Single Serve Coffee Forums

As opposed to Josh, I tried this one first as a straight shot.

For one they are calling "Arabica", I found it to be surprisingly bitter with very little crema. The robusto bite was quite pronounced and overwhelmed a basically one note, cereal flavored espresso with little body.

Turned into a cortado, it made an acceptable although bland drink on the order of Livanto.

I have to think the lack of crema is probably due to the presence of the paper filter, since the result is very similar to that achieved using ESE pods in a conventional machine.

I won't be purchasing this one again. The refillable capsules are a much better tasting alternative for cost saving espresso.

Tom,

Do you recommend a particular refillable system for the Nespresso? I'm waiting to receive some of these Vergnano pods, but wonder about other ways to try out other coffees. I'd not be surprised if these aren't that good...

The worst pizza I ever had in my life was a roadside cafe in northern Italy!

Quality does not follow with variety...

I'd love to try some Lavazza coffees in my Nespresso, for example.

Thoughts, anyone?

Agedsumatrafiend wrote:Tom,

Do you recommend a particular refillable system for the Nespresso? I'm waiting to receive some of these Vergnano pods, but wonder about other ways to try out other coffees. I'd not be surprised if these aren't that good...

As I've said elsewhere, I recommend any of the following: the 3rd Generation Eco Capsules, EMO Home Capsules or CoffeeDuck Capsules, with the first two in first place due to their much lower price. See the discussion on this thread: new-3rd-generation-eco-capsules-for-nespresso-t9423.html
I don't recommend the 4th Generation Eco Capsules, IMO they are a real chore to clean and not worth the bother. The residue they are speaking about remaining in the brew chamber is minimal, and easily removed by running a blank cleansing shot afterwards. Something that should be done for sanitary reasons anyway. For best results with any of the refillable capsules, empty and clean them promptly after they've cooled, otherwise they are much more difficult to clean.

TomC wrote:I don't recommend the 4th Generation Eco Capsules, IMO they are a real chore to clean and not worth the bother.

Tom, here or in that other thread I'd be interested to know more about the 4th-gen. ones. What's the purpose of the o-ring I see in their eBay listing, for example? Thanks, as usual, for your input!

TomC wrote:As opposed to Josh, I tried this one first as a straight shot.

For one they are calling "Arabica", I found it to be surprisingly bitter with very little crema. The robusta bite was quite pronounced and overwhelmed a basically one note, cereal flavored espresso with little body.

Turned into a cortado, it made an acceptable although bland drink on the order of Livanto.

To be completely thorough in my review (and to be honest, decide how best to use up the remaining capsules) I tried it as an Americano. A short shot pulled into a half spoon of turbinado sugar, followed by a blank lungo shot of hot water turned out to be the best use of this capsule. Not the best I've had by far, but very smooth and flavorful, similar to Marley's Kingston City Roast coffee pods. I won't be buying them again, but I won't be tossing them out either after all.

jbviau wrote:

TomC wrote:I don't recommend the 4th Generation Eco Capsules, IMO they are a real chore to clean and not worth the bother.

Tom, here or in that other thread I'd be interested to know more about the 4th-gen. ones. What's the purpose of the o-ring I see in their eBay listing, for example? Thanks, as usual, for your input!

Josh
To keep everything on topic I've responded in the other thread.
Tom

Agedsumatrafiend wrote:Tom,



I'd love to try some Lavazza coffees in my Nespresso, for example.

Thoughts, anyone?

As I mentioned prior, my standard Nespresso cup is Lavazza Crema e Gusto in a Vergnano capsule with a 1"square foil wrap on the top.

Works fine, but the coffee quickly loses flavour, going from 'exceptionally delicious' to 'still OK for a non-expert who's not too fussy'.

Simon B. wrote:

Agedsumatrafiend wrote:Tom,



I'd love to try some Lavazza coffees in my Nespresso, for example.

Thoughts, anyone?

As I mentioned prior, my standard Nespresso cup is Lavazza Crema e Gusto in a Vergnano capsule with a 1"square foil wrap on the top.

Works fine, but the coffee quickly loses flavour, going from 'exceptionally delicious' to 'still OK for a non-expert who's not too fussy'.

Just to clarify, why does the coffee lose flavor? Is it because you pre-pack your capsules well in advance of use, or for some other reason? I'm about to get 30 capsules of Caffe Vergnano, I'd be willing to try reusing them !

Is it that you open the Lavazza coffee, and doesn't use it soon enough? I'd buy beans as opposed to pre-ground.

I'd be willing to burr grind my beans, tamp, and brew? I'd even measure out in grams. What's the secret to getting an advantage, then?

What's the matter, aren't we all scientists??

I don't get through the 250g pack quickly enough.
Mrs B makes her coffee using proper Nespresso capsules, but as I'm the resident cheapskate I reuse the Vergnano ones.
I make about 50 cups with one pack of Lavazza. Sometimes I forget to put it back in the fridge, or put the top on the container on quickly, etc etc, and it seems to lose some of that mega fresh flavour after a week or so.
Still nice though, and a fairly economical way of making my coffee.
I don't know if I can be arsed to buy a grinder etc, I'm not that into it and there isn't any more space in the kitchen for appliances!

By the way, popping the top off the capsule is dead easy. I used the edge of a box cutter blade. Obviously be careful.

The green Lungo Intenso capsules are now available in my local supermarket (Rewe) so I picked up a box today. They make a very pleasant lungo too, the Mrs was very pleased. In my view they compare well to the Nestle offerings.

^^^ Thanks for the report. Has anyone actually seen these in a store in the U.S., or are they online-only here for now?

In other news, Scott liked the Intenso, I see:

http://www.singleserveespresso.com/arch ... presso.php

I'm dragging my heels on reviewing it--need one more straight shot before I make up my mind.

jbviau wrote:^^^ Thanks for the report. Has anyone actually seen these in a store in the U.S., or are they online-only here for now?

I'm not sure what is going on at BB&B. I received another 20% off coupon in my e-mail, so I thought I'd give the Intenso a try. Logging into BBB online, they are listing all of the varieties except the decaf as Out of Stock. Either they had a run on them, or we purchased the limited inventory they had in stock, either way they're no available at the present time. On a similar note, they have been out of stock on Illy medium and dark roast iperespresso capsules for a number of months now as well. Neither the Illy nor the Vergnano capsules show availability at any of their retail locations within 50 miles of me either. Just for curiosity sake, I did searches within some major markets: Atlanta, New York, Boston and received the same results. Appears that they offered them only online. Wonder if they have any intensions of bringing them back into stock?

The Caffe Vergnano capsules were available in store. They had a display of them near the coffee machines at the 62nd and 1st avenue Manhattan store. For some reasons the boxes were mostly crushed and looked partly opened. I'm not sure if they are still in the store. Maybe they didn't do well and were pulled from the store, or did very well and are out of stock. If you really want to know maybe they can check and see if they are coming back in stock if you call the website customer service #, or call the manager at your local store.

I was just in BB & B today and thought I would pick of a sleeve of the Vergnano coffee and saw that they raised the price to $5.99 a sleeve. For a penny more or even with the 20% off I would rather have the Nespresso caps. Love their Ristretto. For $4 with the discount before it was worth getting some but for the same price as the Nespresso - no thanks1