Reply With QuoteHow much are they ? Do they fit nespresso machines ?
I know there are a few nespresso fans on here. Starbucks now sell half decent pods, the first non nespresso ones that I have found to be good.
How much are they ? Do they fit nespresso machines ?
100% agree. In fact I'm enjoying the Starbucks pods so much at the moment that I keep buying them and haven't touched the Nespresso ones for a few weeks.
Lenlec - yes they fit Nespresso machines and they're £2.95 for 10 in my nearest Starbucks. They also give you a pack of two sample pods with every purchase which is pretty cool.Originally Posted by doebag
Some of the larger Waitrose stores also stock them.
I was bought a nespresso machine last October and couldn't find any pods that I liked. Tried Starbucks and thought they were better than nespresso ones. A couple of weeks ago I tried CafePod Ristretto espresso and think they are great. I'd highly recommend them!!
And if they don't they may have Cafépod Ristretto on offer...also at Tesco.
Great thanks. I'll get some today
Fed up of having to order 200 at a time just to get free
Delivery
Come on guys I have read so many people saying that anything but Nespresso pods are just not good at all!
So please be honest here as I love Nespresso coffee especially the dark blue one called Khazar it is strength 12 and so good I would love Starbucks to be better or as good but the only time I have ever had a Starbucks coffee I thought that eating the foam cup would taste better than the so called coffee which just tasted like water! Give me some more thoughts on the strong ones I need a real Nespresso fan who doesn't like other pods to say that these are the real deal :)
Last edited by andy armitage; 2nd February 2017 at 08:35.
Purple for me 9 strength i think
Gonna take a pod in to Starbucks and ask them to match it
To be honest I find all the 'strong' Nesprssso pods to start to taste like each other after a while.
The Starbucks pods provide all that's good about Nespresso (crema, serving quality) but they're more aromatic and seem to have deeper flavours. The Guatemala pods are delicious. Polished off the box of ten in about 3 days.
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Ok thanks for that although I don't think all the strong Nespresso taste the same as I can sadly identify the different ones I get :) I like strong coffee and my wife likes medium like the Livanto in Nespresso I think it is a 6 and she likes the pink rosa pod which is a 6 so do I just get them from an actual Starbucks shop as I have to try them now :)
I just hope you're right 👍
Starbucks coffee is the closest to dishwater of the large chains so I hope the pods prove more worthy. Don't seem much cheaper than Nespresso though.
A few of the guys earlier in the thread said they'd found them in Waitrose? But for sure, just ask at the counter at your nearest Starbucks. Guatemalan ones are my favourite so far and the Kenyan ones are good too.
I can't help but feel i'm staking my reputation on Nespresso pods? Haha. They're good and enjoyable and a break from what I feel has become a bit of a mundane espresso from Nespresso.
I was thinking about the cost and value factor of these pods and then I realised that if any of us were really that fussed about the cost, we wouldn't be using a 'convenience' system like Nespresso.
Do they fit the machine ok? Bought some third party ones from Waitrose once and it felt like you had to force the handle down more in order to use them.
If anyone worries about recycling the pods and would like biodegradable pods try https://cofico.co.uk
The website is pretty awful but the coffee is pretty good.
I know it is a bit hippyish but it is a pain recycling the Nespresso pods if you are slightly rural without a convenient drop off point or post office.
Pete
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Yes! They fit and seal really well. I've had 100% success rate so far.
I tried the beta stage pods from Pact and the first generation were bloody terrible, i'd get a failed pod every other attempt - it either wouldn't seal or pierce properly, so you ended up getting a cup of muddy cloudy water. Once I actually had a pod split - I heard it crack when I pulled the lever down to load it into the chamber - that wasn't an easy mess to clear up!
I have found the same with Aldi's pods, as per usual Aldi have blatantly ripped off Nespresso; even down to calling the pod's I chose 'Ristretto' which happens to be my preferred Nespresso flavour (Black, strength 10). But they do not fit quite as well, it too took a firm shove to engage and some coffee spilt out the pod loading flap which never happens with genuine pods. Saying that the flavour isn't bad and at £1.79/10 they are considerably cheaper than genuine pods.
There's sadly nothing wrong with how Aldi have named their pods - Espresso, Lungo and Ristretto are all types (read: size of pour) of espresso. In size order - Ristretto < Espresso < Lungo
You can buy these on Amazon as well. I mentioned them in the other Nespresso thread. Unfortunately, I tried a selection pack and they were all pretty dire. More eco-friendly perhaps, but not good coffee at all, so kinda defeats the purpose.
I'll probably give the Starbucks ones a try as I need to find a good mid-strength, medium-caffeinated pod as I mostly drink decaf, but otherwise seem to significantly prefer the really strong Nespresso pods, which leads to too much yoyoing. I actually really like the original Volluto, but they look too similar to the decaf ones, so I can't buy them or I'll mix them up :(
On an eco-related note, Nestle seem to have taken all the recycling pickup options off their website since the last update and prior to that they conveniently never seemed to have any of the recycling bags in stock. Another reason why I'd rather give my money to Starbucks or really any company that isn't Nestle. Hopefully it's a viable alternative.
Thinking about it for the price difference I will stick with nespresso as I do like their coffee.
They are on offer now in Tesco £2.50 for 10. Some mentioned recycling, you can reurn the used pods back to any starbucks but its still a pain to recycle.
I would agree that starbucks is not the best coffee available, however these are the first non OEM ones that I have found decent. Big bonus is that you can just pop to the shop/starbucks drive-through on the way home rather than mail order/ trek to a nespresso shop.
I've been trying the Aldi pods. No mechanical issues with them and the coffee is an acceptable, reasonably tasty, caffeine delivery system, certainly better than the caustic duallit horrors I had from costco.
At as near as damn it £2 cheaper than the official pods I can certainly save a few quid and not suffer.
Thanks for this. We don't have a Starbucks but do have a Waitrose, I'll take a look. It will be interesting to compare, my usual pods are Kazaar or Ristretto for an espresso, and Indrya for a long drink. Mind you, I'm still using up my 3x £25 vouchers (after buying a £69 "spare" machine) from the winter promotion, so it might be a while yet.
Starbucks pods are a lot nicer than Taylor's ones. I don't rate the Taylor's ones at all.
I have tried some Nespresso ones and am still trying to find one that I really like. The Roma ones were good to be fair.
I still prefer coffee in my Aeropress from Algerian Coffee store but for a lazy coffee and if I've run out the machine is pretty good.
I've found the Aldi pods to be rather pleasant and at £1.80 a bit of a bargain. They do 4 varieties with the Brazilian and Colombian varieties being my personal favorites.
Worth checking out if you are near an Aldi.
Lidl's on the other hand taste like dirt.
A small update on this, just tried the new L’Or pods. The are the same construction as the nespresso pods and they they tase great too.
Last edited by Middo; 20th September 2017 at 10:05.
Do the Starbucks pods taste like Starbucks coffee?
We're switching between the L'Or and Starbucks pods, both available from our local supermarkets, both taste great. We've found our machine doesn't like the all-over hard plastic pods, so the softer or foil bottomed ones are working much better.
For those in London, the Dept of Coffee stores now have two in-house blends available as nespresso pods. The African blend is very smooth.
https://www.differencecoffee.com/
But no doubt some people will protest loudly about the cost.
Best coffee I have had from a nespresso machine.
Regards
V
I would protest about the cost not being visible on the website. Sign in to the members area to reserve your allocation? Eh, no.
Agreed I can't bear all that signing in nonsense
If, and only if, you make the whole coffee roughly the same as they do in the shop, then yes there is a reasonable resemblance to the shop taste.
In my experience, most home brewers don't make an expresso, but a longer wash out, and add water, or use semi skimmed milk, yet order a tall latte in store and wonder why it doesn't taste the same a maison.
Anyway, Superchargers from cafe pod are frequently on offer in waitrose, £2/ box of 10, strong yet smooth. Taylors are rank.
I bought a load of the CafePod lungos last time they were on sale, because I quite often drink black americano made with one lungo plus water. They are OK and cheap (when on sale). They are nowhere near as good as Nespresso though and the plastic pods don't keep as well either. Haven't seen them on sale for a while and definitely would not pay full price for them. I'm not sure about this "flood the market with commodity garbage but keep the price constant" strategy that seems to have emerged. I'm pretty sure that's not how capitalism is supposed to work. Still waiting for market forces to push Nespresso prices down.
Not sure about Taylors. I tried some and thought they were so-so but not worth basically the same price as Nespresso as they clearly aren't as good.
One thing I still haven't found is a remotely decent alternative decaf, which is what I drink most of. The Nespresso ones are pretty good, but otherwise I'm stuck with the cafetiere, or recently started experimenting with cold brewing.
Yes - I've been a bit baffled by this as well - I haven't come across a single generic that is as good as the Nespresso and would only touch them on deep discount - why would I pay virtually the same price as the real thing?
I tried the Starbucks ones, but found the amount of water in the drip tray increased significantly using them. I've got a kitchen aid nespresso machine, which I thought was faulty - drip tray full after 4 capsules.
Reverted back to the genuine pods & the water issue has gone.
On a side note, why they made the drop tray so small on this I don't know. Compared to my old machine, it's 1/4 of the size with no visual clue as to being full. I'd also have liked a red light to appear glowing in the water tank if there isn't enough water, in the same way some of the cheap nespresso machines do. Ho hum
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I'm out then.
^ LOL!
I'm standing in Asda (don't worry, I'll shower later), and the Starbucks ones are £2.50/ box if anyone cares.
errrmmm.... its espresso ;-) Espresso comes from the Italian name for the coffee, in full caffè espresso, literally "pressed-out coffee".... Just me being pedantic.
However I can't believe that people actually think starbucks is good! As a general rule I tend to stay away from 'chain' coffee but, out of them all, I'd say that starbucks make the worst espresso. Maybe okay for the milky coffee drinker but for those who like a 'proper' coffee I don't think it's all that good. Just by 2d.
Starbucks is utterly crap. It only tastes half decent with loads of milk and sugar as it begins to mask the bitterness. They think over-roasting cheap beans can make the flavour deeper, but it doesn't.
Yep 100%. Too extracted and too roasted.
However these Starbucks Nespresso pods are actually quite nice! Not like their coffee shop version.
The Starbucks pods (and most of the other non-Nespresso pods) are a slightly different shape and made from a different material, which causes them to jam in my Lattissima machine. Usually they can be pushed out quite easily, but occasionally they jam badly and are hard to move. I have stopped using them for this reason, so be warned.
I've just tried the Aldi Ristretto capsules (strength 10), thought I'd give them a go as they're on offer at £1.69 for 10. Taste and crema are OK, but they don't have much depth of flavour. For my normal americano (lungo + hot water) I'll be sticking with the Nespresso Indriya.
Tried two of the Nespresso Barista limited editions today, the weak one (Chiaro, strength 5) made as a proper cappuccino in store was unusually sweet, and very good for it. Scuro is the middling one, a 8, again made properly as a macchiato was very nice. Don't often say that about the limiteds!
Would have one for the Explorations2, but where it is absolutely not about the price, £20 for 20 capsules is pushing it IMO.
To be fair Andy it's often more about the competence of the barista than the coffee itself, I've had excellent and terrible coffee from most coffee shops I visit, including French and Italian independents. You can have the best coffee in the world but if the barista doesn't know what they're doing it will taste terrible.
I'll try the Starbucks pods as I've struggled to find a third party pod that's any good.
From what I've seen going on behind the counter at the average chain coffee emporium (costa, cn, sb, is there another one?) there's very little opportunity for the 'barista' to have any influence on how the coffee finally comes out. It's generally all down to pushing a few buttons. In fact I'm not sure the term 'barista' can really be applied at all to someone making coffee in these types of places. Compared to a true coffee geeks establishment where the barista is directly involved with all stages from cleaning the porta filter, grind, tamping, polishing, correct timing for the shot etc... AND proper single source beans. There is an element of skill from a true barista; not that making a decent espresso shot is rocket science anyway. Anyway one of my biggest gripes about chain coffee shops is why do they insist in serving an espresso in a dirty great big mug?! They use the same chunky great cup for serving a 1 or 2oz espresso as they do for some half pint, coffee flavoured, frothy milk pensioner special (those pensioners love their coffee flavoured bedtime milky drinks).
Going away for a two week driving holiday around scotland tomorrow... Handpresso Auto already packed and tomorrow, before we set off, I'll grind a bag of Hasbeans best :-) I can't go over two weeks drinking high street coffee :-(
My absolute favourite type of coffee is from a Moka Pot: http://joelson.co.uk/use-an-italian-...op-coffee-pot/
But since I bought a Nespresso machine, it's 90% of the way there, and 100% less effort. Ristretto (10) is my favourite pod, wife likes the Arpeggio.
We've just got a Nespresso boutique in Southampton, so I'm going to check that out this weekend. Drop off my recycling too!
That's why I use a Nespresso machine. Purists might not approve, but at 6am in the morning, popping in a capsule and pressing go results in a nice coffee to start the day. It's better than you get from high street coffee chains.
I almost always use Nespresso capsules, although I bought a box of Starbucks purple pods after reading this thread. It was alright but I still prefer a Nespresso Ristretto.
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