Pod Coffee Machines

I'm not buying it, no way it's as fast as just putting a spoon full of powder in some boiling water.
I bet a kettle boils as fast or faster than the coffee machine warms up and delivers a drink. I get the novelty factor I guess, what next vimto pods for hot vimto.
Maybe a hot toddy pod.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Im well aware how RAVE coffee get and package their beans ;)
[snip]
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Ah RAVE, that rings a bell! My wife bought me a subscription of RAVE coffee as a birthday present, but we didn't like their beans which was annoying as the deliveries kept coming! I do remember an awful lot of marketing crap included with each delivery.



I get my beans from here: https://www.coffeebeanshop.co.uk who I believe are a small family run business in Kent, so I'm happy to support. I use a pretty straight forward bean to cup machine (Tower) which is easy, consistent and reliable. I find with quality beans I can enjoy the actual taste of the coffee black and there's no need to add milk or sugar. Each to their own of course, we all have our own preferences. Supermarket beans are pretty poor, absolute emergencies only.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I have both, the MC2 is currently on loan to a colleague as I have a Niche Zero now.

The MC2 is good but the problem with it is the timer, depending on the beans or even how much beans in it (the pressure down) or the weather or whatever, the amount of grind that comes out varies massively. As a result I can get a perfect cup one pour and it chokes the next. That and it retains quite a lot of ground internally.
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I actually end up weighing the ground coffee with the MC2 rather than relying on the timer. Rather too much gets stuck in the spout (and is tricky to clean out). And the fine adjustment comes at a price - it's about a million turns of the knob to get from espresso to filter. Rather than messing with this, I have (sacrilege!) one of those cheap Krups blade things that works pretty well for filter etc.

I like the brass Gaggia upgrade. I haven't even modded the steam wand on mine, as I rarely make anything other than espresso with it.
 
robj20 said:
I'm not buying it, no way it's as fast as just putting a spoon full of powder in some boiling water.
I bet a kettle boils as fast or faster than the coffee machine warms up and delivers a drink. I get the novelty factor I guess, what next vimto pods for hot vimto.
Maybe a hot toddy pod.
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It's faster. The machine's reservoir stores the water and the pod stand is right next to the machine, with the mugs hanging over it. Take pod from rack and mug from hook, put pod in machine and mug underneath spout, press button. The machine heats as it pours so very little warm-up, especially compared to a kettle - even with just a mug of water in the kettle (which is less than the minimum quantity according to our kettle).
 
Nod said:
It's faster. The machine's reservoir stores the water and the pod stand is right next to the machine, with the mugs hanging over it. Take pod from rack and mug from hook, put pod in machine and mug underneath spout, press button. The machine heats as it pours so very little warm-up, especially compared to a kettle - even with just a mug of water in the kettle (which is less than the minimum quantity according to our kettle).
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Also, the pod hot chocolate is nicer than the instant. We also have a big tub of the original Cadbury's chocolate which we use when we have a glut of milk.
 
Don't often have hot chocolate these days - sort of got out of the habit when it was thought I was diabetic. If we do have one, it's usually a sachet which we mix with milk before adding the hot water. Are the Cadbury's pods powder or liquid based? The Suchards ones are liquid and needed to be kept warm or they ended up weak as gnats' wee!
 
Retune said:
I actually end up weighing the ground coffee with the MC2 rather than relying on the timer. Rather too much gets stuck in the spout (and is tricky to clean out). And the fine adjustment comes at a price - it's about a million turns of the knob to get from espresso to filter. Rather than messing with this, I have (sacrilege!) one of those cheap Krups blade things that works pretty well for filter etc.

I like the brass Gaggia upgrade. I haven't even modded the steam wand on mine, as I rarely make anything other than espresso with it.
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Ive modded the steam wand, it’s very easy to do, almost tool less.

Re the adjustments knob on the MC2, the fact that there is so many turns and also the “guide” markers on the hopper is next to useless, this is where the niche zero absolutely wins as it’s one turn with the hand and then I can turn back at the next shot. It retains about 0.5g max (almost zero if you just give the grinder a smack at the top with your hand)it allows me to switch between beans and brew methods cup to cup.

Oh, the neatest thing is the stainless steel cup that the grinder comes with is 58mm, it fits perfectly in the Gaggia portafilter.
 
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Half hope that the current scheme for pod recycling (for Tassimo pods, anyway!) carries on since IIRC the collection points get 2p per item (pod or packaging plastic) for their chosen cause. Dropping them off also gives us an excuse to carry on somewhere for lunch!

However, a kerbside collection will be a lot more convenient.
 
Nod said:
Half hope that the current scheme for pod recycling (for Tassimo pods, anyway!) carries on since IIRC the collection points get 2p per item (pod or packaging plastic) for their chosen cause. Dropping them off also gives us an excuse to carry on somewhere for lunch!

However, a kerbside collection will be a lot more convenient.
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There's a charity shop in town (local charity) that we can drop them off at.
 
Handy! Our closest is in Sidmouth, 16/17 miles away. Used to be in Teignmouth which is closer and the charity (and collection point) was the RNLI.
 
Nod said:
Handy! Our closest is in Sidmouth, 16/17 miles away. Used to be in Teignmouth which is closer and the charity (and collection point) was the RNLI.
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Ouch, that's quite a trek! We have friends in Sidmouth, must take a bag of pods next time we visit! :LOL:
 
Raymond Lin said:
Ive modded the steam wand, it’s very easy to do, almost tool less.

Re the adjustments knob on the MC2, the fact that there is so many turns and also the “guide” markers on the hopper is next to useless, this is where the niche zero absolutely wins as it’s one turn with the hand and then I can turn back at the next shot. It retains about 0.5g max (almost zero if you just give the grinder a smack at the top with your hand)it allows me to switch between beans and brew methods cup to cup.

Oh, the neatest thing is the stainless steel cup that the grinder comes with is 58mm, it fits perfectly in the Gaggia portafilter.
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The Niche Zero looks neat and ingenious. But it costs about as much as all my other coffee gadgets put together - I'd have to convince myself I'd save the cost of wasted coffee! The Aergrind I have at work is actually very good, and you don't really lose anything (except the time it takes to grind out a double shot).
 
Marc said:
Ouch, that's quite a trek! We have friends in Sidmouth, must take a bag of pods next time we visit! :LOL:
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24 Livonia Road...
 
Retune said:
The Niche Zero looks neat and ingenious. But it costs about as much as all my other coffee gadgets put together - I'd have to convince myself I'd save the cost of wasted coffee! The Aergrind I have at work is actually very good, and you don't really lose anything (except the time it takes to grind out a double shot).
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oh yeah, for sure, I thought it was expensive when it was first launch at £300, it’s not at £500 making it an even harder hurdle to overcome. However, it has a set of burrs in it that is in a £1200 Mezzar grinder, it retains next to nothing, it is built well with basically no fancy electronic to go wrong. The alternatives are like the Sette 270wi, with has intelligent weighing of each shot but that’s quite large with lots of electronic. It depends what you are after really but IMO the Niche put the money to the core of the machine and not other parts.
 
That's the address in Sidmouth if you want to drop any pods off.

If you ever do get down this way and fancy a coffee, drop me a PM.
 
It's a bit far for a quick recycling trip! Mind you, I've been known to "nip up" to Colney Heath (near St Albans) for a pint. Only a 4 hour round trip (before speed cameras and a healthier sense of self preservation!!!)
 
Used up the last pods yesterday, new batch arrived from Tassimo today (thanks to £10 voucher), including Chai Latte. Only ordered one in case we didn't like them. They're delicious!
 
Yup! Our standard intake is 3 black americanos (Mrs Nod), 3 lattés (me) and 2 chai lattés (1 each) per day, with a cup of English breakfast tea if I need a top-up. Got a feeling that the EBT (and the Earl Grey) might be discontinued. Did spot a refillable pod on Amazon earlier - only does espresso size portions but the suggestion is to run a 2nd cycle through the pod to top the cup up to americano level.
 
Nod said:
Yup! Our standard intake is 3 black americanos (Mrs Nod), 3 lattés (me) and 2 chai lattés (1 each) per day, with a cup of English breakfast tea if I need a top-up. Got a feeling that the EBT (and the Earl Grey) might be discontinued. Did spot a refillable pod on Amazon earlier - only does espresso size portions but the suggestion is to run a 2nd cycle through the pod to top the cup up to americano level.
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Where do you get your chai lattes from? Tassimo had only just got them back in at the weekend and they're out of stock already. Amazon are very expensive.
 
Nod said:
Yup! Our standard intake is 3 black americanos (Mrs Nod), 3 lattés (me) and 2 chai lattés (1 each) per day, with a cup of English breakfast tea if I need a top-up. Got a feeling that the EBT (and the Earl Grey) might be discontinued. Did spot a refillable pod on Amazon earlier - only does espresso size portions but the suggestion is to run a 2nd cycle through the pod to top the cup up to americano level.
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Think you mean Lungo not americano

Espresso is 30ml of expressed coffee i.e hot water passed through coffee grounds.

Americano is 1 shot (30ml expressed coffee or expresso) poured into hot water to make a larger drink.

Lungo is where you take the expresso amount of coffee grounds and pass 60ml of hot water through it. It wont be stronger as the first 30ml of water takes the initial expresso shot but it will be a lot more bitter as the second 30ml of water takes the reminants of the grounds.
 
Marc said:
Where do you get your chai lattes from? Tassimo had only just got them back in at the weekend and they're out of stock already. Amazon are very expensive.
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Usually get it all direct from Tassimo when they have a sale on (fairly regularly - 25/30% off). We get a few (4 or 5) boxes of Americano and 8-10 of latté as well as 3 or 4 chai latté. There's sometimes a limit on how many each customer can order but we have an account each and a spare in Mrs Nod's Mum's name so can usually get all we want. Cupboard under the stairs can get a bit full!!!
 
Nod said:
Usually get it all direct from Tassimo when they have a sale on (fairly regularly - 25/30% off). We get a few (4 or 5) boxes of Americano and 8-10 of latté as well as 3 or 4 chai latté. There's sometimes a limit on how many each customer can order but we have an account each and a spare in Mrs Nod's Mum's name so can usually get all we want. Cupboard under the stairs can get a bit full!!!
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I'll have to wait until it's back in stock with Tassimo and order a few more packs.
 
I'll try to remember toping you the code next time they have a sale on.
 
AFTER we've made our orders!!! :p
 
Just had another look on the Tassimo site and Chai Lattes are back in stock. Mrs F is also fond of the Kenco Mochas and Ocado & B&M are out of stock so have just ordered 3 chai lattes & 3 mochas. A £10 vouch and free delivery means 6 packs for a little over £15! :banana:
 
I thought it was £45 to qualify for free delivery?
 
A happy accident the other day.

Mrs F made herself a chai latte and I went to make myself a hot chocolate. She'd used a big mug so I thought she'd put an empty mug there for me (I was in my chair and couldn't see into the mug). I put a suchard pod into the machine and ended up with a chocolate chai latte. It was delicious! :D
 
Mrs Nod signed up for the Tassimo e-mails and got a 30% off voucher. I rather suspect that her Mum might do similar if we need another large discount!
 
Nod said:
Mrs Nod signed up for the Tassimo e-mails and got a 30% off voucher. I rather suspect that her Mum might do similar if we need another large discount!
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Haven't had any further discounts from them but bought 5 packs of Costa Lattes from Amazon for £20
 
robj20 said:
I'm not buying it, no way it's as fast as just putting a spoon full of powder in some boiling water.
I bet a kettle boils as fast or faster than the coffee machine warms up and delivers a drink. I get the novelty factor I guess, what next vimto pods for hot vimto.
Maybe a hot toddy pod.
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That's fine if you like instant coffee but you can't compared the tast to either a pod based system or a coffee machine.
 
Marc said:
Haven't had any further discounts from them but bought 5 packs of Costa Lattes from Amazon for £20
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Don't forget to use camelcamelcamel to keep an eye on amazons prices.
I use subscribe and save for the Tassimo Costa Lattes the price varies from £17-£20.
It's pot luck if either our B&M or Home Bargains have it in stock.
 
hashcake said:
Don't forget to use camelcamelcamel to keep an eye on amazons prices.
I use subscribe and save for the Tassimo Costa Lattes the price varies from £17-£20.
It's pot luck if either our B&M or Home Bargains have it in stock.
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Yes, B&M tend to be cheaper if they have the stock. Mrs F goes there every few weeks and picks up some pods if they're in stock.
 
Marc said:
Yes, B&M tend to be cheaper if they have the stock. Mrs F goes there every few weeks and picks up some pods if they're in stock.
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The last time I saw the lattes in B&M I cleared the shelf :giggle::giggle:
While I remember, which model machine did you buy?
With my one a latte glass just fits under it and I need to remove it at angle once it's finished.
 
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