Is Nespresso better than Coffee?

Nespresso machine ownership has exploded in recent years. New coffee and machine innovation and the growth of home working has really accelerated sales of Nespresso pods.

With many of us working from home more than ever, we are drinking less coffee out and investing more in the quality of our home coffee machines. Whether it's bean to cup machines or the latest nespresso machine, home consumption of coffee has moved on a long way from cheap instant coffee.

But is Nespresso better than coffee alternatives and is nespresso value for money? We've looked into this and the results are conclusive.

The History of Nespresso

Nespresso, by Nestle, launched their coffee machines all the way back in 1986 with their first patented coffee systems that would use sealed coffee within pods to keep it fresh and use a sharp pointed spout to pierce the capsule and inject pressurised hot water. The result would be an aerated coffee dispensed into the cup with an even crema.

Today, there are a multitude of Nespresso machines available on the market with different functionalities and an array of Nespresso pod variety to cater for all coffee lovers.

Nespresso vs Coffee

To evaluate if nespresso is better than coffee, we have to think about 3 key categories; taste, price and convenience.

Taste

Freshness is key when it comes to coffee and Nespresso pods are sealed at source in order to lock in this freshness. If you are buying from the local barista, we'd expect the same level of freshness. If you're making coffee at home with a bean to cup machine, depending on how frequently you use it and how large your bag of coffee beans, freshness will vary. If you use instant coffee, your coffee isn't fresh.

Price

With inflation skyrocketing, the price of coffee as a commodity seeing large increases due to shipping and weather issues and disposable income taking a big hit, buying cheap, good quality coffee is essential to ensure that your coffee needs are met.

Nespresso pods varying in price typically from 15p to £1 depending on the quality of the coffee, the kind of pods (compostable pods cost much more than plastic and aluminium pods) and the quantity you are buying.

How does the price of nespresso pods compare to coffee?

Well, you could easily pay £3 for a coffee from your local barista even more with added plant based milk or maybe they charge extra for ice.

Compare this with home bean to cup coffee where the price per cup will vary from around 10p to 30p, bean to cup is cheaper than nespresso on the whole.

Nespresso vs instant - with the poor quality of instant freeze dried coffee, instant coffee is cheaper than nespresso.

Convenience

Nespresso systems are designed with convenience in mind. When Eric Favre got the inspiration for Nespresso, he observed the coffee machines in a coffee bar in Rome where the barista was hand pumping pistons to drive the water pressure through the coffee. 

The nespresso machines take the effort away from making fresh coffee. It's difficult to compete with the convenience of a nespresso machine when all you have to do is switch on the machine and drop in a pod. Within 30 seconds, you have a fresh tasting nespresso coffee with a smooth crema.

When you compare nespresso to bean to cup, bean to cup takes much longer and that's not including calibrating your coffee machine for the grind size and water pressure. 

Nespresso coffee vs barista and the home convenience of a home nespresso machine comes out on top.

Comparing instant coffee to nespresso coffee, the convenience is marginally better for nespresso as the nespresso machine boils the water and disperses on your behalf.

Variety

The boom in interest and accessibility for coffee in the past few decades has created an artisanal revolution in the variety of coffee for your coffee machines. New regions of coffee beans with different growing techniques have led to new taste tones and ever more exciting innovations.

One such exciting innovation that can't be created using your bean to cup machine is the Nespresso Matcha Pod which allows for perfectly smooth matcha shots or matcha lattes

The nespresso original line matcha pods use organic Japanses matcha and is delicately blended with prebiotic fibre, to aid digestion, and 8 energising B vitamins to give a sustained energy boost.

Overall

Nespresso coffee scores well across all the categories. In terms of taste, your local barista will always be difficult to rival but Nespresso capsules come close and at a fraction of the cost. Convenience though wins through for Nespresso, making Nespresso better than coffee.

If you like this blog you'll like