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I love espresso. But I don't think I'd be interested in a DIY option. I tend to use Nespresso, especially now that the cups are simply available in the shop (a

I love espresso. But I don't think I'd be interested in a DIY option. I tend to use Nespresso, especially now that the cups are simply available in the shop (and cheap aftermarket options), it's pretty perfect. I know the manual process is more environmentally friendly but when I wake up in the morning I have no headspace for fussing with coffee grinds. I just need good coffee right away. And I don't even own a car or anything nor have kids so my footprint is pretty low.

kwanbix 2y ago
Aren't these things one of the most contaminant things you can have in the kitchen? Even the inventor regrets doing it. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/k-cup-creator-john-sylvan-regrets-inventing-keurig-coffee-pod-system-1.2982660 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/k-cup-creator-john-sylvan-r... Or is this different?
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  Nespresso pods are readily recycled aluminium, rather than the plastic of K-Cups.
  - NegativeLatency 2y ago
    How many places actually accept them though? Also nestle is a terrible company for the environment and human rights.
    - ceejayoz 2y ago
      > How many places actually accept them though? The company itself has a recycling program; you can mail them and some stores accept them. > Also nestle is a terrible company for the environment and human rights. Agreed, but so's pretty much everything else we buy.
    - robrtsql 2y ago
      The current status, IIRC, is that recycling in New York accepts Nespresso pods, and in the rest of the US, Nespresso offers free pre-paid shipping bags which you can fill with used pods and drop off at UPS, who will then return them to Nespresso for recycling. They also accept pods at their store locations. Not sure what the deal is in other parts of the world, if Nespresso is sold there.
    - spzb 2y ago
      I use one of these https://www.dualit.com/products/ecopress-aluminium-capsule-recycler https://www.dualit.com/products/ecopress-aluminium-capsule-r... It separates the aluminium pod and the coffee grounds so you can recycle the former and compost the latter.
- dbt00 2y ago
  It’s not the identical product but it’s fairly similar. Nespresso accepts their used pods back for recycling, and they are made out of metal and not just plastic, but they are owned Nestle and who knows how well they actually recycle that shit.
  - hocuspocus 2y ago
    They're serious about recycling, but many consumers are not. I'm in Switzerland where recycling Nespresso pods couldn't be easier, and we barely reach a 2/3 recycling rate. US and global rates are much lower. If Nestlé hadn't crippled their machines on purpose, I'd think third party plastic capsules might be a better option in Europe at least, since they end up in waste co-processing.
    - mrguyorama 2y ago
      >If Nestlé hadn't crippled their machines on purpose Nestle invented an entirely new way to brew coffee AGAIN just to extra lock down their pod system from independent competition. The built all this wankery about spinning the pods at like 30k rpm to "force the water through the coffee like an espresso machine" but it _doesn't_. As Mr Hoffman discussed, the foam it creates is just aerated coffee, which is substantially different than the foam you get from actually putting water through coffee at high pressure. All this to get a patent on a physical process so that competitors cannot drive the price of their pods down. And the coffee still tastes like shit. And the machine takes a long time. And it makes a stupid and annoying noise. The system is demonstrably worse than any other pod based system because it was more important to Nestle that they get their pod profit margins than you get acceptable coffee. Like seriously this should be a crime, not a civil infraction, a crime to artificially lock out competition like this.
      - hocuspocus 2y ago
        I haven't really seen those in the wild yet. On the other hand there are plenty of cheap original Nespresso machines pretty much everywhere in Switzerland. In some countries Nestlé was virtually giving them away around 2010~2015. Shortly after, some patents expired and third party brands started selling plastic capsules, and Nestlé had to fight back and make their machines work poorly with these! As far as I know all patents have expired now, and a few third party brands sell 100% compatible aluminium capsules.
- kube-system 2y ago
  > The first market was the office coffee service market," he said, adding he is "absolutely mystified" by his product's popularity in homes. After reading this, the invention made a lot more sense. K-cups seem to be a better choice for outside of the home where someone might want a single cup on demand with no prep or cleanup. Like waiting rooms, offices, hotels, etc.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  That's Keurig. We don't have this in Europe. We do have other plastic pod ones like Nescafe Dolce Gusto. The nespresso one is using aluminium pods.
doawoo 2y ago
Just based on how horrible of a company Nestle is, I usually encourage everyone to investigate some other options to make espresso at home. Side Note: Personally, making my coffee is a nice process in the morning to kick my brain out of that early fog, it's something I have to engage with, but also something you can learn and get _very_ quick at to the point where you don't need much headspace to do it, not every espresso shot needs to be 1000% perfect. The ritual of making it in the morning almost wakes me up as much as the coffee does :)
- wkat4242 2y ago
  I'm not really paying Nestle though. I buy aftermarket cups (10 for 2 euro 50, less than half the price of their own cups!) and the machine is made by Krups. I use those same cups at work because they removed all the coffee machines and put nespressos in place of them. The reason was that the machine coffee was so horrible everyone started bringing their own nespresso machine (they had a really good deal at the time). So now they just provide those in the office. The company I work for is too cheap to pay for coffee for us. But for me it wouldn't work to do it manually. My house is a huge mess most of the time and messing with grinds etc requires more space.
  - Arch-TK 2y ago
    If you're using aftermarket pods then you should use an aftermarket machine too, nespresso puts the gasket required to build pressure on the pod itself, and this gasket is patented preventing aftermarket pods from having the same gasket design. Since the gasket is on the pod it is not on the machine meaning that stock nespresso machines will have issues with aftermarket pods. Some aftermarket machines have their own seal, which compensates for this problem when using aftermarket pods. For more info see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HouzvJGazs4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HouzvJGazs4
    - wkat4242 2y ago
      Ah I had indeed felt the rubbery layer inside the rim before. I was wondering what that was about. I don't have any issues with it though. But if my machine breaks I'll buy an aftermarket machine. Good point! I wonder if the older machines also have this issue by the way.
ElCapitanMarkla 2y ago
It sounds like you are the perfect customer for them but when your machine craps itself I would suggest checking out something like the Breville Barista models. I have the Pro version which has the grinder built in and I've found it makes far nicer coffees than the pods and there is minimal faffing around due to everything being integrated in the one machine.
- agarren 2y ago
  I’ve had a Breville Barista Express model for years and it’s been perfect. Daily use (4-8 doubles), easy to clean, very consistent shots. I’m definitely a fan.
  - ElCapitanMarkla 2y ago
    Yeah mine doesn't work too hard, 2 doubles a day at the most and maybe 6-8 in the weekend if we have guests. But it has been great, I've had it for 5 years now and it hasn't skipped a beat. I'm not sure what reparability but I've got a few Breville appliances around the house and they have all been really solid.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  I'm not convinced on autogrinders. One of my friends had one (A Jura) of 1000+ euro and the coffee was no better. Eventually the grinder crapped out and the replacement cost 3/4 of the machine price. He's now drinking Nespresso like me :) Breville doesn't seem to be a common brand here in Europe but I see it is a lot cheaper. Nothing like the 80 euro of a Nespresso machine though (which has also lasted me 10 years despite never descaling it).
  - Arch-TK 2y ago
    The breville/sage machines are not "autogrinders" they're normal espresso machines with a grinder built into the same housing (which you can use stand alone) which you use to fill a portafilter basket and which you then need to tamp. Machines which grind internally and produce a coffee fully automatically can be configured to produce decent coffee, but it's not exactly easy.
ben7799 2y ago
Well the bigger problem with Nespresso is the coffee/espresso tastes horrible and you have to deal with the waste.
- tssva 2y ago
  Based upon the sales of Nespresso machines and pods a lot of people seem to disagree with you regarding the taste.
  - talldayo 2y ago
    People don't buy Nespresso for the taste, they buy it for the convenience. If it was actually a superior method of serving coffee, then everyone would use it. Alas.
    - kube-system 2y ago
      > If it was actually a superior method of serving coffee, then everyone would use it. If there's anything that "everyone uses" it's the venerable Mr. Coffee 10/12 Cup drip brewers that have dominated the US market for 40+ years. They're popular for many reasons, but today, superior taste isn't one of them.
    - tssva 2y ago
      People wouldn't use Nespresso pods if they found them to be horrible tasting, as you claim they are, no matter how convenient they are. They use them because they both enjoy the taste and find them convenient. Most people like the taste of Nespresso pods, k-cups, drip coffee and Starbucks. The sales of all 4 reflect that.
      - Arch-TK 2y ago
        They taste horrible compared to a good coffee, but they do taste better than crappy coffee shop espresso served in any country where espresso is not a common drink.
nikkwong 2y ago
To chime in on the litany of reasons why this is not a good idea--sifting boiling water through plastic is not safe for consumption as plastic nano and micro-particles will leech from the plastic into the liquid. This happens by design when using these pods, meaning you are getting a small serving of plastic every morning, alongside your coffee. What a moronic design.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Nespresso cups (even the aftermarket ones these days) are aluminium, not plastic.
  - nikkwong 2y ago
    The cup itself may be aluminum, but there is a plastic lining on the inside of the cup and on the inside of the lid that keeps the coffee from coming into direct contact with the aluminum--just like in canned foods
    - ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
      I hate to defend Nestlé, but they claim that the coating is shellac. https://easytoespresso.com/are-nespresso-pods-safe/ https://easytoespresso.com/are-nespresso-pods-safe/
      - nikkwong 2y ago
        I stand corrected!
- Arch-TK 2y ago
  While it's likely not wrong that these things produce a bunch of suspended microplastics in your drink, we actually still don't know how unsafe microplastics are so I don't think you can outright state it is unsafe (not saying we shouldn't be worried about microplastics, I certainly am looking forward to more research on the topic to determine their impact because I am also worried, but it's just fear mongering to call it "unsafe")
woodpanel 2y ago
I would actually like to have a DIY nespresso machine or an option to this DIYespresso to allow for easily making use of a nespresso cup's content.
- ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
  If you're interested in experimenting with coffee drinks and technology, then why would you want to be stuck with buying the stale pre-ground coffee that's typically sold in the nespresso cups? (In theory, you could experiment with grinding and filling a user-fillable nespresso type capsule, but you'd get so much more flexibility and quality by not being tied to that specific design)

kwanbix 2y ago

Aren't these things one of the most contaminant things you can have in the kitchen? Even the inventor regrets doing it. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/k-cup-creator-john-sylvan-regrets-inventing-keurig-coffee-pod-system-1.2982660 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/k-cup-creator-john-sylvan-r... Or is this different?

ceejayoz 2y ago
Nespresso pods are readily recycled aluminium, rather than the plastic of K-Cups.
- NegativeLatency 2y ago
  How many places actually accept them though? Also nestle is a terrible company for the environment and human rights.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    > How many places actually accept them though? The company itself has a recycling program; you can mail them and some stores accept them. > Also nestle is a terrible company for the environment and human rights. Agreed, but so's pretty much everything else we buy.
  - robrtsql 2y ago
    The current status, IIRC, is that recycling in New York accepts Nespresso pods, and in the rest of the US, Nespresso offers free pre-paid shipping bags which you can fill with used pods and drop off at UPS, who will then return them to Nespresso for recycling. They also accept pods at their store locations. Not sure what the deal is in other parts of the world, if Nespresso is sold there.
  - spzb 2y ago
    I use one of these https://www.dualit.com/products/ecopress-aluminium-capsule-recycler https://www.dualit.com/products/ecopress-aluminium-capsule-r... It separates the aluminium pod and the coffee grounds so you can recycle the former and compost the latter.
dbt00 2y ago
It’s not the identical product but it’s fairly similar. Nespresso accepts their used pods back for recycling, and they are made out of metal and not just plastic, but they are owned Nestle and who knows how well they actually recycle that shit.
- hocuspocus 2y ago
  They're serious about recycling, but many consumers are not. I'm in Switzerland where recycling Nespresso pods couldn't be easier, and we barely reach a 2/3 recycling rate. US and global rates are much lower. If Nestlé hadn't crippled their machines on purpose, I'd think third party plastic capsules might be a better option in Europe at least, since they end up in waste co-processing.
  - mrguyorama 2y ago
    >If Nestlé hadn't crippled their machines on purpose Nestle invented an entirely new way to brew coffee AGAIN just to extra lock down their pod system from independent competition. The built all this wankery about spinning the pods at like 30k rpm to "force the water through the coffee like an espresso machine" but it _doesn't_. As Mr Hoffman discussed, the foam it creates is just aerated coffee, which is substantially different than the foam you get from actually putting water through coffee at high pressure. All this to get a patent on a physical process so that competitors cannot drive the price of their pods down. And the coffee still tastes like shit. And the machine takes a long time. And it makes a stupid and annoying noise. The system is demonstrably worse than any other pod based system because it was more important to Nestle that they get their pod profit margins than you get acceptable coffee. Like seriously this should be a crime, not a civil infraction, a crime to artificially lock out competition like this.
    - hocuspocus 2y ago
      I haven't really seen those in the wild yet. On the other hand there are plenty of cheap original Nespresso machines pretty much everywhere in Switzerland. In some countries Nestlé was virtually giving them away around 2010~2015. Shortly after, some patents expired and third party brands started selling plastic capsules, and Nestlé had to fight back and make their machines work poorly with these! As far as I know all patents have expired now, and a few third party brands sell 100% compatible aluminium capsules.
kube-system 2y ago
> The first market was the office coffee service market," he said, adding he is "absolutely mystified" by his product's popularity in homes. After reading this, the invention made a lot more sense. K-cups seem to be a better choice for outside of the home where someone might want a single cup on demand with no prep or cleanup. Like waiting rooms, offices, hotels, etc.
wkat4242 2y ago
That's Keurig. We don't have this in Europe. We do have other plastic pod ones like Nescafe Dolce Gusto. The nespresso one is using aluminium pods.

doawoo 2y ago

Just based on how horrible of a company Nestle is, I usually encourage everyone to investigate some other options to make espresso at home. Side Note: Personally, making my coffee is a nice process in the morning to kick my brain out of that early fog, it's something I have to engage with, but also something you can learn and get _very_ quick at to the point where you don't need much headspace to do it, not every espresso shot needs to be 1000% perfect. The ritual of making it in the morning almost wakes me up as much as the coffee does :)

wkat4242 2y ago
I'm not really paying Nestle though. I buy aftermarket cups (10 for 2 euro 50, less than half the price of their own cups!) and the machine is made by Krups. I use those same cups at work because they removed all the coffee machines and put nespressos in place of them. The reason was that the machine coffee was so horrible everyone started bringing their own nespresso machine (they had a really good deal at the time). So now they just provide those in the office. The company I work for is too cheap to pay for coffee for us. But for me it wouldn't work to do it manually. My house is a huge mess most of the time and messing with grinds etc requires more space.
- Arch-TK 2y ago
  If you're using aftermarket pods then you should use an aftermarket machine too, nespresso puts the gasket required to build pressure on the pod itself, and this gasket is patented preventing aftermarket pods from having the same gasket design. Since the gasket is on the pod it is not on the machine meaning that stock nespresso machines will have issues with aftermarket pods. Some aftermarket machines have their own seal, which compensates for this problem when using aftermarket pods. For more info see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HouzvJGazs4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HouzvJGazs4
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    Ah I had indeed felt the rubbery layer inside the rim before. I was wondering what that was about. I don't have any issues with it though. But if my machine breaks I'll buy an aftermarket machine. Good point! I wonder if the older machines also have this issue by the way.

ElCapitanMarkla 2y ago

It sounds like you are the perfect customer for them but when your machine craps itself I would suggest checking out something like the Breville Barista models. I have the Pro version which has the grinder built in and I've found it makes far nicer coffees than the pods and there is minimal faffing around due to everything being integrated in the one machine.

agarren 2y ago
I’ve had a Breville Barista Express model for years and it’s been perfect. Daily use (4-8 doubles), easy to clean, very consistent shots. I’m definitely a fan.
- ElCapitanMarkla 2y ago
  Yeah mine doesn't work too hard, 2 doubles a day at the most and maybe 6-8 in the weekend if we have guests. But it has been great, I've had it for 5 years now and it hasn't skipped a beat. I'm not sure what reparability but I've got a few Breville appliances around the house and they have all been really solid.
wkat4242 2y ago
I'm not convinced on autogrinders. One of my friends had one (A Jura) of 1000+ euro and the coffee was no better. Eventually the grinder crapped out and the replacement cost 3/4 of the machine price. He's now drinking Nespresso like me :) Breville doesn't seem to be a common brand here in Europe but I see it is a lot cheaper. Nothing like the 80 euro of a Nespresso machine though (which has also lasted me 10 years despite never descaling it).
- Arch-TK 2y ago
  The breville/sage machines are not "autogrinders" they're normal espresso machines with a grinder built into the same housing (which you can use stand alone) which you use to fill a portafilter basket and which you then need to tamp. Machines which grind internally and produce a coffee fully automatically can be configured to produce decent coffee, but it's not exactly easy.

ben7799 2y ago

Well the bigger problem with Nespresso is the coffee/espresso tastes horrible and you have to deal with the waste.

tssva 2y ago
Based upon the sales of Nespresso machines and pods a lot of people seem to disagree with you regarding the taste.
- talldayo 2y ago
  People don't buy Nespresso for the taste, they buy it for the convenience. If it was actually a superior method of serving coffee, then everyone would use it. Alas.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    > If it was actually a superior method of serving coffee, then everyone would use it. If there's anything that "everyone uses" it's the venerable Mr. Coffee 10/12 Cup drip brewers that have dominated the US market for 40+ years. They're popular for many reasons, but today, superior taste isn't one of them.
  - tssva 2y ago
    People wouldn't use Nespresso pods if they found them to be horrible tasting, as you claim they are, no matter how convenient they are. They use them because they both enjoy the taste and find them convenient. Most people like the taste of Nespresso pods, k-cups, drip coffee and Starbucks. The sales of all 4 reflect that.
    - Arch-TK 2y ago
      They taste horrible compared to a good coffee, but they do taste better than crappy coffee shop espresso served in any country where espresso is not a common drink.

nikkwong 2y ago

To chime in on the litany of reasons why this is not a good idea--sifting boiling water through plastic is not safe for consumption as plastic nano and micro-particles will leech from the plastic into the liquid. This happens by design when using these pods, meaning you are getting a small serving of plastic every morning, alongside your coffee. What a moronic design.

wkat4242 2y ago
Nespresso cups (even the aftermarket ones these days) are aluminium, not plastic.
- nikkwong 2y ago
  The cup itself may be aluminum, but there is a plastic lining on the inside of the cup and on the inside of the lid that keeps the coffee from coming into direct contact with the aluminum--just like in canned foods
  - ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
    I hate to defend Nestlé, but they claim that the coating is shellac. https://easytoespresso.com/are-nespresso-pods-safe/ https://easytoespresso.com/are-nespresso-pods-safe/
    - nikkwong 2y ago
      I stand corrected!
Arch-TK 2y ago
While it's likely not wrong that these things produce a bunch of suspended microplastics in your drink, we actually still don't know how unsafe microplastics are so I don't think you can outright state it is unsafe (not saying we shouldn't be worried about microplastics, I certainly am looking forward to more research on the topic to determine their impact because I am also worried, but it's just fear mongering to call it "unsafe")

woodpanel 2y ago

I would actually like to have a DIY nespresso machine or an option to this DIYespresso to allow for easily making use of a nespresso cup's content.

ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
If you're interested in experimenting with coffee drinks and technology, then why would you want to be stuck with buying the stale pre-ground coffee that's typically sold in the nespresso cups? (In theory, you could experiment with grinding and filling a user-fillable nespresso type capsule, but you'd get so much more flexibility and quality by not being tied to that specific design)