Arent pod machines supposed to develop a pressure of 19psi in the pod?Originally Posted by 6A6B71786B7D60190 link=1322406344/49#49 date=1323037126
Or is that never actually said, just something about a 19psi pump?
Ive never actually seen an aldi pod machine other than the one the demonstrator was using, yet let alone bought one. They were sold out by 1pm on the day of launch, and they never replaced the stock.
They need someone smarter at aldi. if they spend the huge amount of money on tv advertising that they did, with the very good price of the machine, then theyre going to sell a lot, so have stock to match.
Its like theyve tried to duplicate the inkjet-printer business model (aka the loss-leader):
- make cheap and unserviceable printer mechanism
- sell printer at cost or below
- sell ink refills at extortionate price and use patent/trademark law to prevent re-use of ink containers by 3rd parties.
Replace words as required and you have this product.
Yes, not suprisingly build quality does seem to vary. My GF tried here Expressi today and it made a lot of noise and seemed to struggle with the flow. Interestingly the temp of her brew was 60 degress. Of even more interest was that she called Aldi cust. service about it and was told the brew temp was correct i.e. 60 degrees? I then called Jura and was told my temp should be 85 degrees so its off to the service agent.
If my Expressi is the correct brewing temperature then maybe its just the crap pods. Ill try a MAP pod instead.
I want using anything more than than a milk temp therometer but my Jura Ena 5 wasnt anywhere near 85deg! Maybe 60 ish but thats all & the settings were HOT too. Please post after getting yours looked at if you see any difference?!? Plz
I solved the temperature problem and it didnt cost me a cent. With some advice from some helpful guys on this forum I tested a 2nd cup straight after the first. This time the brew was 88 degrees! It seems some Juras need a shot put through first (which you throw) and use the second cup for drinking. Try that.
The first cup tasted ok but the second was hotter, i wont waste the first shot but make sure i get to drink the second and will give the first one to someone else then - easy done
Not really. There are no cheaper coffee pods than Aldis. Nothing even in the same league [price wise]. Your analogy is flawed as I know what youre saying, youre saying maybe this pod machine is equivalent to a lexmark printer that sell ridiculously cheap, but l the cartridges are insanely ridiculously expensively. A set of cartridges for this printer is as much as the printer.
Aldi dont do that. Its a cheap machine, with the cheapest pods of any pod manufacturer. Aldis motive is more obvious, its to get people into their store on a regular basis to buy groceries and weekly specials at aldi that they wouldnt have bought if they werent going to aldi for their coffee pods.
Nothing as machiavellian as youve suggested.
Im curious what aldi expressi coffee pod flavours people have tried and which they liked and which they hated?
Latte Macchiato on the aldi machine.
Very Impressive!
Rather impressive, Id imagining that putting the milk through the coffee path might make things taste, odd for the next espresso.
So, How did it taste?
Watched the video(s) on the aldi exoressi on youtube and its nice to see people posting stuff (even learnt how to use the milk frother correctly so thanks for that) BUT almost all the POURS looked rotten (very light creama) which has been my experience too but i think its the PODS not the machine (although tweaking seems to make a diff to that too reading experiences here).
My question is what is the capsule cream pod pors i saw? I see they do that first and then coffee on top before adding milk. But i couldnt work out what the white pod stuff was???
These are powdered milk capsules right?
Sheeze... now these pod machines are going to produce 3 times the amount of landfill.* I might have to move my kids to the tip so they can get a taste of Australia in the future.* *
::)
Hands-up who wants to try filling the water tank with milk?
;D
These "cheapest pods" are still $52/kg for stale pre-ground coffee.* Nothing cheap about that.
My temperature tests were after 3 flushes of hot water... it was the maximum I could get.
Build variations might be part of the problem.* Any of you guys from Aldi want to send me another machine for side by side tests?
(edit - removed the ad for Aldi) - Andy
Thats funny. I wish I found this review earlier. Good review.
Itll please the crowd who drink coffee because they think its fancy, "cafe-style" and not because they like the taste of the coffee - because theyve rarely, if ever, had good coffee, and all they can taste is the milk and sugar. Your shot looks the same as I get from my machine when I use pods - black coffee, white "crema" on top.
I purchased the expressi machine in Black today, had to get the frother from another store as my store didnt have any.
I made my first cup of Milano, really nice
The milk frother froths up way too much, wish it wouldnt do so.
As for the coffee itself, might need to adjust the small cup setting as the amount of coffee I got was really smal.
Probably should try using the large cup the next time.
But all in all very happy so far
Thanks for the great detailed review Andy! I was actually contemplating getting one of these if anyone made refillable pods so that I could use my own coffee in them.
However if the results are below par in terms of low temp and fast flow rate then I guess that probably wont work too well anyway...
Its surprising that you say the grind is quite coarse in the capsules. I would have thought if the pour time is quite short theyd want to grind the coffee as fine as possible. Or perhaps the machine isnt powerful enough to push the water through finely ground coffee.
I havent had the chance to go to an Aldi to try one of these, but I will if I can find somewhere that they still do demos.
Ive tried a few flavours of Nespresso and havent been impressed. As you mentioned with the pod systems, the coffee just isnt fresh and that comes through in the coffee.
I find that I get more aroma out of a cheap bag of beans from the supermarket that I grind myself than any capsule Ive tried!
I dont think that is entirely correct, at-least Ive not had the issues youve mentioned.
Have had the machine for a couple of days now, and loving it so far :D
So what temperature and flow rate are you getting from yours?
Thats good to hear. Buggered if I could get anything I wanted to drink out of the one I tested but if you are getting something you like thats all that matters.
At $100 for the machine and a couple of boxes of capsules its pretty low risk. ...but you were warned
;D
Of course! You will get even better from fresh roasted beans from good roaster or from beans that you roasted yourself at home.
8-)
Will check the temp next time I make one, but should mention I had to wait about 2 mins before sipping, it was a little hotter than your usual cafe serveSo what temperature and flow rate are you getting from yours?
I feel the key here is to keep things very simple and follow basic rules.Thats good to hear.* Buggered if I could get anything I wanted to drink out of the one I tested but if you are getting something you like thats all that matters.
Lot of people complaint about the low strength pods being watery and waste, but (as I mentioned) simple basic instructions are followed you can end up with a decent beverage !
(edit by andy to fix the quote tags)
Ill have another read of the instructions and see if the machine will produce great espresso.
...but I do expect it will still produce stale, bitter, expensive and nasty coffee.
I would like to try roasting my own beans one day, except I know nothing about roasting (yet)! Im sure theres a lot of information on the forums which Ill read before buying some green beans to try!
Well I bought one of these yesterday. Bit of an impulse as I was in Aldi anyway, but for small change I thought Id get quick and convenient and cheap coffee on my desk at work.
Bottom line, I must not be much of a coffee snob after all. I got the Renzo (8) pods and to me the lattes Ive made with the Expressi and the frother taste almost as good as any $4.00+ coffee I can buy locally (and Seven Seeds is literally 200m away from my desk).
At $0.374 per coffee (not counting the cost of the machines or milk - work provide milk) I LOVE it for convenience at work and the massive savings to be had by not buying coffee every day. These things are designed for convenience first and foremost. Something quick and easy and a million times better than instant coffee.
So Ive come to the conclusion that theres coffee snobs (me) and then above them sit the Jedi Master coffee snobs (like Andy).
Oh, and I fail to see how $0.374 per coffee is expensive when Ive been buying one, often two, $4.60 coffees a day for months.
I look forward to hearing what Mark says when you say that his coffee is the same as old, stale preground coffee that arrived on a slow boat from Germany.
::)
Please take a video camera with you so we can all see.
;D
Hmmm...
The price of the coffee (whats in the capsule) is expensive in comparision to every fresh roasted coffee supplier in the country.
You can buy amazing coffees for far less per kilo and much lower imact on the planet as a bonus.
Its not stale. Pre-ground, yes. But its sealed inside an air tight packet so its certainly not stale. In fact is has a used by date of September 2013.
FWIW, I buy all my beans for making coffee at home in my 6910 from Seven Seeds and grind them seconds before I do the extraction.
I should be more specific regarding the taste. "NEARLY" as good as........ But for $0.374 per coffee, its much better value for money. Like I said, Im clearly not enough of a snob.
As for lower impact on the environment? I had a laugh!!! What the?
Meaning its 7-8 months since it was ground.
Thats pretty stale when you are talking to a roaster that wont sell coffee thats more than a week old!
;D
yeah well, Im a very young padewan when it comes to coffee obviously. I had a laugh
For a majority of our population convenience is far more important than the flavour of their coffee. That is why something like 70% of all coffee is sold as instant and most coffee machines sold by the discount and department stores are either pod machines or super automatics.
Barry
Referring to the amount of waste these capsule machines produce. All the individual packaging, plastic, foil etc.
Recyclable?
When I make a coffee, my waste product is one puck of spent coffee which can go straight onto the garden. Worst case, it goes to landfill as 100% organic waste.
Why would I give a toss about waste? It goes in the bin... End of story.
Ahh... I get where youre coming from. All it required was a quick read of your other idiotic posts ::)
Anyone notice anything in the vicinity of the bridge?
Ahh........ a troll!
There you go.
SNAP Chris!
Im sad for you.
If that was a joke it wasnt funny, if it wasnt a joke then its just a pathetic attitude in this century.
I think I speak for everyone when I say it might be better if you go somewhere else to troll for a reaction.
Dont throw them out until you use them at least one more time. By your own calculations, this will cut your costs to $0.187 per coffee.
I also tried an Aldi pod in a MAP machine, and it was like using ground coffee the same way you use instant. There seemed to be no filter process at all and I couldn’t stomach any more than a mouthful. Have I done something wrong or is there a way around this? I keep reading Reviews where people mention Aldi Pods in MAP Machines and while they mention the fact it tastes like dirt they dont mention it has the same consistency.
No- nothing wrong as such. The results in the cup are to be expected ;)
The way around it is to ditch pods, buy fresh roasted and grind to order- for a non-pod method of production which suits your requirements.
My Italian espresso machine (~$800 ten years ago) died so I grabbed an Aldi. Now I Cant agree with a lot of the Aldi bashing going on here.
Will you get a better coffee out of a $1600 machine? Possibly. Twenty times better? No way! But hang on, why are you trying to make that comparison in the first place?
If youre trying to match a particular coffee experience this isnt the machine for you. Dont waste your time complaining that you cant get the coffee you want out of the Aldi, go buy a quality dual boiler espresso and tell us how good it is.
Now, are the pods expensive? Its been costing $12.50 a quarter kilo for Campos beans so actually no, pods are not expensive.
How good/bad is the coffee? Take a random walk down the nearest shopping street and get a cup from the first place with an espresso and my experience is the shop cup will most likely be worse than you can get with the Aldi. Theres a lot of bad coffee out there, but yes you can do a lot better. Its certainly better than any instant. Better and hotter than youre likely to achieve with a plunger. Its not a brilliant cup, but quite satisfactory.
Tips:
1) Like any coffee machine you gotta learn how to drive it. Especially learn to program the shot size. Dont press the 100ml lungo button, in fact dont put any more than 40ml through a capsule.
2) Pre-heat you cup.
;D best first post ever
Its times like these when you think forums need a "Like" button...
Welcome to CoffeeSnobs KrisP
Being as fair as I could I tried really hard to get a good coffee from this machine both by following the directions and by modifying the machine to try and get around its problems.
Which is exactly what I did...
[img]
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/attachments/expressi10.jpg[/img]
::)
My kettle boils water, I get a choice.
Feel free to come to the Snobbery for some blind taste testing. Aldi pods vs fresh coffee in a plunger or even against an $80 espresso machine and fresh coffee.
However you compare I think the coffee coming from this pod machine is bad and 100% of the people that tried it at the Snobbery agreed.
I suspect there is a real probability of some significant machine to machine differences at play here.
but using a random "shop bought cup" as a standard to compare against, is not a high target to beat !
Note : I believe everyone should own a pod machine....
.....for use as a reference point when you doubt your abilities as an Espresso maker ! ;D
I can see from your posts that youve gone to a lot of trouble to try to get a good coffee out of your Aldi. Now if I want a really good coffee what I do is walk up the road round the corner to a guy with a La Marzocco and for $3 he makes me happy.
On a cold wintry morning I set my sights lower.
For better temperature, (I dont have a thermometer) I turn on the machine, run the cleaning cycle, then run a lungo cycle without a pod.* This warms the cup and the machine. It still could be a bit hotter but is borderline acceptable, and the crema seems to come out a bit darker.
For a nice dark crema and even hotter shot I can use a Map pod(8g) instead of an Aldi one(7g). This gives a slightly smaller shot, and a nice dark crema. But they are more expensive (60c vs 38c) and it feels downright weird buying coffee at Officeworks.
A very informative review..thanks Andy for going into so much detail and for the pics.
FWIW my in-laws bought one of these recently and I definitely prefer the Expressi to plunger and instant coffee.* The crema is much richer in colour and I was really surprised to see how white Andys turned out. Quality control at the factory seems to be rather lacking from what Im reading!
The Expressi is not in the same league as my second-hand Saeco royal cappuccino, but I cant expect it to be for $79 with old coffee and I think its not worth the disappointment if youre expecting anything approaching your favourite cafes quality. If someone wants to enjoy coffee a notch above instant Id definitely recommend it.
On a different note, Im amazed that company shills are trolling in coffee forums.
Perhaps instead of wasting their time here they could hop on the understaffed registers and really make us all happy* [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
Great review! I bought one of these machines for my office in November as an alternative to instant.
Agree that the coffee wasnt up to the standard of my Gaggia with fresh ground DiBella beans but for a quick coffee in the office without the mess it wasnt too bad, especially once I worked out how to get the most out of it. Using the machine to warm the cup made a big difference.
My greatest concern was the strong smell of plastic from the water reservoir which permitted the water if not changed daily.
So, all well until it ceased to heat last week. "No Problem" says my local ALDI just call the warranty company Tempo Australia. Several phone calls and being left on hold each time, the last time for nearly an hour, constantly reminded I was progressing in the queue and still no human contact. The recording said I could leave a message but then the message service told me it was full....GRRRRR!
I was told by a friend who bought an ALDI washing machine which died after a few months that this service level was standard fare for ALDI and that I shouldnt waste my time.
In summary, this machine should have a place where speed and convenience are important. with a bit of practice you can get an acceptable coffee. But if things go wrong (and it seems they will) just bin it.
Thank you Andy - great review! Have been considering one of these convenience machines for a while, and this thread has sold it for me.
I have a nice Saeco automatic machine in the kitchen, but Im an avid cyclist (both road and mountain) and by the time Ive finished my morning ride in the bush and get back to the car, Im dying for a shot. Ive just ordered one of these machines to run off a camping inverter out of the boot of my car! Im sure its not going to match the fresh beans ground at the time of shooting - but, its better than nothing!
Have been doing a little research and came across a post of a guy who packs his own ground coffee in MAP pods (they have plastic pressure filters in them) and uses a small disc of alfoil in the base, and an alfoil top to close the pod up - and it seemed to pour "OK".
Ive ordered some Map pods, if only out of curiosity.
I may do some mods to my machine to match the temp/pour as per your experiment (at my own peril of course). So, thank you for an awesome review.
I may do a little review myself if/when I perfect packing my own recycled pods! Cheers! :D
:o :o Wow ! interesting interpretation of Andys review ?
PS... I have an option on a nice waterfront building plot in Kakadu if you would like to buy that too !! ::)
Ha! It sold me that for $80 and a few mods - Ill have a coffee machine which will be a little more convenient for me. Nice to know its shortfalls before buying one.:o :o Wow ! interesting interpretation of Andys review ?
PS... I have an option on a nice waterfront building plot in Kakadu if you would like to buy that too !!* ::)
Ha! It sold me that for $80 and a few mods - Ill have a coffee machine which will be a little more convenient for me. Nice to know its shortfalls before buying one.:o :o Wow ! interesting interpretation of Andys review ?
PS... I have an option on a nice waterfront building plot in Kakadu if you would like to buy that too !!* ::)
Did you read the conclusions?
"Conclusion:
What started out with some promise quickly turned into the worst tasting coffee ever when I actually used the machine.
Pros:
* $79 is not much money for a coffee machine!
* Looks neat
* Good sized footprint for a domestic kitchen
* 2 year warranty
* Good manual
* Easy to use
Cons:
* The coffee tasted disgusting
* 7-8 times more landfill than fresh coffee.
* $50/kg is too expensive.
* Coffee is too old (7 months old already).
* Roasted, ground and packed in Germany means it will always be old
* No option to adjust temperature or rate of pour."
To me it reads like the worst tasting coffee in the history of espresso machines, and its not cheap to run.
And I got mine last week. Getting 92 degrees from a shot, and agreed that the Expressi shots are just awful. Little weak crema, and a distinct burnt taste. Not impressed. Map pods however are actually really quite nice! And, Ive experimented over the weekend with repacking the spent pods with my own beans, and it worked perfectly. Recycling at its best! :D
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