Coffee pod machines. What's the best?

[MsMarvellous]

We have a tassimo that was bought as a gift years ago and it's finally giving up the ghost.

Before I wander out into the wonderful world of coffee machine buying what are the best options these days. I found the price point on tassimo pods/discs acceptable so something with ongoing costs in that region would be great.

I know fresh coffee machines are generally considered superior but I like the lack of mess and simplicity of the pod type, so really after one of those.

What do you have? Do you like it?

Why not just get a cafetière or hob top Italian style cafetière? Reusable and cheap. I do not get the obsession with these shiny plastic machines

We have a Senseo as well. The pads are just like teabags. I put them in the food waste.

Bean to cup probably nicer but Senseo is cheap and simple to use. The only thing is you have to add your own milk, but I don't mind that.

You can get compostable pods for Nespresso machines. Lakeland do them.

I would love to change from our pod machine to a bean to cup but they all seem ridiculous prices, any recommendations about a good one that's reasonably priced ?

These threads always without fail have a whole bunch of people lecturing about the environmental impact of these machines. I don't get it - why pod machines specifically? You don't seem to get this level of environmental concern about say, having a fourth child, buying a new car, flying long haul etc, which are arguably far worse for the environment. I don't get it.

Newer cars tend to be lower emissions for a start.

Coffee pods are a small thing that is a totally preventable and intensive use of plastic. It's a subject that's a bit of a no-brainer. People are able to be convinced on the subject. Ever tried convincing somebody that they shouldn't have a fourth child for environmental reasons?

I've got a dolce gusto. The coffee's nice, but I worry about the pods and plastic waste. (they tend to be black, so even emptied and washed I can't recycle them)
I probably only use it 1-2 times a week, so not churning out loads of the things.

I bought some reuseable pods but can't figure them out. The coffee is really weak and I like the cappuccinos and can't figure out how to make a milk pod. Does anyone have any pointers?

I'd get one of those delonghi ones that does bean to cup and froths the milk all on its own if I had the money.

Tassimo is great if you want the hot chocolates and things

Nespresso is better if you want more of an authentic coffee

Tassimo seems to be cheaper too, if you ship around, available in places like Asda and b&m etc on deals. And I think the pods always seem to be cheaper too, and they haven't copyrighted the style of their pods, so all the other own brand (aldi, Asda, Tesco etc) ones fit Nespresso, as do the likes of Starbucks.
You can get pods that you refill that are recyclable.
You can also just buy pods that are recyclable. Also I just don't go to Costa or Starbucks anymore so I feel like I'm at least improving my waste that way.
We got it with the milk frother which is super worth it.

I also think the Nespresso just takes up less space on the counter

You can do subscriptions too, where you get the machine for £1 so depends if that's worth it for you too.

We then also have fresh beans, coffee grinder and stove top and cafetier for more 'proper' coffee and to get that nice coffee smell in the house.

I can't believe people are still considering buying shit like this. Are you not aware of the massive problem with plastic or do you just not care?

Just seen dolce gusto are running a trial where you can send pods bought direct from them back for recycling.

Compostable pods from Lakeland here

We have a Nespresso. I'm very happy with it but it's expensive to buy the capsules and certainly bad for the environment, which is why, when it dies, I won't replace it.

You can do bean to cup as pp have said, but we had one of those and frankly it all just felt like more of a faff and we didn't drink coffee as much, which was probably a good thing, but not what we wanted

Same with cafetier and stove top, they feel more suitable for a weekend.

Not to mention bean to cup is about £200 more expensive...

These threads always without fail have a whole bunch of people lecturing about the environmental impact of these machines. I don't get it - why pod machines specifically?

Because there are alternatives which have far less environmental impact, are easy to use and probably result in a better product anyway. You can be environmentally aware about more than one thing at a time you know.

I think it's only a matter of time until single use pods will be taxed/banned. They are entirely unnecessary.

We use a moka pot. Traditional Bialetti one but IKEA do version which is fine and costs about £15. Honestly it's so easy and much less messy than a cafetière. (I'm with your DH on coffee grounds, yuk). The pressure of the water being forced through the coffee tray compacts it onto a nice damp block that you can bang into a food caddy, or better yet, a compost pot ready for the garden. We're recent Oatly Barista converts so we add that, warmed and frothed - lovely!

You can get your bean to cup machine when you've researched the market but I bet you find the pot works fine.

i got a nespresso compatible machine from lidl in the january sales, which is pretty good, but I rarely use it as all of them only make tiny cups of coffee

Aldi pods fit Dolce Gusto machines,worth remembering as they are much cheaper.

Nespresso here, and the pods are made from recycled aluminium, and then are recyclable. They pick up the pods at the same time they deliver your order. I think the coffee is very good, we always get the strongest most expensive though.

We also have an Italian hob top coffee makers, in all sizes. We use pre-ground coffee for those, and actually even though they are about 50 years old in invention, they still produce the best coffee.

Finally, and only semi-seriously, stop fretting about the environmental impact of coffee pod machines. If you were that worried you won't drink coffee at all, as it comes half way round the world, general via Europe, where it is semi-processed, and then on the the UK. Considering freight transport is the second biggest contributor to global warming, if you must worry about something worry about that, and forgo your morning coffee completely, for a cup of hot water, without lemon, as we don't grow that either.

I have this De'Longhi bean to cup machine. https://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-Magnifica-ESAM-4200-S-Silver/dp/B001EOMZ5E/ref=mpssa113?keywords=delonghi+coffee+machine&qid=1557907932&s=gateway&sprefix=del&sr=8-3

There is no mess. It's a doddle to use. It's pretty reasonably priced and still going strong 2 1/2 years later.

I am outing myself to anyone who knows me, but I have four coffee machines!

It depends on what you like from your tassimo. If you go for the 'proper' coffee, then you have options. If you like it for the other drinks (like the flavoured lattes, hot chocolates etc), the only ones that are really going to do that are the tassimo, dolce gusto and maybe senseo.

The dolce gusto is very similar to tassimo, but you don't get the same branded makes (e.g. tassimo have costa). They are okay for the flavoured ones but not that great for a proper coffee.

I have a built-in bosch coffee machine, which is bean to cup. It makes a great coffee and different types of coffee. It does take more cleaning though as you have to clean the mechanism and empty the grounds. It isn't that much of a hassle, and it is only when it tells you to empty it, but if you don't want to have to deal with that it isn't too great.

We then have two Nespresso machines as DH only drinks black coffee (and he doesn't want to wear out the good machine). We have an original and a vertuo machine, but tend to just use the vertuo.

It gives a great coffee, but it is really only for you if you like black coffee (or add your own milk - they don't really do lattes, mochas etc).

The Nespresso own pods are aluminium. Yes it gives waste, but you send or drop them back and they recycle them so it doesn't feel too bad. Just watch out for own brand or cheaper pods as they tend to be plastic and not recyclable. We also had issues of some plastic ones crumpling in the machine under the pressure.

Pod coffees shite anyway.

I would love a bean to cup. I’m making do with an espresso pump and moka with a burr grinder.

Buying a water filter this week too.

@MsMarvellous I've got a machine that takes ground coffee. I think it was an Aldi special buy at one point, and was left by an old lodger so very bottom of the range.

I can think of ways I'd improve mine (mainly ergonomic), but none of those would be fixed by having pods as opposed to beans / ground coffee. I tried a friend's Tassimo once and was deeply unimpressed. When I upgrade it at some point in the future 💸 I'll get another ground coffee or bean to cup machine, not something with pods. Partly for environmental reasons, partly for cost reasons, partly because I don't want to be tied to one company's products (what if they stopped making the pods?) and partly because I like the freedom to try unusual blends of coffee that will never be available in pods (eg from local blenders)

Thanks @AvocadosBeforeMortgages I appreciate that. I'll have a look at some tonight I think. Start weighing the options.

@CornishMaid1 Dolce Gusto have Costa Pods and Starbucks Pods too...

If you buy from their website, they will also send you a recycling pouch for the pods.

@SilentSister actually I think you 'semi-serious' point is a really good one

These threads always without fail have a whole bunch of people lecturing about the environmental impact of these machines. I don't get it - why pod machines specifically? You don't seem to get this level of environmental concern about say, having a fourth child, buying a new car, flying long haul etc, which are arguably far worse for the environment. I don't get it.

I agree with other posters don’t do it, the environment is in desperate need of protection don’t add to the problem. And actually can’t speak for other posters but I am just as concerned about the examples you cite as well as air pollution by chimineas, over-consumption of meat, animal rights, removal of healthy trees, protecting wildlife and so on…some of us can support more than one thing, intellectual multi-tasking is not unheard of, except by you it seems.