You buy their coffee at 100chf/Kg whereas regular grounded coffee costs 18CHF/Kg. Why is that?
Their clever "luxury" marketing make you feel as being part of a connaisseur club . It's not a coincidence that the shops are designed like a Louis Vuitton shop, as well as their exlusive distribution strategy. Nestlé is making big bucks with that! But competition is knocking at the door, and very soon you should be able to buy capsule coffee (compatible with your nespresso machine) at a more interesting price.
The Nespresso store in Graz, Austria has an "express" lane where all they do is sell coffee, no cups, machines, accessories. Maybe other countries would benefit from that process optimization as well?
..you are absolutely right. It's to make your "i'm-an-average-joe-but-nevertheless-I'm-special" to actually feel special. I love how the value added perception makes people spend more time in a shop for a product that is generally an habitual purchase.
True guys, and don;t take me wrong I like their stuff, it's cute and the coffee is nice (at least for me and husband) but husband dreads the store so I am the one usually going. Oh well I got my coffee now so I am happy
They cost a fortune, you need to have/ buy a new machine, you can no longer personalise the quantity of caffeine in each cup, you are producing a ton of recyclable (or not) rubbish, therefore giving yourself more work or ruining the planet, you are kicking yourself for falling for the advertising myth hook, line and sinker, ( you know you are not really any happier or more glamourous sipping out of their cups dressed in black) and...
Nespresso has one thing going for it- relative freshness. Coffee hits it's peak 1 to 4 days post roast. Once ground, it loses flavor in a matter of seconds. A coffee aficionado will consider a coffee stale two weeks after roast. Freezing is a good way to extend its life, and vacuum sealing is a decent alternative. So Nespresso's pods are a good way for someone who doesn't want the bother of seeking fresh roasted coffee and grinding it just prior to brewing.
But- they put a measly 5.5 grams in those capsules. Italian espresso standards say one should use 7 grams for a 30ml cup of coffee, and that's often up-dosed several grams in practice. When I am offered a Nespresso I usually ask for a ristretto dose, which is about as good as you can get from that system for my taste buds.
I do wish Denner would come out with their own pods to fit Nespresso machines. Imagine the tut-tutting at work as you whip out a bright neon red sleeve of one-flavor-fits-all Denner goodness .
You seem to know a lot about coffee...what do you think of of Itialian Mocca gadget? One of the Nespresso ladies told me that the Mocca thingy burns the coffee etc. etc...and it's no good...but, me being the contrarian that I am, didn't believe her one bit.
and ... they're very convenient. There's a lot of anti-snobbery around Nespresso. Or maybe they just hate George Clooney.
I have a stove-top Italian espresso thing, a caffetiere, a "deleh" (I think it's called; for making Arabic/Turkish coffee), instant granuals, an espresso machine with steam wand, *and* a Nespresso machine.
The Nespresso machine is good for when someone wants a decaf espresso and someone doesn't, or when you want to try a special blend (I loved the Christmas "apricot" one) or when your partner works in an office which also uses the same nespresso capsules and steals them
When I want the fun of making an espresso I use my standard espresso machine - grind the right amount of beans, tamp it into the head and enjoy the sounds and smells of making my own coffee.
When I've just got up, am late for work, and need a shot, the capsule gets dropped into the nespresso machine.
Near Basel (although my Nespresso machine is left in London) I saw some capsules in the Geant supermarket in St Louis and they looked like copies, as they said they were recyclable and weren't Nestle ones. However, I think they were 2.5 Euros for a sleeve of 10. Same price as a sleeve of the "proper" ones in the UK.
They break all the rules, especially sending steaming hot water through the coffee toward the end of brewing, but I still like them . It doesn't really matter the brewing method- the very most important thing is fresh coffee, ground just before brewing. Use plenty of coffee- lots of guidelines there on coffee sites like Home Barista and CoffeeGeek and keep the water just below boiling. It can get as complicated as you want to make it- but freshly ground fresh coffee is the base.
My mother has a similar one, she ground the coffee herself, used the machine (in Spanish it is called Colar Cafe??), then she would put the extract *yummy* in the fridge, we would make coffee by having a glass of hot water and pouring as much of the extract as we wanted, this wa very concentrated coffee and I do miss it but I am useless when using the espresso thingies here...