What were your overall impressions of the Tassimo T20
Neat, attractive case, although a little large - certainly a lot bulkier than a friend's Nespresso machine. The position of the water container - at the back of the machine - is awkward if, like me, you have cupboards overhanging most of your work surfaces
How easy or difficult did you find the setting up process
Extremely easy. The instructions are very simple and there is really very little to do to set it up: just pressing a button 4 times to rinse the machine through with clean water.
How easy was the machine to use?
Incredibly easy. There really is almost nothing to it: open lid; insert disk; close lid; press button. Seriously, if you can't manage this, you probably aren't ready for unsupervised hot drinks.
What did you think of the drinks produced?
A bit disappointing. I was supplied with 2 varieties Costa cappuccino and Carte Noir "Expresso" and neither impressed. I generally drink coffee black and don't like sweet drinks as much, so I am probably not the best person to comment on the cappuccino disks, which contain "lactose and mineral reduced ultra filtered milk concentrate" - which evidently used to be milk - and sugar, thus not really being to my taste.
The "Expresso" (which is presumably espresso that you can trademark) was a lot more appealing. The taste was pretty decent: in a different league to the instant I normally drink at home. The coffee had a nice smooth texture and there was a little bit of crema too. Unfortunately, I found it to be far too weak. I prefer a long coffee to espresso, but adding more than a very little hot water to this drink to make an Americano in the normal way resulted in a weak, tasteless coffee that was worse than instant and not much better than water.
Perhaps some of the Costa Americano disks might be more up my street, as far as strengths concerned, although I'm not a big fan of Costa coffee as a rule and there is nowhere round where I live that sells them. In fact, coincidentally, the two flavours I was sent are also the only ones on sale around here.
A general problem I found was that the drinks are not hot enough. Even warming the cups beforehand didn't help much - drinks were still too tepid for my liking.
Do you think you'll continue use to use the Tass t20 in future?
No. It's not the machine for me. Ever since my late, lamented filter machine broke, I've been thinking about buying an espresso machine. The T20 this has certainly helped me to decide to do just that - but this isn't the one I'm after. The cost-per drink is expensive, unless you buy in bulk online - and then you are stuck with just one kind of coffee until your next big order and I've always loved trying different beans and blends.
The waste bothers me a bit too: each serving of coffee comes in a thick plastic container, with a foil lid, that comes in a cardboard box with 7 other servings, that is wrapped in a foil bag. That's an awful lot to throw away for a cup of coffee.
If it came up in conversation would. You recommend the tas t20 to a friend or relative if so why if not why not
And having just said all of that,yes, I would recommend it to others. If you want espressos and cappuccinos that taste far better than instant coffee, with a minimum of fuss and mess, don't mind being restricted to a fairly small range of tastes and don't like your coffee piping hot, then this is ideal. It's definitely not the coffee maker for me, but I can think of a fair few people for whom this would be absolutely perfect.
Thank you very much indeed for letting us try it!