I’ve been using Nespresso pods for years but am tempted by a bean to cup machines. Am I wasting my time, though, as all the advice seems to be along the lines of shouting “ALwAYS USE FReSH BEENS”.

The reason I use Nespresso pods is because I’m often away from home for several days at a time. How quickly do beans go off? Should I accept that I’ll need a new bag every week? Some people are saying that leaving beans in the grinder overnight is enough to destroy them and jam the grinder the next morning.

Some people are saying that leaving beans in the grinder overnight is enough to destroy them and jam the grinder the next morning

Some people do talk a lot of Shi*.

For those sorts of timescales you’ll be fine. We normally have a big 1 kg bag of beans open, with as much as we can fit in the grinder, and it will stay that way until it is all used up (perhaps a two to three weeks at the minute).

We have a bean to cup at work. Beans left in over thye weekend, often for quite a few days. My palate isnt sensitive enough to notice any difference, it makes great espressos is enough for me.

At home I’ve got a DeLonghi machine which takes ground coffee. We buy Lavazza. It makes great espressos is enough for me! And its quick and easy to use.

Same here.
I have a Delonghi bean to cup and I now fill the hopper with about 4-5 days worth of beans…. seems fine to me.
1kg bags of Lavazza kept in the fridge or freezer once opened.

We also have a Nespresso but I haven’t used it in about 2 years at least.

Some people are saying that leaving beans in the grinder overnight is enough to destroy them and jam the grinder the next morning.

Utter bollocks IME!

There is a lots of coffee snobs around, most of them talk complete rubbish

I buy 1kg bags of beans from a local roaster. I chuck a cup full in to my machine, the rest go in bag with air sucked out of it and chucked in the freezer. When I need more, I scoop a cupful out of the freezer bag, suck air out of bag and carry on.

Once, I went crazy and didn’t even freeze the beans, all was good, I didn’t die.

Someone will be along in a minute to tell you that 67% of flavour is lost after being exposed to air for 48 seconds or some other rubbish. They’ll probably tell you you need to buy a £60 vacuum jar to store them. They’ll probably also say you need a Aeropress or stove top.

All a load of rubbish.

We have left our machine with beans in it when away on holiday (remember when we had things like holidays?), and not only didnt the grinder jam, but the coffee tasted fine as well.

Having said that, my Delonghi is getting picked up today to go away for a warranty repair. It made a load crack noise the other day and bits of broken plastic appeared in the grinds drawer. My beans had been in over night.

Makes you think……

Picked up a DeLonghi bean-to-cup off their eBay page. Refurbished, 12 month warranty – all good. Saved about £250 off the new one.
No issues with beans ‘going off’ and I normally top them up once a week from a 1kg bag of Lavazza.

I’ve been using Nespresso pods for years but am tempted by a bean to cup machines. Am I wasting my time, though, as all the advice seems to be along the lines of shouting “ALwAYS USE FReSH BEENS”.

yeah, I think about “upgrading” to a bean-to-cup every now and then – but it’s a lot of expense & faff and yeah most peoples’ strategy of buying a big bag of supermarket beans and taking a month to get through them unlikely to be optimal!

My local roastery does their own compatible capsules, I actually prefer some of them to the “real deal” Nespresso ones (although they aren’t necessarily cheaper) and I guess they’re a lot fresher. They are compostable too which is nice!

I’m a grind-my-own-coffee-and-use-aeropress snob. I’ve never really noticed beans ‘going off’, but some of the light roast stuff can lose a tiny bit of flavour over time (but still make a decent brew IME). If you squeeze the air out of the bag they’re in and keep them dry they’ll last for ages.

Depends what you want from your coffee, an espresso shot to sling milk into, coffee that has been in a hopper won’t taste too bad after a few days.

Freshly ground is important, freshness of the beans helps too but is probably less important.

There are vacuum canisters that will help keep beans fresher for a few weeks.

If you just want a straight espresso you pick up more of the taste difference if the beans have aged. Either way a bean to cup is likely to be an upgrade on Nespresso from my perspective, I have drunk Nespresso and freshly made espresso side by side and there is a big difference to me, not everyone would agree though.

Bean to Cup here

You can definitely taste the difference between beans, and also the age of beans, but I am talking days to weeks old.

Most bags of fresh beans say use with 3-4 weeks. You can actually see when they are starting to loose their flavour, the beans go from a matt finish to gloss finish as the oils etc ooze out of the bean.

Is freezing ok then and doesnt damage the bean?

If so will have to look in to it. We buy 250g bags to avoid getting beyond 2 or so weeks old, but it does mean extra cost and faff.

1kg bags of Lavazza kept in the fridge or freezer once opened.

I would say stop keeping it in the freezer or fridge. Sealed container in a cupboard is fine but I’ve been told the moisture the cold beans attract when you take them out of the fridge isn’t good for them.

Supermarket beans, including Lavazza, can be many months old – it really is worth trying something more local. Lavazza looks like £10 at cheapest. I buy Martin Carwardine (lovecoffee.co.uk) Classico Espresso for £14 a kg (and buy 4kg at a time to get free shipping).

I think that now lasts me about 3 months. I don’t notice any difference in flavour over the months but a bit of a loss in crema produced. More significant from the start of a bag to the end than from the first bag to the last.

Neighbour has a Nespresso machine. The coffees not bad, but it’s at least twice as expensive as my beans (18g double from my machine 25p, Nespresso pods are a single for more than that each)

Most bags of fresh beans say use with 3-4 weeks

Hmm. I just looked at my latest batch from Carwardines and they’re marked best before 21 September 2021 so they have no problem with their reputation being based on beans which could be 8 months old.

I’d say it also depends on how much coffee you drink, I changed a bean-to-cup machine to a Nespresso as I generally only drink a couple of cups a day so the convenience of the Nespresso suited me more (although these days I drink more instant than Nespresso so I’m probably classed as a coffee heathen :p ).

Hmm. I just looked at my latest batch from Carwardines and they’re marked best before 21 September 2021 so they have no problem with their reputation being based on beans which could be 8 months old.

And that is odd as you can physically see the bean change colour over that 1-4 week period. I have used Rave and Hasbean and they both put a short expiry date on their product which may have been roasted a day or two before.

Marketing bull or not?

they’re marked best before 21 September 2021

There’s a difference between how long they will last sealed, to how long you can expect to get the best coffee from them once the seal is broken.

I.e. if you want to keep them for a few months, do so, but keep them sealed, once opened, get through them in 3-4 weeks for the best flavour.

I have used fresh beans (from specialist indie retailers through to supermarket own brands and national retailers such as Whittard’s and Taylors) and (before lockdown) I would take a good 4-6 weeks to use a bag as I only drank coffee at home at a weekend. Not once have I ever had an issue with a grinder being jammed up after being left unused for five or so days nor have I ever noticed a change in the taste quality of my coffees.

And that is odd as you can physically see the bean change colour over that 1-4 week period

Yes, I’d there is definitely a slight noticeable change in how glossy the beans appear from opening a bag to finishing it (remainder kept in a ‘lock and lock’ airtight container). Again, probably more dramatic from start to end of one bag than from first bag to last.

Whether this really affects the flavour to a noticeable degree is another matter – my shots aren’t all going to be exactly the same size. Milk quantity will vary slightly and freshness of milk changes from day to day. I certainly don’t get to the end of a 4Kg batch and think ‘this coffee is past it’s best’ – it’s still better than anything I get anywhere else!

I think that the subject of coffee is the same as anything where there is an opportunity to obsess over the details (see the current thread on speaker cable as an example).

There will be a small percentage of people who can tell the difference between 1 day old and 2 day old beans but for most people it just tastes like nice coffee.

Personally, I have a Delonghi bean to cup machine that gets filled with a bag of Aldi beans once a week and I haven’t noticed a difference between day 1 and day 7 – YMMV!

We bought the Nespresso Vertuo version last year. Very nice it is to. Way better than the earlier pod version. My ‘Bean’ mates have rated it highly.

I’ve been using the tasimo type for a few years, and while it isnt the best coffee, I think what im looking for is just a hot drink, rather than a real coffee taste.
From following a few threads on here im going to go back to the stove top pot, partly due to cost – these instant cup things are usually cheap, but its the pods which prove expensive.

That said, I might be tempted to stick with the machine type if its proven you can get a high class cup of coffee out of one. so following this thread with interest.

The tasimo is handy for instant hot choccy though, my usual late night tipple

I get about 3kg of origin beans delivered (c £12kg from Hormozi) and it lasts for a few months in the cupboard and doesn’t seem to deteriorate. I was also told not to put it in the fridge due to condensation issues.

It often depends on the beans and the environment. I’ve had beans go slightly oiley over a period and these gummed up the grinder. But, they were starting to oiley in the bag.

I don’t own a bean to cup but my Gaggia produces substantially better coffee than my Nespresso even wen used with Nespresso capsules with similar coffee origins.

I would love bean to cup, but counter space and bank account space do not allow. I do however have a decent burr grinder which I use most days for drip or cafetiere. It does make a difference having a fresh grind.

Thanks everyone. Have got a number of machines cued up on CamelCamelCamel so just playing the waiting game now.

I’ve taken half a step – I use my Nespresso machine with reusable capsules. Recently bought a good grinder and some beans from a local place (Extract Coffee Bristol) and have been filling the capsules with that. Certainly a nicer coffee.

Grabbing one while they are in stock should be an olympic sport, but good deals to be had here;
https://www.melitta.co.uk/products/coffee-machines/refurbished-bean-to-cup-machines/

I use my Nespresso machine with reusable capsules

which ones? I bought some off Amazon ages ago, they were **** terrible (leaked everywhere), just sent them back n the end!

Thanks everyone. Have got a number of machines cued up on CamelCamelCamel so just playing the waiting game now.

We used to have a Sage Bambino Plus and separate cheap Krups grinder. It produce nicer than avg coffee.

Before Christmas Sage had 25% off so we took the plunge and bought a Sage Oracle. The coffee is not nearly 6 times better, it subtly better than the Bambino. I never used to drink coffee but now I look forward to trying different blends and varieties as you can taste the differences, its just like wine. The other thing the Oracle gives us is convenience of doing the whole thing from Bean to Cup in one go.

Using Camel will not necessarily get you the best deals. I got the Sage deal off hotukdeals.

Grabbing one while they are in stock should be an olympic sport, but good deals to be had here;
https://www.melitta.co.uk/products/coffee-machines/refurbished-bean-to-cup-machines/

never heard of those before, but some good offers there (seems lots in stock?) and googling, looks like they get decent reviews!

Reading this makes me think of a suitable comparison; high spec machine and cheap beans is like a high spec bike with a below average rider on (aka me).

You can put a great rider on an average bike and they’ll be ok, but a great rider can’t get podium results out of a bso.

I’ll second the shout for Extract roasters here, been impressed with their beans after someone recommended them on here.

Have got a number of machines cued up on CamelCamelCamel so just playing the waiting game now.

Delonghi sell refurbs cheap on their ebay store. Hav never had any issues with any of them – often just slight marks on the casing etc.

which ones? I bought some off Amazon ages ago, they were **** terrible (leaked everywhere), just sent them back n the end!

They were a gift so not sure where from, but they’re identical to those here

Interestingly it’s the Sage Barista Pro I’ve been coveting. Will check out HotUKDeals too.

As long as your beans were roasted recently then ‘several days’ won’t make much difference to flavour.

Buying small amounts of freshly roasted beans regularly will likely give you better flavour than buying large amounts of beans occasionally.

Try some freshly roasted beans from the smaller roasters and compare against the brands in chain coffee stores and supermarkets and see what you prefer.

if you’re really concerned about flavour loss you can always roast your own beans. Though this could open up the argument about ‘how soon is too soon to make coffee from freshly roasted beans’.

irrespective of your supermarket or ‘artisan’ bean source I expect you will find the flavour of coffee from bean to cup better than from prepacked pods.

never heard of those before, but some good offers there (seems lots in stock?) and googling, looks like they get decent reviews!

Did you try clicking on “Add to cart”?

Someone here recommended them last year and reviews from the coffee nerds were impressive. We got a Barista TS Smart and have been very happy with it. Never found one in stock on that page but other places give solid discounts, eg. hartsofstur.com

Less fussed about the milk side of things (don’t want anything that has a milk container – if I’m going to foam milk I’ll use a steam wand) so also considering the Sage Grinder Pro and Bambino combination.

Less fussed about the milk side of things (don’t want anything that has a milk container – if I’m going to foam milk I’ll use a steam wand) so also considering the Sage Grinder Pro and Bambino combination.

That’s what I’m going for also. Got the Sage Dose Control Pro when Sage had the 25% offer, and as mentioned have been using that with reusable Nespresso capsules.

But, I’m after the Sage Bambino to replace. It’s just that I’m too tight to pay £350-£400 when they’d been on sale for under £200 pre-Covid!