# Nespresso Police



## planetdek

Hi

Newbie here ,please be gentle.

Not sure this is the right place but I just wanted to ask a Nespresso related question.

I have a Nespresso Essenza (the Magimix version) and love the coffees it produces.

Recently I visited a Nespresso Boutique and was offered a coffee at the tasting stand.

Whilst there I engaged in conversation with a rather snooty assistant.

We were discussing the important topic of Lungo vs Espresso and she informs me that drawing a Lungo amount of water through an Espresso rated capsule will damage my machine. I queried this and said I could not see why this would be the case and said I regularly use Espresso pods on the Lungo setting, my wife will even draw two Lungos through one capsule if she does not want a strong drink. Anyway she insisted, almost aggressively that I should not do it. I made some flippant remark about the Nespresso Police and went on my way.

Now I could not let this drop so did a bit of Googling and found a statement attributed to Nespresso themselves that it was perfectly fine to draw as much water as you like through whatever pod you like. They do make a claim that it might 'spoil' your enjoyment of the coffee as the capsules are 'tuned' to the particular cru but there was no mention of machine damage.

Now I could go back and tell Miss Snooty but that would childish wouldn't it?

Anyway my questions are :

Does anyone else use the Lungo button for an Espresso pod ? Or worse still for a Ristretto?

Does anyone think I am damaging my machine?

Does anyone fear a knock at the door from Nespresso brandishing a manual?

Does anyone think I should get out more?

Thanks in advance


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## Spazbarista

I think she is full of sh1t.


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## Glenn

More than likely a sales tactic to ensure the most amount of capsules / pods are purchased


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## Mrboots2u

I'm unsure how many Nespresso users on here ( not mr snotty here )


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## Obnic

I'm with Spazbarista.

I used to use these machines (Citiz and Lattisima) at client sites. They would routinely cater to groups of twenty or so people wanting a drink before a meeting. They'd choose their pod by how well the colour matched their shirt and the button by reference to those on their jackets. The machines all performed faultlessly over several years. They just didn't make terribly good coffee.

Edit: That sounded a bit smug. For what they are they're great. What I meant was that freshly ground coffee and some good equipment can do something a Nespresso machine simply can't.


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## Spazbarista

Quite. I've had a few goes on one and it was perfectly acceptable. Better than most UK cafés attempts in all honesty


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## charris

She is full of shit. I have been using nespresso for over 10 years, 2-5 capsules per day, I still use 2 machines - one at work and one at my holiday home. The standard capsules have 5 or 6 grams of coffee. The Lungo ones probably have 1 or 2 grams more.

Since both standard and lungo buttons on the machines are configurable you can change the settings and customize your water pulls. I prefer the standard capsules and just pull as much water I feel at the time, taste does not really change much. For guests I use standard capsules but allow enough water to make it a lungo or just use lungo capsules.

Nespresso is good, stupidly easy and extremely consistent UNTIL you try a good fresh coffee from a manual machine - then you understand that Nespresso is a very distant cheap fabricated cousin of the real thing. That said for most of my friends that want to get an espresso machine I would recommend a nespresso machine since 99% of them do not have the patience to get a semi-automatic or manual machine.


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## Mrboots2u

What a bunch of potty mouths we all are today.,,and over Nespresso..


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## Yes Row

I do not understand how 5or6g of coffee can make a lungo. Surely it can not be down to roasting the beans really darkly? Or is it using Robusta

Confused of Derby!


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## ronsil

I've considered that enigma for many years.

The lungos seem relatively short but nevertheless for what they are they produce a reasonable drink.

Dare I suggest there is an additive of some sort or would they never get away with it????.....


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## MWJB

Yes Row said:


> I do not understand how 5or6g of coffee can make a lungo. Surely it can not be down to roasting the beans really darkly? Or is it using Robusta
> 
> Confused of Derby!


Coarser grind.


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## froggystyle

Courser grind on 5-6g of coffee would be piss weak though, or have i had one to many bottles of TangleFoot?


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## Obnic

I believe these machines work at 15 bar. Is that right? There must be some form of flow restriction.


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## charris

I do not really think that Nespresso doses can be compared to the fresh doses we use here or even to doses using "old" beans e.g Illy, Lavazza, e.t.c

I used to drink only Nespresso Lungo capsules but nowadays I just use the very strong normal ones e.g ristretto, roma, e.t.c which seem to make a "thicker" drink.


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## charris

ronsil said:


> Dare I suggest there is an additive of some sort or would they never get away with it????.....


I am very positive on this. I do not think they just use fresh coffee and nitrogen.


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## charris

One more point since we are discussing about Nespresso: if at a restaurant or at a non specialized coffee shop (or basically everywhere







) I strongly prefer if they have a Nespresso machine rather a big fully blown pro machine and grinder which they have no idea how to use.


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## MWJB

froggystyle said:


> Courser grind on 5-6g of coffee would be piss weak though, or have i had one to many bottles of TangleFoot?


It depends how much water you push through it, at 75-90g in the cup 6g dose could be fine, 60-70g out from 5g - just talking concentration here, compared to brewed coffee. Sure, drawing a full mug would be weak...but then it would for pretty well any "single serve" dose.


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## froggystyle

yeah i get what your saying, but its not brewed, the water is coming though the coffee faster...

Never really used pods, whats the average weight in one?


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## MWJB

froggystyle said:


> yeah i get what your saying, but its not brewed, the water is coming though the coffee faster...


It's brewed by percolation, like drip & espresso...the speed isn't so important because you (they) design grind to match the speed. Theoretically, if you pulled a short espresso type shot with a lungo pod you'd get very underextracted coffee - in the same way as if you went from 18:250 out from your drip cone, to 18:50 out, without changing grind.


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## charris

froggystyle said:


> yeah i get what your saying, but its not brewed, the water is coming though the coffee faster...
> 
> Never really used pods, whats the average weight in one?


Nespresso is 5g or 6g


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## urbanbumpkin

I've not had a massive amount of experience with these.

There's a Nespresso machine at work. They were using ristretto pods on a Lungo setting, it tasted shockingly bad. When the machine was adjusted to pull it as a ristretto or an espresso it seemed to improve it.

I'd be interested in any tips to getting good milk from one. Can you pull the end of the pannerello wand off?


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## Obnic

The machines we used didn't really offer many options for controlling milk texture. The citiz comes with a little jug that has a spinning spring-ring at the bottom. It produces acceptable cappuccino-style foamed milk that isn't overheated (stops automatically) but it's obviously from a machine. The latissima syphons milk from a reservoir through a steam + air wand that's similar to a panerelo. It's less successful and messy.


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## Charliej

I wonder if they use the nitrogen in the same way that Guinness and some of the other canned beers do with their widgets to improve mouthfeel and texture?


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## Geordie Boy

Nitrogen will be used to keep the coffee in an inert atmosphere which is better for it (apparently) than oxygen in terms of the coffee going off. Illy have been using it since the 30's


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## Charliej

Geordie Boy said:


> Nitrogen will be used to keep the coffee in an inert atmosphere which is better for it (apparently) than oxygen in terms of the coffee going off. Illy have been using it since the 30's


I realise it is used for that reason Ian, I was just wondering whether it also served a dual purpose as it used by brewers in their nitro keg beers to make the beer feels and tasty creamier, this effect is achieved simply by adding energy during the pouring process.


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## Geordie Boy

Be interesting in the pods what % of the nitrogen gets into the drink. Some could get in off the pressurisation of pushing the water through, or it could all just escape when the pod gets punctured. Good question though.

Coffee is around 2.5% nitrogen by default so I wonder if creamier, smoother beans have more natural nitrogen in them?


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