Nespresso Club

[PL92106]

Anyone tried the Coffee Duck reusable/refillable capsules for the Nespresso? I have a Nespresso D300 and wanted to see if they were worth a try. I notice that they are supposedly compatible with every machine pre-2010 (they are coming out with capsules that are supposed to work with newer machines) except for the "Nespresso Krups machines with 1 pin notches; F893, F896, F897". My question is (still waiting for an answer from the company) that my D300 does have a needle that pierces the capsule from up top, so I'm afraid it might be similar to the incompatible models. Everyone else's Nespresso have a piercing needle?

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by PL92106

Anyone tried the Coffee Duck reusable/refillable capsules for the Nespresso? I have a Nespresso D300 and wanted to see if they were worth a try. I notice that they are supposedly compatible with every machine pre-2010 (they are coming out with capsules that are supposed to work with newer machines) except for the "Nespresso Krups machines with 1 pin notches; F893, F896, F897". My question is (still waiting for an answer from the company) that my D300 does have a needle that pierces the capsule from up top, so I'm afraid it might be similar to the incompatible models. Everyone else's Nespresso have a piercing needle?
This thing is pretty cool. Anybody have experience with it in the older machines? I checked my machine and even though it was manu'd before Oct 10' it still has the little ridges inside the chute.

 

[unjung]

The idea that coffee out of a sealed plastic cup could be top-end is ridiculous to me. It's airplane ****. We have one of the Keurig machines at l'office. Everyone raves about it. I use it to make hot chocolate and I can taste the nasty mineral *********** water. On the rare occasion I drink coffee, I still enjoy the French press.

 

[holymadness]

+1

Nespresso is terrible and its success is due to a combination of ease of use/convenience and good marketing.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by holymadness

+1 Nespresso is terrible and its success is due to a combination of ease of use/convenience and good marketing.
Granted, its not the greatest, but its certainly not terrible and its ease of use more than makes up for that fact.

 

[itsstillmatt]

I love my nespresso. I am also up and going by five in the morning.

 

[holymadness]

Nespresso is the tv dinner of coffee.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by ama

I don't know about that man...

Its owned by Nestle and wildly successful in the US and abroad.

Great avatar.

 

[PL92106]

Originally Posted by Rambo

This thing is pretty cool. Anybody have experience with it in the older machines? I checked my machine and even though it was manu'd before Oct 10' it still has the little ridges inside the chute.

I heard back from the company. Looks like mine won't work. However, for yours, they do now sell the black caps that will fit. For 15 euros plus shipping might be worth trying... as the guinea pig that can tell me whether I should get some of the old ones and modify them. Worth it cause their coffee is otherwise a ridiculous ~$75/pound.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by PL92106

I heard back from the company. Looks like mine won't work. However, for yours, they do now sell the black caps that will fit. For 15 euros plus shipping might be worth trying... as the guinea pig that can tell me whether I should get some of the old ones and modify them. Worth it cause their coffee is otherwise a ridiculous ~$75/pound.
I just might do that.

 

[Don Carlos]

To me, the idea of Keurig is slightly less ridiculous than the idea of Nespresso. Keurig is mainly intended as a substitute to generic drip coffee for the time-starved. It works really well for me in the mornings, when I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn (such as right now) and get to work without a lot of time to brew a pot of coffee or even a beaker of French press, of which I would only end up using a cup or two anyway. Plus, it's no cleanup and no hassle.

Is my Keurig machine producing a world class cup of coffee? No, nor do I expect it to. The usage occasion it's substituting for -- quick drip coffee or motor oil-esque stale coffee in an office breakroom -- does not demand world class coffee quality.

Nespresso is a different story. Espresso is meant to be inconvenient. It's the ultimate in high-maintenance coffee. I know coffee geeks out there who measure their dosages to the ******* angstrom. It's that fussy of an enterprise, all in pursuit of ultimate quality. This is why high-end espresso machines retail for the price of a mid-sized sedan. You'd think that this user would never in a million years accept freeze-dried grounds from a plastic pod.

Then again, I don't think the high-end, uber-fussy espresso geek is the target customer for Nespresso. Rather, I think Nespresso -- and, by extension, these "Clubs" -- are trying to create a new market of home espresso users: one that is luxury-aspirational but not necessarily aware of, or concerned with, what actually makes for a world class godshot.

To the coffee geeks out there (and I count myself among you): don't fret so much about Nespresso and/or Keurig. No one's forcing you to give up your $20,000 commercial-grade espresso machine or your $5,000 grinder for the Nespresso. If you don't like the very idea of Nespresso, it's because you're not the target customer. I would never eat spam, for example, but I accept that thsre are a lot of people out there who love it. So be it. The existence of spam does not threaten the existence of my wagyu steak.

 

[gdl203]

Wow wrong on so many levels...

Only here would an espresso be considered an exercise in molecular chemistry or a luxury item. Where I'm from, it's as basic as tap water. I can guarantee you that my corner cafe in Paris doesn't measure the ground coffee in grams, nor does he have a clue where the beans were grown or roasted. It's just a cup of coffee - with the right beans/blend and a decent machine, it should be fine. Which is why nespresso has been so fantastically successful - it's aimed to all the people who care about a good cup of coffee and it's convenience. I've used it for more than 15 years, it's far from a novelty or anything new.

Never understood the coffee geeks - they care about the process and ingredients far more than the end product. I would say that a vast majority of espresso I tasted that were made by geeks or their affiliated snub coffee stores were between terrible and acceptable. Very rarely better than a nespresso, even if they'd deny it.

What I find truly telling and much more relevant is what coffee people who like good food choose (people with a developed taste). I get better coffee at Jean-Georges or Corton than at any of the stupid hipster nerd espresso bars. That's because they aim to serve things that taste good. Corton (and many other high end restaurants) use Nespresso by the way.

And then there's keurig - that's just disgusting, coffee-flavored dirty dishwasher water. But then again, that's how I feel about most brewed coffee...

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Wow wrong on so many levels... Only here would an espresso be considered an exercise in molecular chemistry or a luxury item. Where I'm from, it's as basic as tap water. I can guarantee you that my corner cafe in Paris doesn't measure the ground coffee in grams, nor does he have a clue where the beans were grown or roasted. It's just a cup of coffee - with the right beans/blend and a decent machine, it should be fine. Which is why nespresso has been so fantastically successful - it's aimed to all the people who care about a good cup of coffee and it's convenience. I've used it for more than 15 years, it's far from a novelty or anything new. Never understood the coffee geeks - they care about the process and ingredients far more than the end product. I would say that a vast majority of espresso I tasted that were made by geeks or their affiliated snub coffee stores were between terrible and acceptable. Very rarely better than a nespresso, even if they'd deny it. What I find truly telling and much more relevant is what coffee people who like good food choose (people with a developed taste). I get better coffee at Jean-Georges or Corton than at any of the stupid hipster nerd espresso bars. That's because they aim to serve things that taste good. Corton (and many other high end restaurants) use Nespresso by the way. And then there's keurig - that's just disgusting, coffee-flavored dirty dishwasher water. But then again, that's how I feel about most brewed coffee...
I fully endorse this post.

 

[ama]

Originally Posted by iammatt

I fully endorse this post.

I endorse this endorsement.

 

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Wow wrong on so many levels...

Only here would an espresso be considered an exercise in molecular chemistry or a luxury item. Where I'm from, it's as basic as tap water. I can guarantee you that my corner cafe in Paris doesn't measure the ground coffee in grams, nor does he have a clue where the beans were grown or roasted. It's just a cup of coffee - with the right beans/blend and a decent machine, it should be fine. Which is why nespresso has been so fantastically successful - it's aimed to all the people who care about a good cup of coffee and it's convenience. I've used it for more than 15 years, it's far from a novelty or anything new.

Never understood the coffee geeks - they care about the process and ingredients far more than the end product. I would say that a vast majority of espresso I tasted that were made by geeks or their affiliated snub coffee stores were between terrible and acceptable. Very rarely better than a nespresso, even if they'd deny it.

What I find truly telling and much more relevant is what coffee people who like good food choose (people with a developed taste). I get better coffee at Jean-Georges or Corton than at any of the stupid hipster nerd espresso bars. That's because they aim to serve things that taste good. Corton (and many other high end restaurants) use Nespresso by the way.

And then there's keurig - that's just disgusting, coffee-flavored dirty dishwasher water. But then again, that's how I feel about most brewed coffee...
I agree to the extent that I hate coffee geeks and the anal retentiveness over brew time, ground fineness, pressure, etc.

But to me Nespresso falls into the same category as Starbucks : a product that attempts to imitate something great (an espresso, a corner cafÃ

with viennoiseries), fails, but still succeeds on the market due to lack of better options and slick marketing. Nespresso also bothers me to the extent that you can only use their capsules with the machine -- which is a bit like buying a toaster that can only use the manufacturer's bread -- and it is environmentally wasteful (though I think they have made some recent efforts to adopt recyclable capsules).

In any case I make Greek coffee at home (mmm - I may start a thread about it), which is delicious and just as convenient but I can use the beans I want and it's far less expensive.