I don't think the pods are expensive. At 70-80 cents each, that's under a fourth the cost of having an espresso of comparable quality made for you outside of your home.
An Analysis of Nespresso
11–20 of 223 posts
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#12My feeling last time I saw one in person: Convincing the public to install a coffee vending machine in their house at cost to themselves by marketing it as a coffee machine was an impressive feat. They're very small, stylish, and low-priced. Until you start to buy the pods for your vending machine.
The business model is well-worn, just adapted to coffee. People are paying for the convenience. It's clear this isn't the cheapest way to make coffee at home, unless of course you value your time!
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#13"Speciality coffee doesn’t offer anything to the consumer who wants to drink great espresso at home, but doesn’t want a new hobby." This is an amazing take away, and I think many coffee roasters, gin distillers and beer Brewers ought remember it.
I take the OA's point, however most of us (I assume) will be using a cafetiere or a paper filter based coffee maker at home rather than doing the full artisan roast and grind.
In my case, I'm using pre-ground coffee in foil bags from the local supermarket at around £3 to £4 per 227g standard pack. I make myself a large diluted coffee each morning using a 3-cup mokapot. The 5 minute prep time isn't onerous and the economics are much better than buying a machine of the kind in the OA along with all the capsules.
Coffee hacking question: If I got a grinder capable of grinding beans to the fineness needed for a moka pot, would I notice a significant difference in taste?
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#14My parents bought a Nespresso machine recently, and we have a Lavazza one at home now (which also uses pods). The coffee from both machines tastes good, and the process is ridiculously simple. We used to have a Gaggia machine too, but we ended up relocating it to the garage, in a cardboard box, because making coffee using it was really just too much effort - buying the appropriate coffee, storing it, tamping it, and so on, just didn't really seem like all that much fun to us, and often the results were quite unpredictable (sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker). The Nespresso and Lavazza machines seem to produce identical cups of coffee every time, which I generally view as a positive. (All three machines were roughly the same price, ~£100.)
Sometimes I drink expensive coffee in fancy coffee places in London, where it's £3+ for a cup. The coffee definitely has different flavours from the cups I have at home, but I can't honestly say I very often think it's much, much better.
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eh if it means im replacing a $3-$4 cup of coffee with a 50 cent cup of coffee + convenience, sounds good to me.
You can get a decent superautomatic for $400, and a nice one for $700. This is quite a bit more than the nestle, but you probably end up breaking even after a year and getting better coffee at the same time.
One of the best superautomatics I found on Amazon still has issues like cleaning, maintenance, and clogging that Nespresso just... doesn't:
http://smile.amazon.com/DeLonghi-ESAM3300-Magnifica-Super-Au...
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#16I don't think the pods are expensive. At 70-80 cents each, that's under a fourth the cost of having an espresso of comparable quality made for you outside of your home.
People making the argument that the pods are expensive are comparing them to the price of coffee per kilo. This totally misses the point by overlooking why people use pods: convenience. As you note to get a similar convenience level you need to pay someone else much more for a cup.
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#17I don't think the pods are expensive. At 70-80 cents each, that's under a fourth the cost of having an espresso of comparable quality made for you outside of your home.
You could say the same thing with Gillette blades. Sure, one blade is a fraction of the cost of getting your beard shaved at a barber's shop.
But it is still much more expensive than the alternatives.
If you compare Nespresso pods to raw coffee you pay a lot of money for 500g of coffee.
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#18"Speciality coffee doesn’t offer anything to the consumer who wants to drink great espresso at home, but doesn’t want a new hobby." This is an amazing take away, and I think many coffee roasters, gin distillers and beer Brewers ought remember it.
I take the OA's point, however most of us (I assume) will be using a cafetiere or a paper filter based coffee maker at home rather than doing the full artisan roast and grind. In my case, I'm using pre-ground coffee in foil bags from the local supermarket at around £3 to £4 per 227g standard pack. I make myself a large diluted coffee each morning using a 3-cup mokapot. The 5 minute prep time isn't onerous and the eco…
Yes, freshly ground coffee tastes much, much better!
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#19"Speciality coffee doesn’t offer anything to the consumer who wants to drink great espresso at home, but doesn’t want a new hobby." This is an amazing take away, and I think many coffee roasters, gin distillers and beer Brewers ought remember it.
I've taken it a step further - I use pre-packaged cold-brewed coffee.
Cons: Doesn't have as good a taste
Pros: Stomach acid is lower than warm brew, prep time: 30s w/milk + sweetener, and I take it cold so I don't need a double-wall mug, just a large strawcup. If I want warm, I heat the milk beforehand.
So far so good - costs have been less than buying beans for my espresso superautomatic much less packets for a keurig/nespresso.
All I have to do is to stock up at TJs for a month at a time.
Re: An Analysis of Nespresso
#20"Speciality coffee doesn’t offer anything to the consumer who wants to drink great espresso at home, but doesn’t want a new hobby." This is an amazing take away, and I think many coffee roasters, gin distillers and beer Brewers ought remember it.
I take the OA's point, however most of us (I assume) will be using a cafetiere or a paper filter based coffee maker at home rather than doing the full artisan roast and grind. In my case, I'm using pre-ground coffee in foil bags from the local supermarket at around £3 to £4 per 227g standard pack. I make myself a large diluted coffee each morning using a 3-cup mokapot. The 5 minute prep time isn't onerous and the eco…
My suspicion is you might see the same improvement that members of the high-fi community get when they switch to gold-played cables and electricity smoothers.