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Open the Pod Bay Doors HAL

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  • #16
    Please forget the personal attack stuff (grow up and do something more productive). Even at their best a pod is not an espresso. However, neither is a Carmencita / stainless steel stovetop "espresso maker" - and they have plenty of fans (including me).

    If it is not burnt or stale coffee and the milk is not scalded I am prepared to give it a go. Mostly I am unimpressed, however there are some pleasant surprises. Turkish coffee is far from espresso - however I still drag out the old Ibrik every so often and enjoy one, added cardamom and all. Ditto Bali "local coffee". I still have no idea what they add to it, however it is pretty good as a drink - just don't call it espresso (they don't). Ditto Viet Namese coffee (condensed milk and all...) - a bit sweet for my tastes but still a good refreshing cuppa. A lot of folks enjoy a pourover / aeropress / plunger / cold steep / cold drip.

    What surprised me is how good a pod was straight out of the grinder into the pod and then the cup. I still reckon the technology has potential, unfortunately it also has the potential to be ruined with poor equipment - and that includes 90+% of pod machines (the plastic ones).

    I still draw a red line at instant and "coffee bags" - no way they can approach any of the methods I just outlined.

    Enjoy your cuppa - all else is irrelevant.

    TampIt

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    • #17
      barista scuro, you say? i'll have to check it out. last time i made a pod and an aeropress short black, the pod wasn't even palatable by itself, let alone in comparison.

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      • #18
        I think it was the scuro. There is a huge array of pods. It is worthwhile just to take advantage of their tasting bar. Get caffeinated on their dime.

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        • #19
          Originally posted by wattgn View Post
          The Nespresso store was flat out. They are making a killing and pods have really taken the market big time.
          Wait til you find out how many people drink instant... [emoji57]

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          • #20
            Originally posted by Magic_Matt View Post
            Wait til you find out how many people drink instant... [emoji57]
            Interesting you should mention that. The cafe owner mentioned that at home she just drinks instant, the one I bought the Robur from today. She said I have drunk it all my life. I prayed for her soul of course...

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            • #21
              I have been into a Nespresso store and asked them to give me a range of their different type of espresso drinks from the demo station. Very nice and obliging people. Tried about 10 different pods. The shots didnt resemble espresso, or brewed coffee or any other pleasant tasting drink. The closest comparison would be if you got 30 ml of the type of coffee you get from a superautomatic at a 7-11 store but much harsher, thin and less pleasant tasting with a nasty pale pond scum on the top of it. Wouldn't voluntarily put my taste buds through the ordeal again

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              • #22
                Fair enough but I enjoyed it and most people I know really like the Nespresso pods. If they were that bad I feel the shop would not have been packed out like it was. The pods I have had were pretty creamy with good mouth feel. I'm not even sure what they do to produce the pods but the shop seemed like it was going gangbusters. Mind you it was Saturday shopping.
                Last edited by wattgn; 28 August 2017, 12:29 AM.

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by TampIt View Post
                  Please forget the personal attack stuff (grow up and do something more productive). Even at their best a pod is not an espresso. However, neither is a Carmencita / stainless steel stovetop "espresso maker" - and they have plenty of fans (including me).

                  If it is not burnt or stale coffee and the milk is not scalded I am prepared to give it a go. Mostly I am unimpressed, however there are some pleasant surprises. Turkish coffee is far from espresso - however I still drag out the old Ibrik every so often and enjoy one, added cardamom and all. Ditto Bali "local coffee". I still have no idea what they add to it, however it is pretty good as a drink - just don't call it espresso (they don't). Ditto Viet Namese coffee (condensed milk and all...) - a bit sweet for my tastes but still a good refreshing cuppa. A lot of folks enjoy a pourover / aeropress / plunger / cold steep / cold drip.

                  What surprised me is how good a pod was straight out of the grinder into the pod and then the cup. I still reckon the technology has potential, unfortunately it also has the potential to be ruined with poor equipment - and that includes 90+% of pod machines (the plastic ones).

                  I still draw a red line at instant and "coffee bags" - no way they can approach any of the methods I just outlined.

                  Enjoy your cuppa - all else is irrelevant.

                  TampIt
                  The most important ingredient is the coffee itself. I agree instant and coffee bags are not so good. These days we can get good fresh coffee from many sources and we can then enjoy it in a number of ways. I enjoy plunger coffee sometimes as it is easy to make and tastes great.

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                  • #24
                    Yep, of course espresso and pods aren't the same thing. But I've managed to get fairly decent results out of pods.
                    I remember being on a scientific expedition in Tasmania catching the devils, and in the wee early mornings all they had was a pod machine. I thought "Hey I'll give this a go." After a few shots and a bit of tinkering, managed to actually get it to pull a really nice 'shot'.

                    There were three buttons of options: ristretto, normale, lungo (well, that's what I'm calling them haha). Different volumes basically. To me it didn't make sense to use a high volume of water through a small amount of coffee. So what I did was use two pods, the first I did as the espresso into the cup, and the second as ristretto, poured directly into the first shot. Actually was really nice and it became my standard while I was there. Wasn't weak, bitter or anything, but had some nice fruity flavours. I was surprised for sure. I then followed that up with a latte with 2x ristretto shots which worked well.

                    It's worth tinkering with, and there are many different pod/coffee types to experiment with (I used the 'black' pod, which I think was classed as strong hehe).

                    That being said, I don't own a pod machine and probably don't plan on one, but there are ways to tinker for sure! The volume of water that comes through the coffee makes a big difference hehe

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by TampIt View Post
                      What surprised me is how good a pod was straight out of the grinder into the pod and then the cup.
                      That's the key here, eh - the whole point of pod machines (at least for 99% of consumers) is the convenience of a pre-prepared, packaged item that doesn't take any effort or thought from the user. You'll never get good coffee from stale preground beans, irrespective of preparation method. So while it might be feasible to make good pod coffee by grinding fresh and filling the pods immediately before use, it's a moot point for the majority who either don't care or can't tell the difference. Just as it's irrelevant whether the pods are recyclable or compostible as they end up in landfill most of the time anyway.

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Magic_Matt View Post
                        That's the key here, eh - the whole point of pod machines (at least for 99% of consumers) is the convenience of a pre-prepared, packaged item that doesn't take any effort or thought from the user. You'll never get good coffee from stale preground beans, irrespective of preparation method. So while it might be feasible to make good pod coffee by grinding fresh and filling the pods immediately before use, it's a moot point for the majority who either don't care or can't tell the difference. Just as it's irrelevant whether the pods are recyclable or compostible as they end up in landfill most of the time anyway.
                        What we don't really know is what else they put in the pods. They are obviously protected from light and oxygen and some pods do have stated flavourings in them also. It is possible they add stabilisers to prevent changes to the coffee. I don't know.

                        Mind you I think they have done a good job, they have spent a lot of money on research, production and marketing to get where they are now.

                        I think they have followed the example of Apple and turned the shops into some sort of Church. My tongue in cheek review covered that. Everything is well thought out.

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                        • #27
                          Well, I guess it's not entirely impossible that Nestlé have hit upon some hitherto unknown secret to making amazing coffee by adding things to stale grounds.

                          Yep, their marketing is good. Their coffee isn't, but then that's only a byproduct of what they're selling.

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                          • #28
                            Originally posted by Magic_Matt View Post
                            Well, I guess it's not entirely impossible that Nestlé have hit upon some hitherto unknown secret to making amazing coffee by adding things to stale grounds.

                            Yep, their marketing is good. Their coffee isn't, but then that's only a byproduct of what they're selling.
                            They know what people like. Big companies like that do a lot of taste testing and probably employ PhD Food Technologists. I suspect a lot goes on behind the scenes developing and testing product. If you have a product that is unappealing to consumers you aren't going to last very long.

                            I remember at Peters and Brownes they used to do a lot of taste testing ditto when I worked in the Dairy Industry in New Zealand they employ statisticians and food technologists to develop products and test them.

                            These pods are at the opposite end of the spectrum in some ways to fresh coffee, yet I liked what I tasted. I'd like to know how they do it.

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                            • #29
                              Open the Pod Bay Doors HAL

                              Maybe you can approach Nestle Wattgn?

                              Is Cluney still involved with this malarkey or did he takes his sacks of cash and run?

                              Any time there's a massive cash splash going on there's a nice margin to be found. Or the receivers soon come in and drink all that spare coffee.

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                              • #30
                                Originally posted by Magic_Matt View Post
                                Well, I guess it's not entirely impossible that Nestlé have hit upon some hitherto unknown secret to making amazing coffee by adding things to stale grounds.
                                .
                                The guys that used to work in the cigarette companies must have moved over.

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