After posting yesterday I bought one of the Magimix Inissia with Aeroccino bundles from John Lewis for £69.99. I collected it earlier and am impressed with it so far. I've also registered for the £75 credit.
We had a Krups Citiz with Milk for 4 years. I also have a Krups Essenza I bought later for £49.99 on an Amazon Lightning deal with £75 Nespresso credit for use at work. When I started working from home, I put the Essenza away. Unfortunately the Citiz started leaking and was out of warranty so I switched to the Essenza. It's a great little machine but can't take large mugs and glasses so was inconvenient for my wife who is the main user (I have a Sage Duo espresso machine). Seeing the offer yesterday and how the Inissia supports large glasses pushed me to order it, especially as we were going to spend £75 on coffee anyway so the machine is essentially free (man maths at its best).
My wife bought me one of these for my birthday after me whinging about not having a Nespresso following the demise of our ageing Krups machine and her foray into other formats that I didn't like. I'm very pleased with it indeed - my only criticism being the reservoir is a bit small, albeit this is a consequence of its compact size which in itself is a benefit.Originally Posted by Phil Lee
I've got the Magimix Innisia which works well. Would prefer a 'real' machine but can't be bothered cleaning and disposing of the dregs or clogging up the sink.
Also found the milk frother doesn't like Waitrose milk which for some reason won't froth!
Frothing in an Aeroccino depends on fat quantity and milk temperature. I also find that the closer milk is to its use by date, the poorer it froths.
[tongue-in-cheek]
I can see what you're saying, but I reckon ...
Around 80% of people are more than happy with a jar of instant coffee, a Hyundai i30, and reading the time on their phone.
The vast majority of the remaining 20% are happy with a pod system and a BMW / Audi / Merc, getting the time from an Omega or Rolex.
A tiny percentage are really into coffee and treat it as a serious hobby, they don't drive as too busy trimming their beards and wondering which sandals to wear over their socks
[/tongue-in-cheek]
David, please don't take this the wrong way but as well as being a man of taste I get the impression from your posts that you find the whole retail therapy experience addictive. If you get the "latest gadget" coffee machine, how long before you're looking for the next one? You could always sidestep the whole "latest gadget" thing and make a design icon for life purchase, i.e. a La Pavoni Europiccola. As quirky but also ultimately as beautiful and satisfying as an AGA or a Dualit toaster or a Land Rover Defender. Get a second hand one, admire it on your countertop and live happily ever after, job done.
Invest in a decent grinder. It's the only gadget domestic coffee making requires. I bought this year's ago it's perfect http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0866-...-mc2-auto.html
Find a Supermarket brand of beans you like, for me it's Lavazza Rossa which is very different to the pre ground stuff.
Retrieve your Bialetti mokka pot from the back of a cupboard.
It cost me a fortune to distill the process down to those essentials. It's all you need.
PS: The key the domestic coffee enjoyment in making it part of your routine. You should be able to shower and shave in the time it takes the Bialetti to do its thing.
Last edited by raysablade; 11th January 2017 at 19:59.
+1
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Maybe so, but they're drinking vastly better and more interesting coffee brewed in an aeropress (costs £25) made from fresh, good quality beans.
A tiny percentage are really into coffee and treat it as a serious hobby, they don't drive as too busy trimming their beards and wondering which sandals to wear over their socks
[/tongue-in-cheek]
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Love my nespresso machines I think there great, I've got a delonghi lattisima at home and its quick , clean and great to use as welll as having a inissia at work with the separate frother which is good also but is more messy as the frothier is a seperate unit and requires two sockets and more maintenance
I have a Nespresso machine and an Aeropress ... for convenience and ease of cleaning you can't beat the Nespresso and that now does 95% of my coffees.
For the chance to try different coffees and have a fresher product then to be honest I'll be swapping from the Aeropress to the refillable Nespresso pods I gave a link too earlier in the thread - best of both worlds.
The Aeropress only really comes into it's own in terms of the volume it can make it can make in one go.
Get a Bialetti Coffee maker. My mate bought this really fancy German coffee machine which cost him about £300, invites me round to show it off. Took 10 mins of faffing about making a brew and to be honest wasn't that good and certainly not as good as my Bialetti Venus (which is made for an induction hob).
I use Aldi Colombian or Kenyan ground and it's excellent. Takes me just over 2 minutes to make 2 mugfuls to go with our morning porridge!
Here...
https://colonnacoffee.com/collection...apsule-machine
and the coffee pods are superb.....
V
Has no one suggested using ese pods with a generic porta-filter type coffee machine?
My personal trial with ese was a) cheaper b) better coffee than Nespresso. I hasten to add this was a QUICK trial and after the trial I went right back to using proper ground coffee on my Classic ;-)
I can never make the sums work as at 9gr coffee per cup and coffee is about 25.00 per kg that is 22.5 p per cup. I see at 9.00 per kg is cheaper @ 8-9p per cup though, is still 1000-1500 coffees minimum to break even so a year or two ?
Certainly if you spent 1000 on the machine and 25.00 per kg on coffee it would never really work out - although of course you have a wider choice of beans.
Are you sure you're using your aeropress right???
Of course comparing espresso with brewed coffee is like comparing apples and pears. But if you're after flavour and freshness, and you prefer Nespresso, then are you perhaps using poor quality or stale beans or haven't quite got the grind/quantities/time right?
Benefits of a brewed coffee:
- choice and variety of beans
- ensure freshness of beans
- control the grind, which affects flavour
- a world of flavours out there depending on beans and brew method
- cheap and easy, no maintenance
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I have a Pixie (by Magimix) and the Aerocino and for me it is perfect - takes up minimal space on the counter top and allows us to make short or long coffee. Not heavy users though, 1 per day for me, so it only gets heavier use if guests are over.
The machine keeps a record of how many coffees it's made and in just under 4 weeks we've made 168 cups, so looking at making just over 2000 coffees/yr. Conservatively saving 15p a cup equates to £300 of the £400 purchase price. Clearly this is based on £9/kg of lavazza rossa beans and accept you can easily pay £30+/kg!
The offer also included a free service after a year for the machine.
Now would I make as many coffees if I was using 25p pods??? Different argument!
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Yes.
I didn't dispute that the Aeropress makes great coffee, it was all about convenience - look at it this way ...
Aeropress
Grind coffee
Put filter paper in Aeropress
Put coffee in Aeropress
Boil kettle then wait for it to cool a little
Fill water into Aeropress and leave to brew inverted
Flip over into cup and plunge the water through
Take Aeropress apart and knock grounds into food recycling bin
Wash out Aeropress then sit down and drink coffee
Nespresso
Put pod in machine
Press button and 20 seconds later sit down and drink coffee
Every now and again empty pod holder into recycling bin
Which do you think is the most convenient?
For the vast majority of the time when I want a coffee I'm more than happy with my favourite flavours from Nespresso (lungo rather than espresso mind) because I'm grabbing a quick coffee between conference calls when working from home etc.
Fancy trying a different coffee - by it, grind it, stick it in a re-usable Nespresso pod or run it through the Aeropress depending on how much time I have.
Last edited by Mr Stoat; 12th January 2017 at 19:54.
I agree with you Mr Stoat. Nespresso has convenience on its side.
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I'm thinking about getting one of these.
https://ninjakitchen.eu/uk/product/n...arafe-cf060uk/
If it's as good with coffee as their blenders are then it'll be great value at £99.
If the aim is simply to get the cheapest cup of brown liquid you can then I see your argument and maybe 'no frills' floor scrapings from Asda would do even better. If the aim is to try and get a really good cup of coffee then it's a different thing.
Actually, if speaking of convenience, then Aeropress is right down the scale. Using a 'proper' machine is far quicker. Takes me a minute from bean to espresso... 15 seconds grind. 10 seconds tamp. 20 seconds shot and the rest of the minute to bang for portafilter into the bin and rinse it out. I have a Classic and grinder at work. A work colleague has an Aeropress. In the time it takes him to make his coffee I've made mine, drunk mine, had a quick chat and back at my desk and he's still washing the darn thing out!
Exactly, whilst I like the coffee I get out of the Aeropress it is a bit of a faff, hence why I use the Nespresso to "grab" a coffee and save the Aeropress for a "Sunday morning" coffee when I can spend the time - but you can't beat the Aeropress in terms of price and storage size.
But like a lot of things in life it's a balancing act between convenience, price, quality, and the end product it produces.
Yep - I could fit a bean to cup in my office no problem - I simply cannot be bothered - the nespresso is the perfect solution for me.
This. Plus a Gaggia Classic on a timer plug for the morning and a £15 'knockout box' to capture the waste.
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I have a lattisima +. got it on a price match offer from Currys before xmas. Argos were doing it for £139.99.
Cant fault it. great coffee, easy to use. minimal maintenance.
Amazon is pretty much sold out of all the machines under 100 quid due to the £75 voucher deal, i could have done with getting a new machine as well!
Unless you live in an area where you need to boil water to make it safe to drink, you don't need to let the kettle boil - stop it when the water is "hot enough". On my kettle, the sound changes a short while before it boils, and that's a good Aeropress temperature for me
Or have a kettle that can heat to 85 / 90 / 95 / 100 degrees. I find 90 degrees works best for most brews.
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Bought one of these in black from Costco today for £144 inc VAT. Just tried it and ten times better than the Tassimo I used to have.
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/househo...FQWB7QodyEEGFg
Last edited by GMC41; 17th January 2017 at 00:11.
I agree with everyone suggesting ground coffee made in a cafetière, filter machine, filter cup thingy, Aeropress or perhaps stovetop
You get the highest bang for buck with those options
Warm your milk in a metal pan on your stove. Tastes infinitely better.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have had a gaggia bean to cup and a rancilio silvia with rocky grinder in the past. Simple coffee trumps these two
You could spend thousands on a better machine and grinder but the faff involved with all that will not result in a vastly superior coffee. It'll be better. But not vastly better
Last edited by Snowdon; 17th January 2017 at 07:29.
Also had a neapresso which I did not get along with. The coffee is consistently poor to mediocre.
- - - Updated - - -
What he said !!
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Off to the Algerian Coffee store tomorrow. All you need and an Aeropress!
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