Choosing a pod coffee machine?

[John Towill]

My head is spinning, there are so many options and so much advice. Where to start?

[Andrew]

Maybe consider the amount of stuff that could be recycled but ends up in landfill because most people don't bother ?.

[Paul]

These articles, the lists in them are hardly ever complete.

But at least you're spared the burden of outright commercial advertising.

The text is a bit tamer than most sources.

If you were to read the article from BusinessInsider, the "winning entrants" likely paid for their product placement.

Before checking the price of the machines, I'd probably check the prices of pods, and how much each one makes (a good full flavored cup, or a thimble of product). For pods that have multiple sources (the patent has expired), you're likely to see better pricing.

Paul

[Dave Liquorice]

Sit down with a cup of coffee?

[Andrew]

+1

[Simon Mason]

We have one of these that takes beans.

[polygonum_on_google]

Lavazza pods are at least wholly compostable.

And I tend to like their coffee.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

PLus another! They are so expensive and environmentally wasteful.

[Vir Campestris]

By considering that the waste from your coffee isn't compostable grounds, but a nice mixture of organic waste plastic and metal which will be in landfill for thousands of years?

Andy

[polygonum_on_google]

As I just posted, Lavazza pods are wholly compostable - no aluminium. I do not know the substances used but they have been available for some time now.

[Dave Liquorice]

Industrial composting not domestic. You need to check if your local council will accept them in food waste collections. If they don't you're into taking them to a terracycle drop off point that does.

[polygonum_on_google]

True - but they are for me.

[Graham.]

I can't see the point of pods unless you run a car showroom.

Buy a matching grinder.

[Andy Burns]

A relative bought me a Dolce-Gusto machine, I found I needed several pods per drink and the range at the time was pretty limited (a glance at their website shows they have now increased the varieties including some Starbucks branded ones). I didn't throw it out until she died ...

[Jethro_uk]

That just highlights the downsides (on top of the environmental ones) of pod machines. You are at the mercy of manufacturers to make the pods, and even then you're limited to what you like from an already artificially narrow range.

Doesn't really compare to a decent B2C machine that will take the universal coffee "bean" system.

[Vir Campestris]

The problem here being that since they don't actually tell you what they're made of (only that they meet a certain standard) you may have trouble finding out if they're OK.

I'll stick to paper filters.

Andy

[newshound]

Beans to cup, for me, every time.

[newshound]

+1

[Algernon Goss-Custard]

Don't they tend to be expensive?

Nespresso pod machines are fairly cheap and lot less messy too. Bellaroma Ristretto pods from Aldi are only 14p each and make excellent coffee.

[Andy Burns]

There's a place in nottingham where I bought my own and my parents' Delonghi B2C machines (factory return/refurbs) for not much over £100 each, but they only seem to seem spares now ...