Help me find a coffee machine so that I am not embarrassed when I have guests!!!

[MsFogi]

We drink a LOT of tea but not coffee. I am becoming increasingly embarrassed when people come over to only offer them instant (or, at a push, cafetière coffee) so I'm going to get a coffee machine. I'm happy to spend a up to about £250 (obviously less would be better ), I want something that is pretty easy to use and not a massive faff to clean. So wise coffee-drinking-MNers can anyone suggest what I should get to be able to offer visitors a decent cup of coffee?

The Nespresso Virtuo is actually excellent, I got rid of my all singing all dancing coffee maker for it.

Super hot coffee. And not just espresso/americano ones either. Earlier I had a latte FFS. And you can choose different roasts and strengths too.

That being said, a cafitiere and even a good instant is fine. People turn really snobby about coffee for some reason. If you're okay with serving normal tea, what's the issue with standard coffee? Obviously people drink it , happily, or the wouldn't be so much choice in shops

Don’t nespresso machines produce a lot of plastic waste?

nespresso make a Vertuo machine currently £69 in JL with free coffee offer - does different sizes from espresso to a jug. dead easy to use , pods hermetically sealed and recyclable, drop pods off at local newsagent parcel pick up in a bag when i pick up my delivery.
had both a tassimo -great choice of drinks but plastic pods and not fresh milk, and a dolce gusto -milk drinks need 2 pods and again not fresh milk.

Just good coffee in a cafetière is best

Stick to a cafetière , pod coffee is rank

@Trixiefirecracker

Don’t nespresso machines produce a lot of plastic waste?

Aluminium capsules unless you buy the non branded cheaper ones

Oh yes and a stovetop for espresso. No need for all the fussy plastic- producing nonsense!

Pour-over coffee dripper with filters works really well and doesn't take up much space. Cafetieres make delicious coffee, too. If you don't use it every day, a fancy coffee machine is a waste of space and money!

Moka pot ( although the balance between coffee / milk/ water can be tricky)

Or the coffee bags as suggested above.

Cafetieres make the best coffee. Just make sure you have some good fresh coffee (not a bag that's been open for a few weeks). And make it very strong. You can always add water, cream or hot milk if it's too strong, but you can't save weak coffee. You really don't need a machine. I often visit a friend who only has a machine, no cafetiere and it always seems a slow, noisy, wasteful faff using coffee capsules to make a cup of too weak coffee, when you could have really good coffee for a fraction of the cost and faff.

We drink cafetière coffee every day and serve it to guests and it’s never occurred to me to be embarrassed

It’s instant Kenco in this house, black as we don’t drink milk. Most visitors opt for wine

I recently discovered that you can buy cone-shaped metal things which work like filter coffee machines but without a filter or electricity. You simply put one in the mug, with coffee in, and pour water on top. Just an idea.

We use cafe direct machu picchu ground coffee in our cafetière - it’s v nice and you can get it in loads of places.

www.cafedirect.co.uk/products/machu-picchu/

Another one who is happy with a cafetière! If you don't drink coffee yourself it's the ideal solution. The mistake (in my opinion) a lot of people make is to use generic ground coffee which is normally too fine for a cafetière. It can make the coffee a bit muddy. I prefer coffee that is ground for a cafetière which makes it slightly coarser. Any independent coffee seller will grind it for a cafetière. However, it's not the end of the world if you just pick up a good generic blend in the supermarket.

Shoreditch grind is a nice blend. Illy or Lavazza are very reliable. I drink a lot of coffee so I don't keep it in the freezer but if you are mainly using it for guests then keep it in the freezer. The magic of coffee is that you can even grind beans straight from the freezer.

Lavazza Jolie is great and not expensive

Stick to the (clean) cafetière. Use fresh coffee, you could get a vacuum sealer/keep in fridge. I have a sooper expensive coffee machine that takes up lots of room, but cafetière is just as good for a regular coffee and takes up a lot less space..

I honestly rate the coffee you can buy in Aldi, I buy the whole beans as my machine grinds but try a bag of their ground beans for your cafetière, much nicer than Carte Noir.

All those coffee pods for a Nespresso creates a load of waste. Plus you can only make one cup at a time. A cafetière can do a few cups.

If you like strong coffee as I do then a machine using pods is a PITA. I have to use 2 pods for one small cup. Also if you’ve got a couple of people over it’s slow making them all. I think overall the cost per cup is expensive and you then have the issue of storing the used pods and returning ( and the energy used to have to recycle them). What’s easier than a nice bag of ground coffee and a stove top coffee pot or your cafetière? ( aero press are great too but also not the best for more than one guest). I’d buy a milk frother for the latte fans. Google who your local roasteries are and pick up a bag - I’d much rather try someone’s local blend than a big name brand. If you go for the stove top pot remember it’s making espresso shots and not big cups so you’ll need more than “6” cup size probably.

Open new bag of coffee for your guests (if you are not using the coffee daily.) Let this be your expense.

cafetiere is fine - aeropress is good - 'coffee drippers' with a filter paper are great.

I love my filter coffee machine - it fills a thermos jug and stays wonderfully hot without power:

Melitta Look IV Therm Timer, 1011-16, Filter Coffee Machine with Insulated Jug, Timer Feature, Aroma Selector, white/Brushed Steel

I used to have an Aeropress + Hario mini grinder. Low budget, worked wonderfully although it's a bit of an exercise Or for convenience you can get a nepresso.

Also, the biggest factor to coffee flavour is how fresh it is, so it's best to buy whole beans from a local roaster or somewhere that shows the roast date. The beans are best within 1 month of being roasted and used within 15 mins of being ground, hence it's important to have a grinder. (Pods will staya bit longer than that due to the way they treat the air inside it)

Why would you buy a machine if you don’t drink it?? French press is fine.

Nespresso is having a massive Black Friday sale atm! Also includes the milk frother! I know they recule capsules now and you can drop them off at their store.

I really like coffee and use a French press.
We did have a pod machine for a bit but coffee isn't great and the waste was awful.
If you want to impress you can get a coffee bean grinder and beans.