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An Analysis of Nespresso

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Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#161

Post by kaolinite »

When people decide they want to start making good coffee, they often go and spend the best part of $500, or more, on an expensive espresso machine. I did, anyway. I've found though that the two biggest ways to improve your coffee are really simple and really cheap. Anything else above this - an expensive grinder or coffee machine - may help, but nowhere near as much as these two things:

1. Get a pair of digital scales (learn to use the tare button) and spend half an hour making coffee of different strengths. Decide which you prefer and then always use that coffee to water ratio when you make it.

2. Get some decent coffee. You can get a grinder if you want, but it won't make as much of a difference as just getting it from a good source. It can be freshly roasted, freshly ground, whatever - just get it from a good place, not from a supermarket. Personally, I buy a kilogram of coffee beans from http://liminicoffee.co.uk/ once a month. I used to buy it weekly from http://pactcoffee.com/ but I found it's more convenient and just as tasty to get it delivered monthly.

Optional third improvement:

3. Get an Aeropress or a Chemex (my preference is a Chemex - even easier to clean up than an Aeropress, can make multiple cups and can be kept warm if you have a hotplate, although I wouldn't recommend that). This is a good step but won't make as much of a difference as picking good coffee and measuring the amounts you're using.

There are so many optimisations you can do. Most of them won't have too much of an effect. I do them anyway - I have all of the equipment, have a fairly expensive grinder, spend time letting the coffee bloom (I swear that's rubbish) and am planning to roast my own beans soon - but they're by no means necessary. Do those two things first and then stop to see if you're satisfied.

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#163

Post by me2i81 »

jschulenklopper wrote: post #149
on_and_off wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 fl…

I have a Gaggia full-auto and use it multiple times a day. The first one I bought lasted 10 years before I replaced it and pulled something like 30,000 shots. (Yes, that's an average of 8 shots/day, but I use two shots per cafe latte in the morning, and there are three coffee drinkers in the house). It makes pretty good espresso, which is to say, better than probably 7/8ths of the cafes in Seattle. I used to have a manual espresso machine, and used it about a week before giving up on it. Some of us are just lazy.

I used a Nespresso machine when I was staying in France. The supermarket has a surprisingly large selection of pods--dozens to choose from. Gets expensive, but much cheaper than getting France's usual nasty excuse for an espresso at a cafe.

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#164

Post by xsace »

kaolinite wrote: post #161

When people decide they want to start making good coffee, they often go and spend the best part of $500, or more, on an expensive espresso machine. I did, anyway. I've found though that the two biggest ways to improve your coffee are really simple and really cheap. Anything else above this - an expensive grinder or coffee machine - may help, but nowhere near as much as these two things: 1. Get a pair of digital scale…

Is the water choice important, what do you recommend?

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#165

Post by stinos »

jarek wrote: post #87
stinos wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your suspicion is likely wrong though - I have no science to back this up but am 100% sure in blind tetsts people with normally developped taste buds would pick the freshly ground one from the pre-ground one. The difference in taste is just too big to ignore (or at least the difference between the ground vs pre-ground I have here at home is). Unlike the improvements you compare them to, which can usually not even be…

Not that I love the gold-plated set, but: "Your suspicion is likely wrong though - I have no science to back this up but am 100% sure in blind tests people with normally developed ears would pick the gold cables from the copper one. The difference in sound is just too big to ignore (or at least the difference between the gold vs copper I have here at home is). Unlike the improvements you compare them to, which can us…

Either you measure it and do a double-blind or it's just another subjective perception. See those tests that suggest people can't tell expensive wine from cheap wine without context.

I'm not sure if that is entirely comparable to what I meant. I am not claiming freshly grounds tastes better or has some other pretty subjective property. My claim is rather that I believe when doing an experiment where you'd for instance take a couple of pre-ground coffees and one fresh ground one that people would pick out that one as being different. Whether they like it more is up to them. With much more likelyhood than being able to pick out expensive wine out of a set of mediocre wines or so. Again, I believe solely for the reason that the freshly ground I drink has a completely different taste from all other pre-ground ones I drank in the last years. So yes you have a point in calling that subjective :]

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#166

Post by kaolinite »

xsace wrote: post #164
kaolinite wrote: post #161

When people decide they want to start making good coffee, they often go and spend the best part of $500, or more, on an expensive espresso machine. I did, anyway. I've found though that the two biggest ways to improve your coffee are really simple and really cheap. Anything else above this - an expensive grinder or coffee machine - may help, but nowhere near as much as these two things: 1. Get a pair of digital scale…

Is the water choice important, what do you recommend?

Do you mean the amount of water you use? It's important to measure both the amount of water and the amount of coffee so it's consistent. I personally use 22 grams of coffee per 300ml. It's a personal choice though and it depends on the coffee and method of brewing too: for you that might be too bitter, too strong, too weak, etc.

Here's what I do with a Chemex. I put the Chemex on the scales, add the filter and hit tare (so it's now weighing 0g). I add the 22g coffee and hit tare. Then I add 300g of hot water (same as 300ml). It produces the same cup of coffee every time - exactly how I like it. Obviously, if I ever change the coffee I get (or the coffee I get now - currently an espresso blend which is blended for consistency - changes significantly), then I might need to experiment a bit and see whether 24 grams of coffee is now my preference, for example.

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#167

Post by theCodeStig »

kazinator wrote: post #152
saalaa wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> freshly ground coffee This is actually the single most determining factor for a good coffee.

No, it isn't. Freshly roasted is. The aroma and flavor of coffee degrades rapidly after roasting, whether you grind it or not. Grinding it accelerates the process, but you can easily get coffee in unground form, and the difference between ground and unground is visually obviously: a vendor can't sneak you ground coffee if you want unground. How long ago beans were roasted isn't visually obvious.

No, again ;-). Its freshly roasted, freshly ground, AND freshly brewed (at the right parameters). That's the gist of it, but of course the quality of the greens before roasting, the roast quality, and grind consistency all come into play. Also don't forget to use good water.

In short: quality in, quality out. Any discrepancy of the above will lead to a sub-par result.

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#168

Post by mrestko »

kaolinite wrote: post #161

When people decide they want to start making good coffee, they often go and spend the best part of $500, or more, on an expensive espresso machine. I did, anyway. I've found though that the two biggest ways to improve your coffee are really simple and really cheap. Anything else above this - an expensive grinder or coffee machine - may help, but nowhere near as much as these two things: 1. Get a pair of digital scale…

I think one scale is enough...

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#169

Post by xsace »

kaolinite wrote: post #166
xsace wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the water choice important, what do you recommend?

Do you mean the amount of water you use? It's important to measure both the amount of water and the amount of coffee so it's consistent. I personally use 22 grams of coffee per 300ml. It's a personal choice though and it depends on the coffee and method of brewing too: for you that might be too bitter, too strong, too weak, etc. Here's what I do with a Chemex. I put the Chemex on the scales, add the filter and hit ta…

Oh I was speaking about the water itself. Do you filter or use bottle one?

Re: An Analysis of Nespresso

#170

Post by asr »

castell wrote: post #28
lhnz wrote: post #4

My 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.

True. It's like Pepsi Cola convince the public to install a Cola vending machine in their house at cost to themselves.

http://www.keurig.com/kold
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