11-02-2018, 05:40 PM
34
Re: Replacement Nespresso pods
Originally Posted by Realist
->
I have always shunned pod machines because of the disadvantageous "closed shop" proposition and the fact that you have absolutely no control over your coffee.These machines offer great convenience at the expense of the quality and choice of the most important thing . . . the coffee itself.
I can't imagine British people would be happy to have their choice of tea brutally restricted. They are used to buying whatever brand they want, tea bags or tea leaves from cheap crap right up to Japanese Sensha.
So why would you restrict your coffee choices. Pod coffee is largely crap, you know it has to be because of the business model. You have no idea when that coffee was roasted, how it was processed, how old it really is. You're trading convenience for quality of coffee. It's a losing proposition.
If you are remotely interested in coffee then you buy coffee beans and grind them yourself fresh. You buy coffee beans carefully, check the "Roasted on" date to know hold old they are and you select/create your favourite blends, Kenyan, Costa Rican, Colombian etc etc
Real coffee drinkers, if they used a pod machine, would buy reusable empty pods and the gadgetry associated and make up their own pods with really good coffee that they have ground themselves from beans.
Problem is, doing this negates all of the benefit of convenience that pod machines offer. You may as well spend more and buy a proper coffee machine.
I’ve had a Nespresso machine for many years, and I get the best coffee every time.
11-02-2018, 06:01 PM
36
Re: Replacement Nespresso pods
Originally Posted by SallyS
->
You know, I have a huge choice of Nespresso pods and object to your use of “real coffee drinkers”.I’ve had a Nespresso machine for many years, and I get the best coffee every time.
We have a Nespresso machine, with a wide variety of coffee types in pods, which are very nice when we want a small, espresso-sized cup of coffee.
We also have a Senseo machine which takes pads rather like oversized tea bags! These are preferable when we'd like a larger cup or mug of coffee.
We like them both.
We have, in the past, used a grinder and a stove-top espresso maker which produced similarly pleasant coffee. In fact we may still have it stashed away somewhere. However, it entailed a lot of messing about and when you just feel like a cup of coffee you don't particularly like to perform a pseudo-scientific experiment, however interesting that might be.
I have had professionally-produced espresso coffee from one of those impressively large 'steam generator' things and, to be honest, I don't think it's worth all the additional effort or the enormous expense!
Each to his own, I say.
11-02-2018, 06:06 PM
37
Re: Replacement Nespresso pods
Originally Posted by Rehab44
->
For gods sake don’t ask him about the relevant pressures for producing the coffee and the essentials oils 
I didn't know that.
At the risk of sounding a little poncy, I do like the smell of lavender. My wife sometimes sprays some on our pillows just before we go to bed.
Oh dear. Do I sound like a little old lady?
11-02-2018, 06:19 PM
38
Re: Replacement Nespresso pods
Originally Posted by JBR
->
You can put smelly oils in coffee?I didn't know that.
At the risk of sounding a little poncy, I do like the smell of lavender. My wife sometimes sprays some on our pillows just before we go to bed.
Oh dear. Do I sound like a little old lady?
11-02-2018, 07:27 PM
39
Re: Replacement Nespresso pods
Originally Posted by SallyS
->
You know, I have a huge choice of Nespresso pods and object to your use of “real coffee drinkers”.I’ve had a Nespresso machine for many years, and I get the best coffee every time.
There is a good article here that explains why pod coffee is vastly inferior to sourcing good coffee beans, with a proper "roasted on" date showing and grinding them yourself.
https://www.cnet.com/news/heres-why-...are-pure-evil/
Some snippets:
Freshness is key
"Like any edible ingredient or substance, coffee has a shelf life. Roasted coffee beans in particular become stale in short order when exposed to oxygen. Freshly-roasted coffee should ideally be consumed within two weeks, three max, of its roast date. That's why premium brands print the roast date of their beans right on the bag, and less forthright ones merely disclose a sell-by or best-by date.
The freshness of ground coffee is even more fleeting. Think hours, not days, where you're losing those tasty organic compounds. The situation worsens the finer you grind coffee beans due to the increased surface area and greater exposure to air. Experienced roasters and baristas have told me that the finely ground coffee used for espresso loses its potential for greatness in just 30 minutes.
Those are serious hurdles for pods to overcome and brew java with exceptional taste. Keurig, Starbucks and others do their best to offset these physical realities. Common tactics are to top off pods with Nitrogen gas to put a lid on oxidation, or sealing the container with an extra layer of foil. Despite those efforts, open Starbucks Verismo, Green Mountain K-Cups and even pods from prepackaged beverage company Touch, and you'll often finds grounds that look and smell anything but fresh."
Then there's the wider and more worrying issue of the environmental impact of throwing away billions of plastic and aluminium coffee pods every year.
This is a somewhat difficult thread to debate in because of the wide variation in posters understanding and education of coffee. If this were a discussion on fine wines we'd have people ranging from those who like a bit of Blue Nun, to those who think a basic Merlot is good to those who really do understand wine provenance, depth and flavour.
None of which is to disparage any poster here in the least, genuinely.
But coffee is no different. A "real" espresso shot requires a machine capable of at least 9 bar pressure which will extract the oils and other elements of the coffee bean to form the perfect coffee with crema.
When you buy coffee pods you are buying inferior coffee, there is absolutely no question. It is not fresh and certainly not the best coffee out there. Pod machines lock you into this "closed shop" situation forcing you to settle for inferior coffee at the expense of convenience and to pander to your own laziness.
If you don't care what date your beans were roasted, or how fresh the coffee actually is and are happy with the taste of such an inferior product then good for you and happy days.
There are people who think Tetley or Yorkshire tea bags are great tea too. They have no experience of "real" high quality tea.
I iterate again there is no snobbishness here, no coffee connoisseur stuff involved here, just plain and simple knowledge.
Freshness of the bean, the date it was roasted, the length of time it has been ground and the way it is processed by the machine are the main factors that separate crappy inferior coffee from high quality coffee.
11-02-2018, 07:43 PM
40
Re: Replacement Nespresso pods
We had this same conversation some time ago on here...the coffee evangelist will not listen to those who use the pods, and they will be struck down. There is only one coffee and that is the Realist Coffee Machine (now available on Amazon)Ps dud I mention I was bored then? I still am
|
|
