coffee cuppers help please! pods vs machine vs aeropress

I have come to a cross roads vis a vis my coffee habit and need help.

Pass on your opinions and guidance on which road to travel down please.

pods: good-quick/choices/small simple machine. bad-non recyclable/expense
machine: good-flavour/patience/stylish?. bad-faffy/messy
aeropress: good-made by inventor or aerobie/flavour. bad- faff?/messy?/lots of bits to lose?

Tassimo

Coffee tastes pretty good from it. Bosch machines, reliable, no hassle. Put pod in, press start, done(unless a 2 podder!). Wipe over weekly, descale quarterly.

Stove top for when I feel like faffing.

Aeropress has three bits that stick together when not in use, is completely transportable, no more messy than a machine, far chaper than pods and makes bloody nice coffee.

Depends what your looking for in a coffee

In decending order of preferance

Decent machine espresso

Gsi stove top

Moka pot

Cafetiere

Aeropress( no matter what people tell me i found it more of a faff and tasted no different to caffetiere done right.

Pods

Tea

Nescafe.

I found a machine more faff than Aeropress, cleaning filters and stuff. You get a routine with Aeropress and it works like clockwork I find. Although machine is nice if you;re gonna sit drinking coffee all day.

Bean to cup ftw…… Purests may scoff but its still nicer than a cafetiere or aeropress imo.

Just need to save for one for the house…… Always an excuse to book out the conferance room for a meeting at work

>Tassimo

Having tried one recently it doesn’t compare to an espresso machine. Certainly a lot easier but I didn’t like the plastic waste each brew produces [the pod] and the taste was so-so.

Aeropress is cheap as chips, ultimately reliable, no mess really (less than an espresso machine), not much faff apart from getting the water temperature right. Coffee is delicious – very tasty and full bodied.

However, I’ve noticed that it uses up coffee almost twice as quickly as my espresso machine.

If you want to make espresso get a proper machine. If you just want some coffee then whatever your taste preference is (though most drinks start off with an espresso, by the time you’ve added water, milk, froth, a dash of vanilla, a shake of chocolate, and a few marshmallows I doubt you’d even know there’s coffee in there.)

Got a couple of stove top pots which are fine but I turn to the Nespresso machine whenever possible.
Guaranteed results with a good crema every time, big choice of coffee’s, pods don’t go off unlike ground coffee and you CAN recycle the Nespresso pods – Nespresso send you bags to put your used pods in and labels to send them back for free via Collect+.
Excellent system.
If you get the chance pop into a shop that sells Nespresso machines as they’ll be more than happy for you to try the coffee.

Actually, in the spirit of irritating STW advice I’m going to say “none of the above”. Get one of these:

It’s what I use most of the time.

I just got a trial pack of ESE pods from coffeeroyale.co.uk and I’ve never had better coffee. Also – no mess and no faff.

Aeropress is my latest, and I like the lack of mess. I get inconsistent results though but prefer it over french press. Nespresso I quite like too as very consistent and good enough for home convenience. Beyond that it’s proper coffee bar for me.

However, I’ve noticed that it uses up coffee almost twice as quickly as my espresso machine.

What measurements you using? A full Aeropress (enough for 1 mug) should be c.15g of coffee, a double espresso shot will be 19-21g coffee.

Coldbrew, chemex or siphon if feeling indulgent.

I’ve got a delonghi espresso machine, it takes both coffee grounds and pods. Currently retails around £200 in John Lewis. It is a bit if a faff compared to making instant coffee and it is for exactly that they are all over gumtree & eBay.

Woman I bought mine off got it as a present, used it once or twice “but I cannae be bothered with all that” so sold it to me for £20.

Bargalicious!

Some solid balanced opinions there, thank you chaps.

I have tried French Presses and the results are mixed hence the need to change. We prefer full bodied coffees and love a bit a crema which is a sticking point with a Aerobie as, while possible, it seems like a chore to create-maybe I am wrong here?
I have used Bialetti stove tops before and do like the results, maybe go back to using a fresh one of those?

A pukka espresso machine makes pukka espresso… Nothing compares if you’re after espresso. I also, depending on circumstances, use a moka pot, cafetiere, Tassimo and instant.

None are any where near as good but a decent espresso kit (grinder and machine) will set you back many £££’s (hundreds).

Not everyone feels the need but the quality and consistency are (for me) worth it.

After similar brew method exploration, my happy coffee place ended up being a second hand (but virtually unused) gaggia baby class from eBay (£65), porlex mini hand grinder (£45) and – most importantly – freshly roasted beans from hasbean.

Good faff:reward ratio and not silly expensive.

As above a decent espresso machine and burr grinder is difficult to beat. It is more faff and mess but that’s half the fun.

I use a gaggia classic, no faff at all. Simply grind some beans, stick ’em in the basket, wallop it down, pour, drink.

Tassimo for a quicky

Beans ground in a burr grinder and then into the French press when I fancy a nicer cup.

Aeropress when I’ve got some right nice coffee in.

Non coffee drinker but long time maker.
Faff with espresso machines? None really as someone said grind, add to basket, brew, steam milk empty basket and rinse. Done easy as.
Pods do seem very wasteful and more expensive.
Areopress looks like the good option as a compromise.
If your coffee is going stale buy smaller bags.

What measurements you using?

The scoops that came with them.

Faff with espresso machines?

I do that sequence every morning and it is a faff. Turn machine on, wait for heat, measure, grind, run water through machine, put coffee in, tamp, brew one cup, repeat for another cup, then clean coffee out whilst waiting for steamer to heat, steam milk (takes a while on mine), pour, wash wand, wash steamer mug, clean machine, wipe up.

Much more faff than tea or even cafetiere. Also more faff than aeropress Imo, but only because I heat the milk in the mug in the microwave.

The op asked for a coffee not a milkshake.;)

I have all three… For different places / Reasons !

Started off my coffee Geekery with a Gaggia Classic espresso machine at home…I love the whole process and don’t see it as a faff …. But fully understand why people would. I drink mainly latte and cappuccino.

Once indoctrinated to proper coffee at home I just couldn’t drink instant at my office so bought a cheap DeLonghi machine for my office, but this can use ESE pods too… Which are good to use …. No alumium or plastic waste …… Very neat Plenty of pods to experiment with too that can be bought quite cheaply

I also got an Aeropress last year for when I fancy a filter coffee , it’s also easy to stick in a bag when travelling to be sure of a decent coffee

I had. Tassimo briefly at my office but it’s now gathering dust, didn’t like the plastic waste and often had problems with pod bar codes not reading correctly ….

So to answer OP …… I’d recommend a machine that also takes ESE pods …. As well as regular ground coffee ( you just switch the basket ) then you can have best of both worlds…… But don’t buy the cheapest ! My DeLonghi is and its a bit flimsy …… I think the Dualit one would gave been a better buy

I also got an Aeropress last year for when I fancy a filter coffee , it’s also easy to stick in a bag when travelling to be sure of a decent coffee

There’s a pretty big difference between good Aeropress coffee and good filter from something like a V60, Chemex or Clever Dripper. Sounds like you need more gadgets to me… 😉

Just upgraded my impressa F70 to a Z5.

Coffee heaven at the touch of a button.

Faff? Moly, the man who reduced hiss Passat to its component parts… The very essence of faff and making a drink is too much (sigh)…

LOL at boblo!

Anyway back to the OP – Krupps U Nespresso pod thing works really well from our perspective (Magimix machine is exactly the same AFAIK) . Pods bought in bulk work out at 29p – 30p each. As mentioned above you recycle them by sending them back via Collect+.
No hassle, coffee tastes great. The aerochino milk heater is also great for latte or cappuccinos.
This machine replaced a ‘proper’ Krupps coffee machine which had reached the end of its life – to be honest I realised I enjoy drinking coffee more than making it!

For coffee to faff ratio, I find It hard to look past a cafetière, though I do sometimes use a stovetop moka pot and have a siphon (actually not unpacked it since a house move, that tells its own story). Paper filters take out the oils, and a decemt espresso machine is expensive and a lot more hassle than just boiling a kettle and pouring it iin the cafetière. Don’t even need to wash it, just give it a rinse round and swill out with hot water when using the next time.

I’ve got a Delongi espresso machine, and its quicker that boiling the kettle to make a cup of instant. I don’t usually use the milk frother right enough, prefer it black.
Also got a stove top, and a cafetiere, I’d go with the machine every time though, its quicker.

Faff? Moly, the man who reduced hiss Passat to its component parts… The very essence of faff and making a drink is too much (sigh)…

I make four cappucinos every day at least so it’s clearly not too much faff. Read the thread carefully.. I said it was MORE faff than an Aeropress…

Bean to cup, nae faff.

If you’re putting milk in your coffee, I suppose it doesn’t matter. You might as well drink Mellow Birds.

If you’re putting milk in your coffee, I suppose it doesn’t matter. You might as well drink Mellow Birds.

Yes. Everyone knows the correct additive is cream.

You’re telling me you can’t taste the difference between mellow birds and high quality espresso if it’s got milk in it?

Your pallette is clearly rubbish, so we can safely ignore your opinion 🙂