Coffee machines, Tassimo or Nespresso?

platypus said:
I lean towards coffee snob rather than not (or maybe I'd just like to thnk I am :p). Trying to decide which espresso machine though. There's a Gaggia (Prestige Manual Espresso) for £180 that reviews pretty well, wonder if its up to the job.
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Sorry, must have missed your reply last night.

Hmm... I can't really comment properly but just giving it a quick look-over it doesn't strike me as amazing. I used to use a Gaggia Viva before I got my Classic and at the time I thought it did an okay job (and was very cheap, £70 or so). However, when I moved house and had to go back to the Viva for a bit during the move I realised I was very wrong and it actually produces brown filth :p

To be honest I'd be tempted to hold out for the Classic to come down in price. Or just bite the bullet and pay for one as is. You should also really consider a factory refurb from ebay or the like if there's a decent deal going around. The machines are very easy to service, even for someone who is awful at this kind of thing (me).

Whilst you wait for a decent deal you could always try something like this:

http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/10/h...emade-lattes-without-an-espresso-machine.html

I can't comment on how nice that would be :p
 
platypus said:
Hmm have found a refurbished Classic for £195.
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Not the absolute best deal in the world but certainly not terrible. I presume it is in decent condition?

Even if you were to wait around for a better deal I think getting something decent now and enjoying good coffee now is well worth the extra £30 or so you might save by waiting :)
 
Finally managed to get hold of some of the Oreo drinks for the Tassimo the other week. Very disappointed; aside from the usual problem (with hot chocolate drinks at least) of the serving not being big enough to be worthwhile, it doesn't really taste of Oreo either. The smell is there when it's being dispensed, but there's no Oreo taste and I've eaten enough of the things to be able to recognise it. It just tastes like cheap hot chocolate.

Glad I only bought one pack, won't be buying it again. The Cadbury one is better.
 
Strange question. Some Finance company sent me a load of Dolce Gusto pods at work as a gift. Needless to say I don't have a machine to use them with. Is it possible to use the pods without a machine (say with a cafetiere?) or is it pointless?
 
What's the best way to clean a Nespresso machine? I can see inside the machine where the cap goes that it's building up with coffee scum. I used filtered water with it though so I don't think limescale is an issue, just the scum.
 
daver said:
Strange question. Some Finance company sent me a load of Dolce Gusto pods at work as a gift. Needless to say I don't have a machine to use them with. Is it possible to use the pods without a machine (say with a cafetiere?) or is it pointless?
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I'd say it is probably pointless as the machines work under pressure; but maybe give it a go with one anyway and see if it works!
 
Do all of these machines do the full range of drinks? (ie. cappuccinos, espressos and particularly latte's) The missus loves the latte's from Costa so thought I'd look at one of these pod machines for Christmas for her!

Is there a recognised "best" model for sub-£100 or do I need to be spending more??
 
StevieP said:
Do all of these machines do the full range of drinks? (ie. cappuccinos, espressos and particularly latte's) The missus loves the latte's from Costa so thought I'd look at one of these pod machines for Christmas for her!

Is there a recognised "best" model for sub-£100 or do I need to be spending more??
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If she likes Costa then the Tassimo is the one to look at as you get various Costa drinks for it. It also does other coffees, various speciality teas, hot chocolates etc.

If you check out HotUKDeals you should be able to find a decent deal on the machines. There are various different models (some with LCDs, lights, Brita filters, different colours/styles) but they'll all produce similar results. You also get a £20 discount for the online Tassimo store with the machine.
 
I have a Bosch Tassimo T55 and am very happy with it. Easy to use, easy to clean and the Costa capsules produce drinks that taste the same a barista prepared ones to me.

Has quick-change Brita cartridge inside water reservoir which makes descaling far less frequent that it would be otherwise.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

This might be a silly question but is a latte made with milk or water?
Read a couple of reviews saying it would be good if they sold "skinny" latte pods - I just assumed you used a regular latte pod but with semi-skimmed milk!?!?!

The missus likes her skinny vanilla latte's (I just assumed I'd use a regular pod, semi-skimmed milk and some of the vanilla syrup!) Is this not how it works??
 
With the lattes and cappuccinos you get a coffee disc, and a milk disc. The latte milk discs are bigger.

They do a "less sweet" latte version but I don't think there's a skinny one. You can of course just buy regular espresso discs of your choosing and then prepare your own milk etc.

Forgot to say before, I've had a T65 model for almost 4 years now, it's great. You do need to take into account the cost of the discs but as long as you're not using it several times a day it won't be expensive to run and you can usually stock up on discs when there are deals on at Amazon, supermarkets or the Tassimo website. If you're drinking lots of coffee it isn't economical but as thing you have once or twice a day maybe, I don't begrudge the cost of it.

This seems like a pretty good deal for one of the newer machines:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bosch-tassimo-charmy-red-brewer-40-5-p-p-tassimo-2050569
 
TheVoice said:
This seems like a pretty good deal for one of the newer machines:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bosch-tassimo-charmy-red-brewer-40-5-p-p-tassimo-2050569
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Thanks for this - had a brief look around and couldn't see much to compare at this price so I've gone for it! (red isn't ideal but not a deal breaker!)

On looking into the pods though I'm a bit confused! On Amazon the pods are listed as "TASSIMO Costa Latte coffee 6 discs, 8 servings (Pack of 5, Total 80 discs/pods, 40 servings)" - if you get one pod for the coffee and one pod for the milk then I can understand the "80 discs/40 servings" part but how does the "6 discs, 8 servings" work!?!?!? :confused:
 
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