Recently I got myself a Nespresso Machine

The Beginning

Had my first step into a Nespresso boutique in The Gardens mall, as I been wanted to have some coffee, but grew health conscious on the instant 3 in 1 coffee, and couldn’t be bothered to muster the energy for drip coffee or espresso machine. Did some extensive research on whether to get the Original or Vertuo line. Compared price difference of the pods, and noticed that there is subscription plan for the machine, and subscription fees can all go to purchase Nespresso product.

First step in kinda nervous as not know what to expect. But salesperson is patient and explained the available machine and plans. Even gave us some sample coffee pods to try.

In the end, got myself an Essenza Mini subscription plan, as Original Line pods are available for 3rd party to develop (Starbucks, Illy, Lavazza etc) which opens up the variety, and the pods are cheaper than Vertuo Line. It goes for RM120 monthly subscription fees + RM50 for the machine in first month.

The Journey

Tried some pods, some enjoyable (Ethiopia & Arpeggio), some is fine. some not that (eee cioccolatino, without milk is eeeek). The thing is I actually like espresso style coffee where it packs a punch of aroma, taste, and roast in the small amount of coffee. For a big cup of Americano, I find it hard to finish in one sitting, so the coffee is just left cold on there anyway. 40ml espresso / 110ml lungo seems to works well on me.

Of course, I’m fully aware of the “That ain’t the true espresso” thingy, as it involves selecting blend of beans, grind it super fine, tampering, water and temperature control, while Nespresso is just toss in the capsule, press of a button and it’s done. It really shines on the convenience, that I had a V60 and the chore of making it can be off putting that makes me just not want to drink at all, end up wasting the beans that gone stale.

But it kind of got me excited to start the day, to have a taste on whats new, what kind of pod will I be trying today? What kind of variation that I can take (With milk? should I buy Monin syrup?). Starting to write some coffee tasting notes. I think it kinds of help me to remind how the pod taste like. It’s a bit vague since I’m still new to this, but I figure it’ll help me remember what I like and serve as a reference point for future brews.

The Future

With that said, This machine actually kind of rekindled my desire to taste more of coffee. I had visited some cafe since then on my own initiative again, which I think is kinda lost on me with the life happenings that occurred to me recently. I still like some cold brew as it is giving a rounded acidic taste that somehow can only be tasted in cold brew.