Coffee Pod machines?

[WaxOnFeckOff]

I don't drink tea or coffee but DH and now DSs do. Was thinking of a pod machine as a shared Christmas gift for the house. DH mainly drinks de-caffeinated, unless it's during the day. DS1 likes all types but probably mostly drinks Latte or Cappuccino, DS2 is more a Mocha man... I've been known to have the occasional milky hot chocolate. I don't mind the taste of coffee but don't really tolerate caffeine and it's just dawned on me that I should try a decaff! doh! At the moment they've (DSs) been using the ready made sachets and probably have one a day. DS1 makes one up in a travel mug in the morning for the train/drinking in Uni.

Anyway, I'm looking for something quick and easy with good availability of pods. For the machine I think around the £100 mark but don't want to end up being limited to one expensive brand of pods (not really sure if they are universal?)

Anyone got one they recommend?

[MilkItTilITurnItIntoCheese]

I have a Dolce Gusto. I had one, loved it but decided to try a Tassimo as more pod choice. Big mistake. Nasty coffee and ridiculous cup sizes. Replaced with another Dolce Gusto and more than happy with the pods. 3rd party ones becoming more available for coffee and hot choc now too.

[Gohackyourself]

This is a great post!
I don’t really want to get into machines that need expensive pods etc, I’d just like a frothy milked latte/cappuccino type coffee.
Trouble is sounds like aeropress a faff, heating coffee on hob a faff too!

[sashh]

Tassimo pods can be recycled, it's just not very common. Their suchard hot chocolate is fab and even more so with a slug of vanilla vodka.

[Thebeautifullisette]

Ah that went completely over my head between trying to get the dinner on, dropping the Hoover down the stairs and the DCs fighting over felt tip pens

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Yes, I got you re the water beautiful, that was meant to be a joke about all the rain we have as it's currently tipping down.

[TheSteakBakeOfAwesome]

Dolce Gusto do a nicer chocolate... old style machines are virtually indestructible - we've got one that's pushing 10 years old (now relocated to my mum's) and I think Aldi or Lidl do compatible pods for it now which are OK.

Tassimo have more in terms of lattes which I tend to drink - so we've got one of those at the moment. I go through phases of using it a lot then it doesn't get used much but it's nice and compact on a kitchen worktop.

Not had a Nespresso - tempted when current machine finally dies.

[Thebeautifullisette]

Water isn't too much of an issue, I live in Scotland.

We don’t have a water meter, I was thinking more of the environmental aspect

Will check out the refillable pods though as a PP just suggested (sorry, can’t see the name as am on a different page ). I looked into them a year or two back but was worried that the water pressure might make the whole thing explode. Yes I might be overly risk averse

[Spam88]

thebeautifullisette you can get reusable pods for the gusto. We have some from Emohome.

[RiojaHaze]

If you join the nespresso club you get the machine for £1, and then it's about £18 a month for the pods delivered to your house with the recycling bag for the empties.

[ConsiderHerWaysAndOthers]

You don’t need a drop off with Nespresso. When you order your first set of pods, add a recycling bag to your order, it’s completely free. All used pods go in the bag. Then when you order your next load of pods, you add a collection to your order, again completely free. When they drop off the order they take the old ones away. If you’re not home you can even leave it on your doorstep and they just swap over the bag of old pods for new ones!
(This is providing you’re on the mainland.) But there’s no excuse for anyone not to recycle their Nespresso pods!

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Only one drop off point in Scotland and it's nowhere near me so that's not going to work, the refillable thing looks interesting but if i'm just putting regular coffee in it then I'm wondering if it's any different to just chucking hot water in a cup.

[SuperLoudPoppingAction]

Tassimo pods are recycled but you have to look up your nearest collection point online.

I got a Tassimo machine last black Friday in Asda for £35.

We've used it most days all year.

Kid1 likes the Costa caramel latte or the carambar cappuccino.
Kid2 has 2 hot chocolates a day so we get the suchard one - you get twice as many to the packet and he adds fresh milk.

My favourite is the Chai latte.

I tend to order them from the website with an offer code and it works out cheaper than supermarket prices.

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Water isn't too much of an issue, I live in Scotland. :)

[RustyBear]

Tassimo discs are recyclable, as are several other JDE packaging items

www.terracycle.co.uk/en-GB/brigades/the-tassimo-lor-brigade-r

[Thebeautifullisette]

we live somewhere where everything is split and recycled except plastic bags/film polystyrene etc.

So do we (abroad), plastic bags are recycled too but not the coffee capsules. Apparently you can cut them open, empty and rinse and then recycle the plastic, but I suppose that uses a lot of water? And ai don’t know if they really recycle them anyway. Can’t do right for doing wrong basically!

[Sparklingbrook]

I love my Tassimo. Lots of variety and I really like the Milka Hot Chocolate.

www.terracycle.co.uk/en-GB/brigades/the-tassimo-lor-brigade-r

[Shoite]

I’ve had a Lavazza machine for a year. Use it daily, always have latte as there’s a milk frother attached.

Takes 30 seconds to brew and maybe a minute and a half for the milk to heat and froth.

It cost me £15 in B&M. I’d almost bought it for 60ish so was worth waiting for. Beats sachets hands down

[WaxOnFeckOff]

We've been using the Nescafe Gold or Azera or Kenco sachets depending on what's on offer. DS2 likes the double choc mocha

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Ahh it's all sounding too complicated - maybe we should just stick with the sachets....

[ConsiderHerWaysAndOthers]

Nespresso is brilliant! You should be able to get an offer that includes a small machine with the milk frother chucked in for well under £100. The milk frother is a pot, so you pour the milk in and literally press a button and it froths it for you. Then you just add it to your coffee, or you can even stir in hot chocolate powder, I even use it for DD’s bedtime milk! Rinse it out when you’re done. And yes you can recycle the pods, we’ve always done it through Nespresso- you put them in a bag and they take them away when they deliver your new pods. Tassimo is worth a look too, it’s not my thing, I think the coffee is pretty horrid, but if the family prefers hot chocolate/milky lattes to espresso then it could be a good alternative.

[WeeM]

We had a tassimo for years but recently got rid of it. We only ever put coffee pods in it as the milk pods have that horrible uht taste and they were small cups so we always just heated our own milk. I’d say the nespressos that have the milk frother attached are better for this reason.
We recently got a bean to cup machine and absolutely love it-so much cheaper in the long run as a bag of beans is much cheaper than pods. If you keep an eye out there are good bargains for around £140.

[Shelvesoutofbooks]

I would go for the dolce gusto, as it has the best taste and I prefer milky coffee/drink :)

[Sosomego]

We have a Senseo machine which we like. You can buy pods for it, although they can be a little harder to find than some of the other brands. However, we also bought a coffee duck which means we don't have to buy the branded pods anymore, you just fill the 'duck' with ground coffee and rinse out. Much better for the environment, cheaper and gives you a much wider choice of the coffee you use.

[WaxOnFeckOff]

ass milk I meant add milk....:o

[WaxOnFeckOff]

I didn't realise the pods weren't recyclable - we live somewhere where everything is split and recycled except plastic bags/film polystyrene etc.

Am I right in thinking that the nespresso ones don't do milky coffees then, so you would either need to ass milk and have a flat coffee or use a milk frother? I don't know too much about coffee, hence the thread! :)