Coffee makers

[dessiato]

Why on earth would you want to invest in some expensive, proprietary and packaging-wasteful 'capsule' system when you can buy fresh beans, grind them up yourself and brew perfectly excellent coffee in a stove top espresso maker for a fraction of the price?

And for frothy milk, just pour the hot milk into a glass and give it a bit of whisk action and you'll have a perfect cappuccino.

I agree with the first part, but why not heat your milk and froth at the same time using the nozzle on the machine?

 

[tarannau]

Depends how good the frother and milk heater are really. The cheaper models tend to be a little slow and ineffective ime - we found ourselves heating the milk in a microwave for a short cut and the cleaning routine often outweighed the convenience of an integral frother. Some of the more expensive machines were a fair bit easier, but then you're paying 100s of pounds more for a better heating element and better specced frother.

It's almost worth it if you're fairly lazy after dinner and drinking a middling amount of coffee. But there's a bit hefty cost involved and I couldn't justify it personally

 

[Chz]

Why on earth would you want to invest in some expensive, proprietary and packaging-wasteful 'capsule' system when you can buy fresh beans, grind them up yourself and brew perfectly excellent coffee in a stove top espresso maker for a fraction of the price?

And for frothy milk, just pour the hot milk into a glass and give it a bit of whisk action and you'll have a perfect cappuccino.

Because the stovetop units, while they make some decent coffee, don't taste the way a proper espresso does. I'm not excusing the pod machines here, just pointing out a very valid reason for having a proper (~15 bar) steam pump unit over the stovetops. Not better or worse, just different.

Personally, I don't find a proper machine to be very much faff at all. I'm not going to pay what they want for those pods just to save myself 30 seconds of dispensing and tamping the coffee. What I notice some of them doing is selling the machine for very little profit, hoping to make it back on the pods; which can make it appear to be an attractive option.

FWIW, I also find it easier to nuke the milk and use one of those battery-powered frothers. I can whisk it up while the coffee's dispensing, instead of waiting.

 

[King Biscuit Time]

You can get a fairly descent espresso machine with frother for less than £100.

That's surely the best option - no pods, just ground coffee and water in, espresso and hot steam out.

Win.