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An Analysis of Nespresso

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Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#141

Post by coldpie »

jghn wrote: post #139
moron4hire wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has been a home brewer for years, you don't home brew because it's cheap or convenient or even better than store bought. People home brew because they want the experience of the hobby. Which was the article's point: people want espresso at home, not a hobby. Beer can be had at home without the hobby, or it can be had with the hobby. So I think beer brewers are already there. Though, to contradict mysel…

"you don't home brew because it's cheap or convenient or even better than store bought." I agree w/ your general premise about it being for the hobby (that's 90% of why I homebrew) but disagree with the above statement. I've known homebrewers who absolutely brew because it's cheap - I'm sure you've encountered them as well. These are the people who calculate the price per ounce and then proudly talk about how their G…

Nice post. I also homebrew. What types of styles are you talking about that you can find in a store? I'd love to try making them :)

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#142

Post by roel_v »

cmarschner wrote: post #44
bambax wrote: post #39

The site is unavailable so I don't know what's in the article, but from the comments I gather it's looking at the benefits of owning a Nespresso machine at home? Here in France everyone has a Nespresso machine or two (I have three); you can buy Nespresso capsules from Nespresso shops, or alternative capsules in any supermarket, anywhere. What Nespresso sells is simplicity and consistency, and an above-average taste.…

Interesting. So French people are ok buying coffee for €90 a kilo to get this convenience? I can understand this only because traditionally, the French "Expresso" was guaranteed to be a watery, bitter, creama-less wish-wash.

Refill cartridges for an inkjet printer are, per liter of ink, also horribly expensive. Many other things are equally expensive when compared to the bulk price of the main ingredient. So what?

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." (Oscar Wilde)

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#143

Post by roel_v »

jasonkester wrote: post #42
dcw303 wrote: post #11

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.

A real espresso pulled by a professional will run you €0.90 in Europe (unless you live in a the center of Paris, in which case you might get to spend as much as €1.50). There's usually one of those professionals within 50 yards of your home, possibly even on your walking route to work. So it's not always even saving you money. Certainly compared to driving out of your way to a Starbucks and paying US (or god forbid,…

"A real espresso pulled by a professional will run you €0.90 in Europe"

Where?

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#144

Post by jghn »

coldpie wrote: post #141
jghn wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"you don't home brew because it's cheap or convenient or even better than store bought." I agree w/ your general premise about it being for the hobby (that's 90% of why I homebrew) but disagree with the above statement. I've known homebrewers who absolutely brew because it's cheap - I'm sure you've encountered them as well. These are the people who calculate the price per ounce and then proudly talk about how their G…

Nice post. I also homebrew. What types of styles are you talking about that you can find in a store? I'd love to try making them :)

The one that drew me in the first place was mild. As an example, they recently covered it on BrewinWith Style and were unable to find any commercial examples locally. Things like altbier can be difficult to find, at the time some of the Belgian styles were very underrepresented. These days for me it's a lot of the more regional British variations but that's also because that's what I've grown to like in general.

Take a spin through the style guide and ask yourself on each one "how often do I see these" when they list the commercial examples. And then nite that oftentimes those examples are stretching things a bit already

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#145

Post by drb311 »

cdcarter wrote: post #5

"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.

The insight applies to any business: you either help the customer save time or help them kill time.

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#146

Post by Rainymood »

jschulenklopper wrote: post #80
xroche wrote: post #53

I bought a "real" coffee machine for me and my colleagues (Jura impressa F50 -- https://us.jura.com/en/homeproducts/machines/IMPRESSA-F50-Cl... ) and, despite being a bit more complicated than a nespresso one, it cost less (despite buying pretty good coffee beans, freshly roasted, and despite the high cost of the machine), and the taste is IMHO better (but this is only a personal opinion). The only cons: cleaning a b…

Best advice on this page. Instead of buying the Nespresso, and enjoying the comfort and consistency of that, buy a grinder and an espresso machine... and enjoy the craft of making espresso, cappuccino of whetever you like. I have the classic Quick Mill 820 (around $600) and buy quality beans from a local coffee roaster: $30-35 for a pound of their best kinds. Using 7 gr. for a standard espresso yields 70 cups, thus 5…

>"Speciality coffee doesn’t offer anything to the consumer who wants to drink great espresso at home, but doesn’t want a new hobby."

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#147

Post by jschulenklopper »

jschulenklopper wrote: post #80
xroche wrote: post #53

I bought a "real" coffee machine for me and my colleagues (Jura impressa F50 -- https://us.jura.com/en/homeproducts/machines/IMPRESSA-F50-Cl... ) and, despite being a bit more complicated than a nespresso one, it cost less (despite buying pretty good coffee beans, freshly roasted, and despite the high cost of the machine), and the taste is IMHO better (but this is only a personal opinion). The only cons: cleaning a b…

Best advice on this page. Instead of buying the Nespresso, and enjoying the comfort and consistency of that, buy a grinder and an espresso machine... and enjoy the craft of making espresso, cappuccino of whetever you like. I have the classic Quick Mill 820 (around $600) and buy quality beans from a local coffee roaster: $30-35 for a pound of their best kinds. Using 7 gr. for a standard espresso yields 70 cups, thus 5…

> and buy quality beans from a local coffee roaster: $30-35 for a pound of their best kinds

Edit: it's $30-35 for a kilogram, not a pound. So, the price of my cup of espresso is around 25 cents, not 50 cents.

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#148

Post by jschulenklopper »

Rainymood wrote: post #146
jschulenklopper wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best advice on this page. Instead of buying the Nespresso, and enjoying the comfort and consistency of that, buy a grinder and an espresso machine... and enjoy the craft of making espresso, cappuccino of whetever you like. I have the classic Quick Mill 820 (around $600) and buy quality beans from a local coffee roaster: $30-35 for a pound of their best kinds. Using 7 gr. for a standard espresso yields 70 cups, thus 5…

>"Speciality coffee doesn’t offer anything to the consumer who wants to drink great espresso at home, but doesn’t want a new hobby."

I don't have a new hobby :-) although I like the ritual of serving (myself or friends) a nice cup of cappuccino. For a small additional effort, with a grinder and a machine, you'll get a excellent cup of coffee for a third of the price of a cup of Nespresso. Your priorities may vary though...

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#149

Post by jschulenklopper »

on_and_off wrote: post #91
xroche wrote: post #53

I bought a "real" coffee machine for me and my colleagues (Jura impressa F50 -- https://us.jura.com/en/homeproducts/machines/IMPRESSA-F50-Cl... ) and, despite being a bit more complicated than a nespresso one, it cost less (despite buying pretty good coffee beans, freshly roasted, and despite the high cost of the machine), and the taste is IMHO better (but this is only a personal opinion). The only cons: cleaning a b…

I did the same thing recently :-) . I bought a Jura F9. Additionally, it can prepare some specialities like Latte Macchiato or flat white. It is not equivalent to a preparation made manually but IMO it tastes pretty good. YMMV, but I think its espresso is significantly better than what a Nespresso machine can produce. I contemplated buying a semi-manual machine for several years, but I knew that I would not take the…

My advise: buy a grinder (can even be a manual grinder, like the Rhino Hand Coffee Grinder) and a Quick Mill 820, which is a semi-automatic. Perhaps you can get a used one - they last over a decade without wear. A new one is around $600.

Making a cup of coffee from scratch in the morning takes takes less than 2 minutes (incl. the heating cycle). Regular maintenance is required every 5-6 months, but that's only for flushing the machine three times for removing calcium from the heat exchanger. I've got one Quick Mill for over 8 years, and never needed to see a service guy.

My parents in law have a automatic machine, and the amount of manual attention is similar, taking the cleaning cycles and service jobs into account. (And when you want to make a cup of coffee, there's a 10% chance that the machine needs some kind of maintenance, and you'll need to wait for 5 minutes.)

And a Nespresso or full-automatic espresso machine can be nice and convenient, but you give up some flexibility in discovering alternative coffee brewing styles. This month is (overnight) Cold Brew Coffee Month at my house :-)

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#150

Post by gdubs »

smil wrote: post #127
rorykoehler wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience of making espresso based coffees with an amazingly well informed and experienced barista. There are so many nuances that make a great cup of coffee that it's hard to pin it down. I used the same fresh beans, same machine, same water etc etc and his coffee tasted a world better than mine because he had the timing and technique to making down. He explained and demonstrated that even small things like how…

>There are so many nuances that make a great cup of coffee that it's hard to pin it down. Sounds like "placebo."

Not really. Brew temperature, extraction time, tamp pressure, bean freshness, all have a measurable impact on crema, bitterness, etc. there are many variables which combine to form a good cup, or a bad one. This is not the same as saying there's some mysterious magic to a good espresso.
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