Coffee pod machines

They give a good quick coffee fix while they work, but are expensive to keep in supplies and are environmentally poor. Ours has gone to the big recycler in the sky.

I was also given a Dolce Gusto machine a few years ago, the coffee is better than instant (and there are more varieties of pods available now than when I had it) but they don't work out cheap and a decent sized drink needs more than one pod.

I now have a bean to cup machine and the pod machine is in landfill ...

My daughter recently acquired one, and she raves about it. So much so, that she intends to buy one to keep in my kitchen, for when she stays with us. I have a standard drip machine, a cafetiere, and a Melitta cone, and instant coffee does not enter this house, so it's not that proper equipment is lacking for when she needs a cup of coffee.

Adding to the waste stream bothers me a bit, though.

It is a reasonable grade of coffee in the pod. But you are stuck with whatever the maker charges for them or clone products.

Coffee beans ground before use gives the best combination of freshness and aromatics followed by bespoke ground for whatever kit you have.

If you are only an occasional coffee drinker then it is overkill. They are useful for when you want a quick proper coffee fix in a hurry. It hardly takes much more time than boiling the kettle for instant.

Also you can make two entirely different coffees back to back.

Depends how much you like good coffee really. The real stuff has a lot more caffeine in it than any instant. Their main claim to fame is making espresso. I only drink my coffee black but I drink a lot of it.

Son has one which takes Netpresso pods. It makes very good coffee. He bought some refillable pods somewhere which they just fill with ground coffee. It is a little less convenient but cheaper to run and less wasteful.

I suppose a pack of Aldi-alike black pods wouldn't break the bank.

Owain

If I had been buying a coffee machine for myself I'd have probably got one of the one/two cup quick filter machines. I have a 50+ year old Austrian hand coffee grinder anyway, so beans are no problem. Using them quickly enough would be.

Owain

I have just finished the two packs of NOT KENYA coffee I had to buy because Waitrose ran out of Kenya beans. It was OK I guess but it wasn't KENYA. I wouldn?t want a machine that didn't allow me to put in my own choice of beans.

I think pod coffees are like inkjet printers. You pay over the odds to refill em and the colour is not always what you want

My son has one and has brought it to work. I'm beyond underwhelmed.

We used to have a couple at my old office.

I think it added to the waste stream _a_ _lot_ as the used pods were a mixture of coffee grounds, plastic and aluminium.

The coffee was OK.

The new office has old fashioned commercial drip machines (in two flavours to save arguments) and an espresso machine if you want to be different - I use it for decaff late in the day.

Or I did... I've been in twice in the last 9 months, and not long enough for a coffee either time.

Andy

Thats about how I remember it. better than instant in an offuce, but not as good as te filter stuff we used to make ourselves.

The 'Family' have switched to Nespresso coffee pods with the exception of one married son. I tried various flavours of the pods but none appealed to me. I prefer to grind my own beans and use a Gaggia espresso machine. Given the choice between a pod and Nescafe I'd pick Nescafe but I would appear to be an outlier

Recommendation for one which won't break the bank?

It's kind of how I feel.

Owain

Yes, same here. I was dismissive when we first came across one in a rented villa in Greece, but soon discovered that they are very convenient and you can now buy a wide variety of very good pods. Best value so far are Bellarom Ristretto available from Lidl, and Alcafe Ristretto from Aldi, both about £1.40 for a pack of ten pods. Sainsbury's Intenso is also good though not as cheap.

I'd be interested to know more about this.

I use Nespresso pods but someone else pays for them. They do collect used pods as they are not currently recyclable. The rest of the family make a huge performance out of filtering fresh ground coffee and then leaving the debris scattered around the kitchen.

I find it hard to discern any difference in taste although my buyer insists on supplying a choice.

The Co-op substitute is OK and much cheaper.

A couple of years ago there was a place in Nottingham that sold "refurbished" DeLonghi machines, I bought one for just over £100 (it was effectively new, probably just an unwanted return) so I bought another one for my parents, that place now only sells spares, not whole machines.

The high street price seems to vary between £240 and £340 depending on how much chrome or plastic the various models have, the innards are no doubt identical, though some more expensive ones do have extra milk frothing gadgets above the standard steam spout.

That must be a first!

Owain

:-) Not actually 100% sure it was Co-op. 50/50 as there are only two supermarkets there.