All Coffee Recipes

Review by P. Garrett for PodMerchant Espresso Pod Super Sampler (ESE Pods)
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I’ve been an espresso freak since I first tried one after viewing The Godfather Part II (Don Fanucci downs it in one gulp while talking to the young Vito Coreleone). I used to go to Starbucks every morning, but I eventually decided to buy my own machine (Espressione Cafe Retro)and brew my own. I gravited to pods because they were so much easier and less messy than ground coffee. I buy the Sampler Packs from Podmerchant exclusively, but not because I am attempting through scientific research to find the “best” brand. There is no BEST brand. Sometimes I want something light and tangy, so I’ll reach for an Attibassi Nicaragua. Maybe a rich, heavy blast after a big meal? Gotta be a Lucaffe Mr. Exclusive. Early afternoon is the perfect time for a Cafe Mako Napoletano. I like the variety, I like the colorful packaging, I like to be surprised and not know what’s coming next! Espresso is a treat, a pure delight, something to be savored. Who wants to savor the same thing over and over? Give me variety, or give me death!

Review by Supperconductor for PodMerchant Espresso Pod Super Sampler (ESE Pods)
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If you are new to ESE Pods, this is a great way to find the brands of pods you like best. Get this package and keep careful tasting notes – and remember, your machine will also work better with some pods than others. The idea is to experiment as much as you can for as little cost as possble and this sampler makes it easy.

On my Francis! Francis! X3, the Espressione, Lavazza, and Caffe Mako seem to be the better of the bunch so far. But I’ll probably be able reach a final consensus after my next sampler.

Review by David J. Rolstad for PodMerchant Espresso Pod Super Sampler (ESE Pods)
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At first glance, it seems like 60 cents per pod is really rather expensive. Starbucks charges $0.42/pod in boxes of 12. Other merchants like Podhead charge anywhere from $0.42 and up plus shipping. This sampler contains some exclusive pods that retail for much more making this a decent deal afterall. However, don’t be fooled into thinking you’ll really want to drink $2.00 pods on a daily basis. [...] and they have free shipping on $75 or more orders. Most are less than $0.50/pod if you buy a quantity worthy of a casual espresso drinker.

Review by N. L. Brindley for PodMerchant Espresso Pod Super Sampler (ESE Pods)
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I’ve looked all over for a decent selection of espresso pods. I was so

happy to find PodMerchant’s Super Sampler. There are two each of 29

different pods so I was able to try out more different pods than I’d be

able to otherwise. This is an espresso-lover’s dream! I’m also going to

try PodMerchant’s Decaf Sampler.

Review by heidi for PodMerchant Espresso Pod Super Sampler (ESE Pods)
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I recently bought an espresso machine that had a basket for pods (be advised that you need to have a machine that has a special basket for ESE Pods – if you’re not sure, you probably don’t have one). I thought I would give some a try and Pod Merchant seems to carry them all (I lived in Italy for several years and Pod Merchant has some Italian coffee brands that even I’ve never heard of).

The sampler packs are a fun way to try different brands. Some are better than others, but trying them out will keep you from later ordering 100 of something you don’t like.

The order was processed quickly and they were delivered no problem via UPS. There were also a couple of “freebie” pods and a coupon as a thank you for the order which I thought was a nice touch.

Review by Joe Corbett for Nespresso C100-US-AERO-B Essenza Automatic Single-Serve Espresso Machine with Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother, Black
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I was initially reluctant to buy this based on the fact that they use proprietary pods. Had that reluctance stuck with me, I probably would’ve spent a few hundred more on a high-quality manual espresso machine, or over a thousand on an automatic machine. $.52 a cup is reasonable when you consider that grinding your own works out to about $.30 a cup, but yields a greater mess and requires more soap and water for cleanup each time. With two little kids at home – who has time to clean? I was absolutely giddy the first time I used both the machine and the frother. Separately and together, both machines match or rival what all too many of us pay $3-5 for from the local coffee shop. I’m convinced that our friends will like us more if we decide to share some of this with them. I bought this at Williams-Sonoma based on loyalty as I had sampled it 3 times over a two week period and finally couldn’t take it anymore. I had to have one! Consumer reports also ranks this machine highest in its class. The only machine that offered comparable taste was larger, cost about a grand, and requires more cleaning.

Review by Seattle N for Nespresso C100-US-AERO-B Essenza Automatic Single-Serve Espresso Machine with Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother, Black
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I never thought I would go for this machine, I am a little purist and cranky about my morning cup of wonderful – however, I indulged the Nespresso rep at a local Sur La Table – and, wow.

This little combo worked better than The Cube in my opinion, and I love that frother!

Yes, you need the little capsules, but the darker roasts and the “Special Club” are pretty good, and I have many more to try. it helped that the rep tossed in like 5 extra packs of them for me. I found them online here at Amazon for about $6 a sleeve and with my Prime membership it was free shipping. And the rep told me next time I see her she will let me “try” a couple other flavors as well – bonus.

I have made chocolate milks, coffee blends with liqueurs for desserts, decaf cap’s at night as well as my new fancy morning beverages.

I have had it for a month and adore it. Sure, a little pricey, but I think I have saved about $57 already in morning coffee shop trips. So that pays for itself pretty fast.

The coffee button has to be programmed for the small and large size you prefer on the “pull” time. Hold it down for the length of the “pull” you want then release. It will “remember” it for the next time you tap that button.

I am going to order a set of replacement frother spinners, not because they don’t stick to the top of the frother well (they are pretty magnetic) but because I am afraid they will get washed away by a less careful user (ahem. no pointing fingers… HONEY.)

If you would like a treat for yourself, do it. It wont be comparable to your most fave coffee house or a replacement for a chatty, fun, pierced, “I really want to be an actress/singer/massage therapist.” type barista, but it will save on trips to the coffee shop and maybe keep you from being ten minutes late to your morning meeting because you just HAD to stop on the way in to the office.

So anyway – Froth away! Invest in some pretty cups and some chocolate syrup too! =)

Review by K. R. Warmkessel for Nespresso C100-US-AERO-B Essenza Automatic Single-Serve Espresso Machine with Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother, Black
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I live in Italy and I have to say that after being in Italy for 7 years, I finally discovered how to make the perfect cappuccino at home. This makes a cappuccino exactly how I would get it at my neighborhood coffee bar. The machine makes a dense rich espresso with a nice cream on top and the aeroccino makes a perfect thick foam. The aeroccino also heats the milk to the perfect temperature and clean up is super quick. The machine is little in size which is a plus in a tiny Italian kitchen. At first I wasn’t so convinced on being committed to buying only Nespresso capsules, first for the price and second for the quality of coffee. Then I recalculated that I spend 1.10 euro at the bar every morning compared to .34 euro to make it at home….hence a definite savings. Plus the quality of coffees they offer (12 varieties in total) happens to be excellent! I’ve noticed that all of the Italians here also have this espresso machine in house. So if the Italians say it’s good, and they’re passionate about their food and drink, it’s got to be good. I’ve owned several machines over the years and this one is truly THE BEST!!

Review by Isis for Nespresso C100-US-AERO-B Essenza Automatic Single-Serve Espresso Machine with Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother, Black
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After a lot of research and knowing how tasty the Nespresso espressos are (free sample at a store a year ago that I fondly remembered), I bought the Nespresso C100 on Amazon in September 2009 for an anniversary present to ourselves. In four months, we have made about 180 cups of cappuccino or expresso for my husband and I and an occasional guest. We make about 2-3 cups during the weekday and more on the weekends.

- Very fast and easy to make, with no mess. Fill up the water dispenser, turn the machine on, pop a colored pod in the maker and close lever. Wait for buttons to stop blinking to show it is heated, then push the button. Enjoy the smell! Very easy to clean – run water through by pressing the button and dump out/wash the tray where the overflow grill is and the basket that catches the many pods.

- Aeroccino froth maker is soooo much easier than trying to use the steam nozzles that most cappuccino maker’s have (no splattering and nice, consistent froth. My friends are impressed how easy it is!). Just pour the milk in (regular, 2%, or soy) up to the bottom line, put on the plastic lid, and press the button. It makes enough for two cappuccinos. I make the expresso on the lungo or larger setting (7 oz), so the frothed milk is fine for me; however, my husband likes the cappuccino hotter since the milk is warm but not hot, and he puts his cappuccino in microwave to make it hotter. If you pour the milk into the expresso, made on the expresso setting (5 oz), since it is a smaller amount of coffee, the milk tends to make it too cold. If you pour the milk a little above the lower line in the Aeroccino, it can froth over the container. The container is easy to clean up, although it seems best to clean up after each iteration; otherwise, the milk can be stuck on the bottom in brown stains and harder to get off if you heat it up the 2nd time. After cleaning the Aeroccino, make sure you dry it and put the wire whisk back on its magnetic base. A few times, I have just put it inside and later tried to froth my coffee. When it doesn’t froth, it means, the wire whisk wasn’t put on the magnetic base. You can push the button again to stop the machine and put the whisk in place.

- I bought two Nespresso Lungo (5 oz) glass cups when I bought my machine for about $20. When I received the machine, there was a one time special card offering two Lungo (5 oz) and two Expresso (2 oz) cups and the associated black, plastic saucers for $20 instead of $29. It worth to have at least two Lungo cups. We only use them to make the expresso, then pour the coffee into bigger coffee mugs to have room to add the milk froth. Since I am not a coffee purist and I like to get the most for my money, I push the Lungo button to get a Lungo size cup, pour it in a coffee mug, then press the expresso button to get a smaller amount and also pour that in the coffee mug, so I can get more coffee for the price.

After making all your expressos, Nespresso recommends running hot water through by pushing to button to flush out any expresso grounds, so it nice to have an extra cup to hold that water.

- When you get the machine, they very nicely give you a one of each of the Nespresso expresso flavors (12 or 14). Before I got my machine, I had ordered additional flavors from the Nespresso website based on other Amazon reviewer favorites (thanks for your thoughts!), and they arrived before my machine did. Instead of .55 each, they cost about .64 each when shipped to Maryland. They normally have 2 business day shipping, so they arrived pretty fast.

- I use a large round empty fish bowl to store my colorful Nespresso pods. It looks nice on the counter.

- I made myself a spreadsheet, copying and pasting the information from the Nespresso website to show:

Name: such as Apreggio

Type: Expresso or Lungo. I found I could use either expresso or lungo to make a lungo size cup, since I don’t like my cappuccino too strong.

Intensity: 1-10

Description: From website

Pod Color: This is subjective and helpful when you want to buy more or even find which pod you want more quickly. Looking for a teal or blue? Copper or gold?

My and my husband’s ratings (1-3 stars) with comments so I knew which ones to re-order.

I added in the specialty flavors which are not listed in the Nespresso book.

Here are our favorites that we re-ordered. Note that the colors are my subjective view of what the pods looked like to me:

Apreggio Expresso; intensity 9; purple – we probably have had 70 pods of this!

Fortissio Lungo; intensity 7; teal

Indriya from India Pure Origin; intensity 10; olive-grey (.62 instead of .55)

Livanto Expresso; intensity 6; copper

Ristretto Expresso; intensity 10; black

Vivalo Lungo; intensity 4; blue – mild flavor

Cosi Expresso, intensity 3; cocoa – nice, light

Decaffeinato Expresso; intensity 3; red – best decaffeinated coffee for us

Singatoba special club; intensity 8; bright blue

Volluto expresso; intensity 4; bronze gold – light

Holiday special: Variation Pain D’ Espices (gingerbread) – nice spice flavor

Holiday special: Variation Creme de Marron (chestnut cream) – creamy flavor with different levels of complexity

Didn’t like as much:

Finezzo Lungo; intensity 3; bright gold – not much flavor; could barely taste it

Dulsao do Brasil; intensity 5; dark gold – dry tasting

Decaffeinato Lungo; intensity 3; brick red – bitter tasting; needs sweetner

Decaffeinato Intenso expresso;intensity 7; maroon – strong, bitter; needs sweetner

Capriccio Expresso; intensity 5; green

Roma Expresso; intensity 8; dark grey – thought it was okay

Rosabaya de Columbia pure origin; intensity 8; pink – bitter; needs lots of sweetner

We really like our C100 expresso machine. It is easier to use than a normal cappuccino maker with the mess of espresso grounds and the hassle of the steam nozzle. The coffee is very worth the price and inconvenience of having to buy at the Nespresso website or at a Nespresso boutique. I would have liked to get the higher-end Nespresso machine that integrates the milk frother in the same unit but at $800, it was too much. The $300 C100 with the Aeroccino milk frother is a good value for the money and well worth it.

I hope this review was helpful to you and that you enjoy your espresso with Nespresso!

Review by R. Hunter for Nespresso C100-US-AERO-B Essenza Automatic Single-Serve Espresso Machine with Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother, Black
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I spent quite awhile researching Espresso makers from $300 to $1500 and for some reason never felt comfortable spending the money. Over the years I find I dislike all the clean-up and noise. The high end Super Automatics were looking OK on that front but the costs were more than I really wanted to pay. Then I ran into the Nespresso. People seemed to have two perspectives – either they dismissed it and stated the taste of the espresso was far inferior to any hand pulled shot and the coffee too cool or they raved about the quality of the espresso and were almost evangelists.

In the month since purchasing the C100 I now fall into the latter group. From the minute I tasted the first shot from the machine I was hooked. My wife loves the cappuccinos you can make though she has never been a fan of any espresso drink. The variety of coffee pods available should offer something for every one and every mood.

Personally, there are some of the coffee line at the low intensity level that I would describe as watery and weak and if they were my only experience with Nespresso I would have never purchased the machine. I find the coffee pods at the higher intensity level as good as anything I have gotten at a specialty coffee shop and Nespresso is only a pull of a level and the push of a button away. As to the temperature of the espresso, just make sure you run the Nespresso maker one time without a pod to heat up the unit and the cup, makes all the difference in the heat level.

Clean up is as simple as pulling out the base holding the discarded pods, dumping them and rinsing. Nespresso coffees are only available at their Nespresso Bars (large cities only) or online from the Nespresso Store which some see as a negative but is not an issue I worry about.

The Aeroccino Milk Frother is a great unit for me. Quick and easy heating and frothing for Lattes and Cappuccinos. It is quiet and quick. It can create hot milk with a little froth or a heavy froth for those who enjoy it. I stick with the heated milk and light froth. Easy to clean.

All in all, Nestle has made great product that brings me smiles everyday.

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