31–40 of 223 posts
I had a higher end Nespresso. The killer was how little espresso it makes. I don't consider myself a heavy coffee drinker because I only drink one cup in the morning. However it took 4 Nespresso pods (black ones) to get a decent amount of caffeine and not get headaches. And I usually order single shots when I go out.
"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…
If you don't notice the coffee get less flavourful over the course of a couple of weeks, and then tastier when you open a new bag, then there's a reasonable chance you won't notice a sufficient difference in freshly ground coffee.
One thing you unequivocally get each morning is the smell of freshly ground coffee. It's possible this is what makes me believe I taste more flavour; either way, it's enjoyable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The problem with pre-ground beans, is that ground beans go stale in a matter of hours. Whole beans from supermarkets are no better since you usually can't tell when they were roasted and they are most likely also stale.
There is a lot of assumed knowledge here, which hasn't really gone explained. What are "fines" and what are "extractions?" Why is the percentage important, and why are the slight differences in grams important? Without an explanation, it is quite hard to really follow the conclusions of the article.
Fines are the very small coffee particles created by the grinding or crushing of the bean. They are generally undesirable as for even extraction of the coffee you want uniformly sized coffee particles. Fines also tend to end up in your cup and can make the brew gritty.
Extractions can mean a few things but in a nutshell, it's the amount of flavor compounds in the bean that end up in your brew. If you say '20%' extracted you mean that 20% of the weight of the coffee ended up taken out by the brewing process (I believe you brew then dry the grounds and weigh before/after).
Slight differences could be the difference between bold flavor and over-brewed bitterness. Also different coffees will want different extraction amounts depending on their flavor profile and such; as a general rule most people use too little coffee and overextract it, thus getting all the bitter compounds from the coffee and thinking it tastes bad.
There is a lot of assumed knowledge here, which hasn't really gone explained. What are "fines" and what are "extractions?" Why is the percentage important, and why are the slight differences in grams important? Without an explanation, it is quite hard to really follow the conclusions of the article.
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.
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.
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.
I remember vividly the time before the Nespresso: when you went to have dinner at a friend's and they offered coffee at the end of the meal, you were terrified of what they might bring. I absolutely cannot drink the clear lukewarm water that some people (used to) call coffee.
Today you simply ask for your favorite Nespresso color, or choose among the ones available, and you're almost certain you're going to get something at least acceptable.
The killer for me isn't the quality which is 90% as good as my local shop but the lack of hassle - it requires virtually no maintenance or cleaning unlike a grinder/machine setup, no trips down the road, 1/4 of the cost, no fighting for a table, not having to queue up and no horrible paper cup that you have to buy in case there isn't a table.
Its a great concept and selling well here in the UK.