I used a Nespresso machine for a few months last year and was impressed by the coffee, but not so impressed by the price and having to use two pods to get one full-sized coffee. My head was turned and I ended up with a DeLonghi bean to cup machine which I've tried hard to love. I've purchased gourmet beans, Starbucks beans and supermarket beans. Each new variety is okay for a while and then they start tasting unpleasant and I swap to a new bean. I am now on the brink of going off coffee entirely, which is something I can't accept!
I've checked out the Nespresso Vertuo machines online and am concerned both at the price of the pods (I'd probably get through £55 worth per month, which is quite a lot of expenditure when the bean-to-cup runs me to about £12-15 per month). I am also concerned that a full cup from a Vertuo machine will not be hot enough, particularly when milk is added. At least with the old Nespresso pods I could bang out a couple of espressos into the same cup and top up with boiling water. If the Vertuo machines vend 350mls of water that isn't hot enough, there'll be no opportunity to top up.
Then there are Lavazza machines, which seem to have rather less market penetration than the big boys. The Lavazza pods are widely available, occasionally discounted and, I believe, have more coffee in each pod. Does anyone have a Lavazza machine and can vouch for the quality? Having experienced the horror of third-party Nespresso capsules, I am concerned that even the Lavazza original pods might be average quality, especially since I didn't particularly enjoy the Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans I used in my bean-to-cup.
