# Nespresso and this Capsulier thing



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

My god, what an exposure to the world of Nespresso. So I quick examination of the Nespresso unit and it's clear that pressures can only be a few bar at best at the capsule. Needles poke 3 holes in the back and the Nespresso cartridge holds around 5.7g of coffee. A good reminder of what I think I knew from some work I did on capsules many years (5) ago.

So this reusable steel capsule/capsulier system, I weighed the amount of coffee I could get in it and it was 4g....with a Nespresso machine on standard settings pushing 40ml of water through that for an extraction ration of 1:10 or more. The drinks taste of nothing, absolutely nothing. I'm going to try even finer and no mesh to see if it can be improved, but you can't really do very much with 4g of coffee can you...even at 1:2 ratio, I will only get an american fruit spoons (a bit bigger than a teaspoon) worth of something they incorrectly call espresso. The reason of course that the steel capsule holds so little, is because it has to be shorter to remain clear of the 3 steel needles in the back of the Nespresso machine.

to make things worse you get 1 capsule, so forget loading 3 or 4 in to get some strength.....if someone else would like 40ml of brown water, you have to fish out the old capsule, wipe up the mess from the drippy Nespresso machine, rinse the capsule, clean the sink from grounds going everywhere, dry it and refill it....my god really....what a huge huge ball-ache. If you want to buy extra capsules, they are $36 each, with tax translate that to £36 over here. Now lets suspend reality for a moment and assume a drink made from 4g of coffee is what you like, then you would probably need 4 capsules, so you could fill all 4. This way you can make a drink for you and a friend or two. So I looked around for the end caps, so I could cap off and seal a cartridge for later...nope. I guess I would have to wrap it in cling film.

At the moment I am not feeling the love at all...I hoped it might become a gateway product, but I just think it will be hugely frustrating to use and and up an unused novelty in someone's cupboard....much like Kruve sieves. Out of curiosity I might buy a pack of Nespresso capsules just to see how they compare..

Oh an any beverage is warm not hot....but as it was all undrinkable, it didn't matter. I will try again tomorrow to see if I can get anything useful from it at all....but the price point is silly for anything usable...as just the Capsulier lite and it's single steel capsule will costaround £100. As much as 700 compatible nespresso capsules and they will have 40% more coffee in each capsule....all with much less hassle.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

So, reading between the lines . . . . You love it

























Thank goodness for Christmas - you can clean it up and pass it on to an unsuspecting colleague!!!!!


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## DH83 (Dec 17, 2018)

Interesting read. I have had my eyes opened recently to the world of coffee machines after previously wanting a Nespresso Pixie machine. I'm sure they fulfill a purpose but would rather put the money towards something decent.


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## Dr Forinor (Jul 30, 2018)

Nespresso owners that I know, absolutely love them? Stating they can't understand how they got by on instant before it - which suggests they obviously think it tastes better than instant.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Dr Forinor said:


> Nespresso owners that I know, absolutely love them? Stating they can't understand how they got by on instant before it - which suggests they obviously think it tastes better than instant.


It does. It tastes better than most supermarket pre ground & own label beans too.


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Coffee is always great until you taste better right? I mean thats the whole reason I (and I imagine most here) come across as such total snobs because we refuse the coffee made in most places because we have tasted better and thus have higher standards.

Nespresso tastes better than instant for sure, I don't drink it because I think its pretty gross, but I bought my Mum one for Christmas a few years back because there is no way in hell she is ever going through the process of using a prosumer machine, for her it tastes better than pre-ground lavazza in a moka.


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## Dr Forinor (Jul 30, 2018)

MWJB said:


> It does. It tastes better than most supermarket pre ground & own label beans too.


Oh? Didn't realise. How does it do compared to what "we drink"?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

My current results with the system up to now and I will have another try today, just in case I'm completely wrong. If I find magically that it's actually OK, then I will post and eat humble pie.

Casulier - refiller and refillable capsule system allows you to fill a reusable steel capsule for a Nespresso machine. Yes capsule, you get 1 only. Based on US pricing this unit is going to cost around £100 with 1 refillable capsule and if you want more capsules so you can refill a few, they will be an eye watering £36 each. This thing is being bigged up all over the internet, honest you tube reviewers (some with even the mesh in the wrong place), telling us how super great it is...wow some people will say anything for money!

If you own a Nespresso machine (and I hope you don't), I don't recommend this system at all....you bought the Nespresso system for convenience not taste and the Capsulier is very inconvenient. I could go into all the reasons why it's useless (and there are lots), but if I say it holds a mere 4g of coffee and it's expected to make a tasty beverage with 8-10 seconds of warm water from a nespresso machine at 1 or 2 bar whooshed through it....you can see the impossibility of such a task.

I was keen to see it, because I thought it might become a "gateway" product. Moving Nespressoers to an environmentally friendly alternative that involved the purchase or real beans and a grinder. Leading to a carafe/filter or even a machine...weaning them of the teat that is Nespresso. Unfortunately it's none of these things and I don't see how it ever can be.

I was equally interested to see a Nespresso machine, albieit a low end one....my god...really. I had the Delonghi version of the stylish unit below and £89 wow really!!!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nespresso-Essenza-Coffee-Machine-Magimix/dp/B06X9BCLQY/ref=sr_1_13?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1545049337&sr=1-13&keywords=delonghi+nespresso

*The sad thing is that many Nespresso machines are costing upward of £300...*If they are not too expensive I may buy a few Nespresso capsules, but having inspected the Nespresso unit and the fact that Nespresso capsules only hold 5.7g of coffee, I am not expecting much. I remain thinking the best "gateway" product so far is a BTC machine...or filter drip with a grinder and fresh beans.

P.S. I was going to do a Video to counter all the misinformation out there...but to be honest I can't be arsed.....people won't believe it anyway with all the super positive reviews out there.


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

In my experience the refillable capsules produce a much weaker and more unpleasant drink than the actual Nespresso pods. The third party ones are also not 'as good' - but the plastic waste issue is an important one, and as you have found Dave refilling a tiny pod to produce a weak drink is no fun at all.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Dr Forinor said:


> Oh? Didn't realise. How does it do compared to what "we drink"?


Better than some, worse than others.

You might not find many varieties that you like, but if you do, you can make it again & again very consistently. I generally stick to Rosabaya, Volluto & Bukeela, all at 45g out.

Personally, whatever the capsule, I don't care much for the odd, soapy crema, so I skim that off & give it a stir before drinking.


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## hifimacianer (Sep 27, 2018)

When we used Nespresso some years ago, I found the Roma tasted pretty good.

At least better than the Espresso most Cafes and Restaurants in my area offer.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

hifimacianer said:


> When we used Nespresso some years ago, I found the Roma tasted pretty good.
> 
> At least better than the Espresso most Cafes and Restaurants in my area offer.


That's not saying a lot really, most cafes and especially restaurants serve something undrinkable.


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## Crispin0 (Nov 3, 2019)

I first saw Nespresso in 2003 whe visiting some friends in Paris; I thought they had been brainwashed...

I also thought it would have never break into the Italian market...

I stopped drinking coffee for 3 years and then I got a used 1st series Nespresso machine: single nozzle and 'hand' tight rather than having the leverage system on current models.

I bought it because I came across reusable /disposable pods.

In a modern machine they are disposable because the 3 nozzles will pierce every time in a different place rendering them useless, but in this single nozzle one you can use them 30 times each (the heat slowly deforms them, especially the second batch I bought that was of inferior quality).

I load them with 6g of a strong Portuguese blend ment for espresso machines.

It takes 16-19 seconds to get a small espresso.

It is better than any Nespresso blend any day of the week.

Cost per cap is 6-7p vs 16-18 minimum for non-brand ones.

To this day, 7 years down the line I never spent a penny on Nespresso pods or products...

I found the old 1st gen Nespresso machines the best compromise between practicality of pods and economics / sustainability.

Unfortunately the whole series has been discontinued and it's difficult to find even used.

Particularly unethical by Nespresso is that it seems that the latest models are designed to trash the capsules even more than before and without any improvement in quality of the drink, my guess is that Nespresso does it to fight against reusable pods...


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## CoffeeGeek123 (Dec 30, 2019)

Have you tried the SealPod capsules? These came out best when tested by *Which?* recently.


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