Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Off Topic Coffee Machine Suggestions

I might look into one of those, thanks for the heads-up!

Unlike the Vertuo (3 Bar), the Classic and Pro Nespresso machines extract Coffee at 19 Bar pressure (just like a Bean to Cup machine).

The vortex extraction method of the Vertuo to produce Crema is no better than a Tassimo machine (using the same method).

I’m a fan of the Moccamaster

Yeah I don't understand the use of the blasphemous capsule based "Coffee" machines.
Nothing beats newly ground beans.

You’re correct: most capsules (especially Tassimo) are garbage. Find the right capsule, though, and it offers a viable/convenient alternative to freshly ground Coffee Beans. That’s why I regularly use a Bean to Cup machine in tandem with a classic Nespresso machine.

Equally, when out and about, not all freshly ground Coffee is good Coffee. For me, for example, Costa Coffee is an abomination compared to that purchased from (ironically) Boston Tea Party, who use 18g of Coffee to brew a cup.

This looks like a great option for drip coffee. Do they offer gold-plated filters, or can you get aftermarket ones? Paper filters absorb coffee oils (and therefore flavour) before they hit the cup. Also gold is inert, so doesn’t taint flavour.

At least, this is what we were taught on barista training back in the day.

Re: fresh ground vs capsule, it depends! A good capsule machine, such as Nespresso, is much better than the plethora of poorly trained baristas out there (or not trained at all these days - Starbucks!), and second rate beans, poorly stored and badly ground. However, a well-trained barista with decent beans and equipment will trounce a capsule any day.

In terms of home use, it depends on the wastage you’re prepared to tolerate. In a coffee shop setting when we were pulling hundreds to sometimes thousands of shots a day (central London during Xmas shopping period!) the bean wastage required to set the grind properly each morning and often through the day (as outside temp, atmospheric pressure and humidity change) is acceptable. Going through a quarter bag of expensive beans at home each day to do this probably isn’t. So capsules, or bean-to-cup (which have algorithms which attempt to compensate all this and grind correctly) come into their own. It also depends whether you are trained, if you get into a manual machine and grind.

In terms of the chains out there in the UK these days, I don’t like any of them. Costa can vary from dreadful to almost OK depending on the concession, but is never great. Starbucks I find undrinkable - they burn the beans to the extent it tastes like petrol, and all those places have an odd smell about them. Pret tastes like recycled water with a hint of coffee. At most of these, I buy a cup of tea these days and avoid the coffee completely. Fortunately, we are very lucky in London to have some great independents and small chains, which can be very good. Often I’ll go for a good Turkish or Greek coffee, which can be excellent.

But I still love the coffee in L.A. better. Some superb places there!

Italy is still the mothership for me, though. The best coffee I’ve ever had was in the little supermarket as you cross the border from France to Italy. It’s not even as far as the first town, Ventimiglia, and is nothing fancy. They have free parking and the French use it to lower their food bills and get higher quality ingredients. About 5 years ago, we went to get some ingredients for a picnic we were having with friends, and needed a coffee before the drive up into the mountains. The coffee machine was manned by a grumpy, cigarette-wizened old bloke and his fierce, and fiercely blond, wife. There were three types of pastry on offer and bare cafe tables and chairs which looked like a school lunch hall. It was full of locals, which I took to be a good sign. And they weren’t wrong! Absolutely sublime espresso, so good I got a cappuccino to try. Again, sublime. Beat all the fancy places here where the baristas obsess about profiling their shots (and filling their Insta feed with their latest latte-art and ink).

In Italy, it’s in the blood.

@3dit0r - I think you should write a travel blog. Very evocative imagery.

The added benefit of used Coffee grounds is in scattering them across your rear Garden borders. Don’t use them in your front Garden, though, otherwise Dogs will be attracted by them (and will subsequently leave very unwelcome calling cards).

Yes agreed, selection is important.
Some of the best Coffee I get from a French press which is all we have in our "summer house". Newly ground beans, boiled water into a french press. Not very practical but when you're on vacation there is time.

Very true - also with your capsule press gadget!

Wouldn’t that be a lovely job!

Food, coffee and wine, you can (almost) never go wrong with any of those in Italy. Most places serve a very good espresso for a Euro.
And nowadays you can find good "modern" coffee shops serving coffee and also selling ground beans of all variants.