I Tried Nespresso for the First Time as a Coffee Snob
Last week, I saw my boss use the Nespresso Inissia she kindly brought to the office to share, and let’s just say that before I even had a chance to feel stunned, she already had her steamy espresso in a cup.
30 seconds—that was how long it took from start to finish. Zero cleanup required, and you don’t even need to take the used pod out; it automatically drops straight into a little basket in the machine when you put in a new pod.
For context, I’m what many might considered a coffee snob when it comes to filter coffee—I drink and brew only light roast beans from high-end roasters, I like my coffee black and I even make my own brewing water, so naturally, I never had the interest of learning about something like Nespresso or Keurig because they have a terrible reputation in the specialty coffee community (especially Keurig) and I genuinely have no reason to consider using coffee pods. I’d also never seen a Nespresso machine in action until last week.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it after. The speed and lack of hassle with which you can get a shot of espresso from the Nespresso Inissia is simply unbelievable.
So the next time I was in office, I asked my boss to make me a shot with the Inissia. As the machine rattled noisily, I stared at the thick, creamy-looking espresso flowing out of the nozzle into the cup—with crema already forming at the top—and thought, “my god, this is incredible coffee tech.”
I took a sip, and…well, to someone who has never had proper, high-end espresso, it tasted good enough for me to already want a second shot.
I’m sure the espresso aficionados reading this might be fuming, but you are obviously not the target customers of the Nespresso machines. For me, however, I suddenly realized the power of this technology. While I’m extremely picky regarding my filter coffee, I use an AeroPress to make milk-based espresso drinks for my wife. Yes, I understand that the AeroPress doesn’t make real espresso, but it makes coffee concentrates that are strong enough for this purpose. The intention isn’t to make great espresso, but to make a coffee beverage.
My wife has an AeroPress at work to make coffee drinks for herself, but she recently told me she got tired of using the AeroPress at work and the coffee grinds I pre-grind for her the day night before get stale enough that the drinks she makes with them don’t taste very good, rendering the hassle of using the AeroPress a vain effort—especially for someone who’s not picky about coffee. She wanted an easier way to make coffee drinks that taste good at work. My discovery of the Nespresso happened coincidentally the day after, and it made me realize that perhaps such a machine is the answer.
I was being serious when I said in my post about my love for light roast coffee that I don’t care how other people like their coffee. At the end of the day, I want to help my wife get her daily coffee drink without always having to buy from a coffee shop. Whichever method that is the easiest and has the most efficacy wins.
That sent me down the rabbit hole of portable espresso machines, which was how I discovered the OutIn portable espresso makers that take Nespresso Original Line capsules, and now we have an OutIn Mino on the way…
. . .
While recognizing the amazing coffee tech that is Nespresso, it’s hard not to consider the fact that Nespresso is by Nestlé, which is probably the evilest company on earth. It’s unfortunate how many pies Nestlé has its fingers in, so much so that it’s almost impossible to avoid their products—even Breville, a popular brand for proper espresso machines, is affiliated with Nestlé by manufacturing some Nespresso machines.
Do I want to give my money to Nestlé? Ideally, no. At least OutIn isn’t affiliated with Nestlé, and, once we get the Mino, I will have to compare capsules by Nespresso vs ones by third party roasters. Some—even James Hoffmann himself—say that Nespresso’s capsules just produce better coffee due to some patented gasket in the capsules that make them work really well with a Nespresso machine, but I do wonder if the gasket will still make a difference when the capsule is used in a non–Nespresso machine like the OutIn Mino. If I can get good espresso shots with third party capsules, like ones from the Canadian Café Agga, that means I can get this whole setup for my wife without giving money to Nestlé. I will likely make a post about how it goes!
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