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?

We had a tassimo for a few years, but the pods were expensive and the drinks weren't great. A friend of mine uses a nespresso and I think she quite likes it.

We switched back to an espresso machine with a milk frother which gets used pretty much daily (several times!) for coffees & hot chocolates.

Nespresso plus milk heater frother. Far cheaper long term use, no horrid fake milk pods and lots of own brand pods too. Only issue is I don't believe there are chocolates in Nespresso pods.

Tassimo is the best for all round drinks (coffee, tea and choc) but the coffee is a bit meh. Twinings English Breakfast is nice but the Earl Grey is foul.

Dolce Gusto is the better coffee machine in my experience between it and the Tassimo. Doesn't do normal teas, but does do chocolate and iced coffees too.

Please please get a cafetière and some ground beans, rather than something that means you'll be constantly chucking away non-recycled pods.

(Cafetières make better coffee, too)

I have a stove top espresso, a cafetiere and a Nespresso machine. The Nespresso makes better espresso, no doubt about it. It's also relatively expensive for frequent use, even with cheap pods. We use it for espresso and lattes (have a milk geothermal) and the cafetiere or stove top the rest of the time.

We have a cafetière plus one of those mini press things always recommended on here and they just don't get used. Also not looking to froth mik etc as it's something instant that we are looking for as we are all out the house for work and school by 8am. I appreciate for a real coffee lover, anything other than a decent machine and fresh beans are going to be rubbish, but it's good to get feedback and views on the relative merits and otherwise of all the options so thank you all.

Nespresso own pods are recyclable. Cheap other ones are not.

I love my nespresso for the ease of it. It doesn't mean I only have it. I love stove top Italian coffee and I also have various cafetières, but for a quick easy coffee, a nespresso with a milk frother is perfect.

And although we all leave at similar times, no-one eats/drinks at the same time. DH likes to be up super early, one DS goes for a shower while the other has breakfast and then swap, both usually have a cup of tea and then DS1 will make a coffee to go. DS2 usually has a coffee when he gets in from school. DH makes a flask of decaf or really weak coffee to take to work. I don't have anything at all, I just get up, washed and go. I only drink water during the day.

I have a Dolce Gusto and I like it, but I bought it in a rush of blood not realising you couldn’t get refillable pods for it (like I had for the Senseo). For that reason I’m with the PP who said get a cafetière and some good beans. I’ll be getting rid of my DG when I actually get around to it because it really doesn’t fit with how I want to live. Plastic shouldn’t be a single-use product.

Tassimo every time. I'm on my second one now & love it. You get a great variety of drinks and it's dead quick & easy to use

Sorry for cross post

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! :)

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

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.