Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Thread Like Summary - Coffee Machine Suggestions

It's not a good week for terminal kitchen appliance breakdowns in the Guest household (!)

First, the dishwasher, then the pump in my Bosch coffee machine! It's only 18 months old, and Bosch don't offer a repair service. It's scrap.

Fortunately, it looks as though John Lewis will refund my outlay as its within their 2 year guarantee period (they can't provide a direct replacement).

So, what to choose - and, more importantly, a bean-to-cup machine that can actually be repaired should the worst happen in future.

Does anyone have experience of owning a particular brand of bean-to-cup coffee machine that developed a serious fault and was then successfully repaired by the manufacturer?

I purchased my last batch of discounted Miele appliances (Fridge, integrated Microwave/Oven, and Warming Drawer) from Marks Electrical in Leicester.

A, B, and C graded appliances can be purchased from the Miele Outlet in Abingdon. Prices change/update almost daily. Discounts on the A grade appliances compared to retail can be substantial.

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

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.

I'm a huge fan of Miele, they just keep working.

The cottage we often stay at has a Samsung Fridge/Freezer: it ‘sings’ tunes at varying volume levels throughout every day we stay there.

By comparison, our 11+ year-old Miele freezer remains whisper quiet - even on the hottest day.

When visiting the newly opened Miele experience centre in Solihull, the German Miele representative informed me that due to recent changes in UK law Miele (and other manufacturers) were no longer permitted to offer anything longer than an initial 12 month warranty on their goods.

My Miele Freezer was supplied with a 10 year warranty, and my Miele B2C machine had a 5 year warranty, for example. Now, the only way to protect yourself is to buy an annual D+G insurance/repair protection for each appliance. Or, you can take out their ‘kitchen cover’ for up to 5 appliances. From experience, if buying Miele, and an item becomes ‘uneconomic to repair’, D+G will offer a 100% replacement cost for the latest equivalent item, so long as you choose to annually renew the policy.

This is more favourable than Centrica’s Kitchen Cover, that, irrespective of the brand, only offers a 30% replacement contribution within 3 years of original purchase..

Even though the 5 year warranty on my Miele B2C machine has expired, Miele have introduced a monthly breakdown warranty for any of their appliances under 10 years old.

After year 10, so long as you’re prepared to keep paying the monthly fee they will cover the appliance against breakdown. If there’s a problem and they can’t repair it they will replace it for the latest model free-of-charge.

Even so, having tried many brands of whole beans over the years, I’ve found that Pact Coffee offer the most consistent flavour between purchases of the same variant (unlike other brands). Although I often buy directly from Pact, Ocado and Waitrose now sell 200g bags of their ‘House Blend’ and ‘Bourbon Cream’ Coffee. Pact are based in the same premises that once produced Bourbon Cream Biscuits.

Pact pay above Fairtrade prices to their farmers, and only source high quality Beans - which is why Pact Coffee costs more (but it’s well worth the extra).

Coffee and Pastries on a Saturday morning with Meridian playing Jazz in the background is my routine start to the weekend.

My Aeropress is still going strong after 10 years. No warranty, no monthly service charge, lol

Hey Jeremy A-H

Please let me know your holiday itinerary I will try to be there!

Best wishes Helen from the Asymetric Coffee Bar

AKA Hector

I would like to buy a Nespresso Pro Coffee Machine that utilises entirely different capsules compared to their Classic and Vertuo machines - and are cheaper overall to purchase. Unfortunately, you need an authentic business account to buy the machine and the capsules.

My Krups branded Citiz has a manual lever and I never experienced any problems with it (now in storage since I purchased a Lattisima Pro).

Besides authentic Nespresso capsules I occasionally stock-up on Starbucks’ capsules (Italian, House, Espresso). These are very pleasant.

On recycling; to maximise on the volume/weight of sending spent capsules in the mail I use this very practical Dualit widget to extract the spent Coffee. The added benefit of using the Dualit widget is that you don’t amass a growing stash of rotting/pungent Coffee grounds until you have a sufficient quantity for recycling.

If you’re self-employed that qualifies as a business in my book.

I’m a fan of the Moccamaster

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

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.