, because no one has been brave (daft?) enough to challenge them, yet.
See what James Hoffman has to say about the newer Vertuo machines from Nespresso.
There’s not a massive amount of choice at present with Nespresso Vertuo, however anyway, here are what I believe to be the best options if you’re considering a Nespresso Vertuo machine.
Check Price - Amazon UK
Features:
Water Tank: 1.1L – fixed position
Dimensions: 14cm wide x 32cm tall x 38cm deep
Maximum cup height: 18cm
Connectivity: Wifi & Bluetooth
Open & Close: Manual
Used capsules container capacity: 10 (accessed via side of machine)
My Observations:
The Next line of machines are the latest addition to the Vertuo line from Nespresso. While there are currently three lines available, Vertuo, Vertuoplus and Vertuo next, it’s usually the Vertuoplus and the newer Vertuo next you’ll find on offer in the UK.
While there are a couple of other differences between these models, the main difference is that the newer “Next” machines will take the new “craft brew” pods – which I think are a ideal idea for anyone who likes to ingest or to share a bigger pot of coffee.
How much they’re like pourover coffee, I’m unsure, (I’ve basically bought one so watch this space, I’ll update this post as soon as it arrives and I’ve tried it) but nevertheless they produce a 532ml or 17 ounce pot of coffee, which seems extremely interesting. They only have one coffee on offfer at the time of writing although for the craft pods, so if you’re buying it truly for that, let’s hope you like the coffee!
You can work with the official Nespresso Carafe if you want, but this doesn’t come with the machine, you have to buy it separately. I’m linking to it here to save you some time, as it took me about ten minutes to find the flipping thing on the Nespresso website!
You don’t necessarily need to spend so much on a carafe, though, as this is very expensive for what is essentially a jug. All you need is any jug that will take 532ml of coffee, and which will fit under the spout. I’m hazarding a guess that this stainless steel insulated coffee pot will fit – but I’ve bought one of these too, and I’ll update this article in a couple of days once I’ve checked if it fits under the spout.
Other than this, the other difference is that the next machines have the water tank in a fixed position, and the pods bin on the left-hand side – the Vertuoplus machine has a water tank which can be moved around if requires be.
Re the Wifi & Bluetooth thing, I’m unsure rather what the balance is here between beneficial features & buzzwordy gimmicks. It sounds impressive that these Nespresso machines have Wifi & Bluetooth connectivity, but why – what’s the benefit?
The main thing I can see is that you can update the firmware by installing the app and pairing with your Nespresso Vertuo next machine, but I’m not 100% sure why you’d need to do this, it’s a coffee makeking equipment not a smart phone ;-). I’m probably missing something…
The app does apparently alert you if the water tank is empty, and if descaling is required, although I’ve very watched a video in which someone demonstrates that this feature doesn’t appear to work, and why would you need it anyway? Surely you don’t need a smartphone app to tell you that the water tank on the machine you’re standing in front of, is empty? ;-).
Check Price - Amazon UK
Features:
Water Tank: 1.2L movearoundable (that’s a word, well it is now, I simply made it up)
Dimensions: 22cm wide x 32.5cm tall x 34.9cm deep
Maximum cup height: 18cm
Connectivity: No
Open & Close: Touch-button
Used capsules container capacity: 10 (accessed at the rear of the machine)
My Observations:
As I pointed out earlier, the main options for Nespresso Vertuo machines at the moment, or at least the the majority of popular, appear to be the Vertuo Next & Vertuoplus, and these two machines I’m featuring in this post appear to be the perfect in terms of value for money, and the a lot of popular at the time of writing.
The main differences between this and the other popular model, Vertuo Next:
- The “Craft brew” carafe-sized pods aren’t compatible with the Vertuoplus.
- Water tank can be moved around, which may be handy if you’re trying to fit it into a tight space.
- Pods bin is around the back, while it’s on the left-hand side on the Next.
- Opens and closes via a touch button.
- No connectivity
If you think among the Nespresso Vertuo machines is right for you, however you’re uncertain which one – or if you’re not sure if this is the right machine for you at all, don’t forget you can always do the in reality old-fashioned thing of going into an actual store and trying these machines.
If you’re anything like me you’re probably shocked to be reminded that this was once a thing! I remember back in the good old days, pre-covid, if I was thinking of buying something, I’d literally get up off my backside, get in the car, and go to a shop. Well, I might not do that all the time – but at least for certain things, I’d be inclined to consider doing that.
These days, not so much, and I don’t think that’s purely due to getting completely out of the habit of going to shops.
It’s probably partly that, but I think the main reason many us these days wouldn’t think of going out to buy electrical stuff like coffee machines from a shop, is that we know we can usually get better deals online, and it’s just so much easier!
The benefit of going to a Nespresso store although, of course, is that you can try their various machines while you’re there. It’s worth just double checking with your local Nespresso Boutique before you go, though, that you can actually try the coffee while you’re there, as that’ll depend on whether they’ve gone totally back to regular or whether there are Covid restrictions in place.
A Few Final Comments
OK so that’s about all I’ve got to say about the best pod coffee machines, however just before I sign off – I’m going to answer a few commonly asked questions.
Is Dolce Gusto Owned by Nespresso?
Both Dolce Gusto and Nespresso are owned by the same company – Nestle.
Nespresso is their premium brand, they’ve simply gone for a high-value market with Nespresso, including pumping huge amounts of money into advertising, including paying whopping amounts of money for George Clooney to be their brand ambassador!
Dolce Gusto is a also owned by Nestle, but it’s a different brand, marketed in a very different way.
Is George Clooney a Part Owner of Nespresso?
This is an exceptionally common matter, most people think my mate George Clooney is a partner or part owner of Nespresso, I’ve even read articles which claim he is. The truth is, he has a contract to be their “global brand ambassador”.
I say “my mate”, because a few years back, George invited his mates around for dinner, and gave them all a suitcase each. They opened the suitcases, to find – Nespresso pods. Basically kidding ;-), they found one million dollars in cash in each suitcase. However George forgot his mate Kev!
OK, I’ve never met him, he never slept on my couch back when he was broke, I never loaned him a few quid when he needed it – but it was worth a try.
Wow, even though, what a gesture! It’s truly a in reality nice story if you read it, an exceptionally close bunch of mates who always helped each other out, and one of them realized he had the ability to help them all out massively by providing them all a suitcase, oh and a million dollars too ;-).
Why do brands pay celebs like this masses of money to promote their brand? Because it works!
Why it works, I’m unsure – nevertheless it clearly does, or they wouldn’t do it.
Nespresso aren’t the only coffee machine brand to do this, DeLonghi are now chucking wads of dosh at Brad Pitt to be their George Clooney. Watch James Hoffman’s reaction to this, it’s very funny! ;-).
What’s likewise funny about this video is James Hoffmann putting his title as “Coffee Expert” in quote marks as if he’s not basically a coffee expert ;-).
James Hoffman is among the a lot of expert person in the world when it comes to coffee, I reckon, so it did make me laugh that he put this in brackets, an exceptionally British thing to do, but then The Hoff as I call him (only behind his back although, shh) is very British ;-).
Are pod coffee machines any good?
If you normally ingest instant coffee from a jar then you’ll find the coffee produced by a pod coffee brewing tool from Nespresso, Dolce Gusto or Tassimo are generally way better, because it’s freshly made coffee – and the majority of the time it’s much better quality coffee, too.
Instant coffee has been brewed months (or even years in some cases) previously, into a thick sludge, then freeze-dried, and smashed up into the granules you’ll find in a jar on the supermarket shelves.
Instant coffee is usually also crafted with the really cheapest coffee beans, and roasted in huge volume – usually roasted rather dark in order to get rid of taste imperfections that can be present with such cheap coffee beans, and to ensure batch consistency (one cup of charcoal will taste just like the next).
The majority of coffee pods contain ground coffee beans, and the pod machines brew them fresh, so you’re consuming freshly made coffee. Not only that, however usually you’re also guzzling much higher quality coffee than you would be with instant.
It is worth adding, nevertheless, that you’re likewise – usually – paying a LOT more for the coffee via pods than with instant.
Personally although when it comes to brewing fresh coffee, I believe pod coffee machines to not be among the perfect options when compared with manual coffee brewers and other machines including drip coffee machines and espresso coffee machines, however they’re as convenient as instant coffee yet they produce better coffee (in my modest opinion) so it’s no surprise that they’ve become so popular.
For more options for freshly brewing coffee form home, see:
Best Home Espresso coffee Machine
Perfect Bean To Cup Coffee Machines
Best coffee brewing device for any budget
Perfect Coffee machine for Home Baristas
So it truly depends on what you are used to and what you are looking for. If practicality is a big aspect for you then a pod coffee makeking device may be the best way forward for you, nevertheless if you appreciate taste higher than practicality, then you might want to spend some time going through some of the posts above so you at least have a good understanding of what all of your options are for better coffee from home before unholstering your debit card.
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This post firstly appeared at Coffee Blog – The UK Specialty Coffee Blog – For Lovers of GENUINE Coffee!