I am not a coffee snob.

Seriously.

I will drink anything that delivers caffeine into my system.

• I will drink the poker-cup vending machine coffee – black if need be, with a smile on my face.
• When I am out of drip, I will suck down microwaved Folger’s instant.
• I let the pot warm all day and will absolutely drink a cup from a 5-hour-old pot (if its too old I will make iced coffee out of it).
• When I share coffee with a friend somewhere, and they say ‘ugh, this coffee sucks’ – I don’t know what they mean.

I am even more perplexed when people say ‘Starbucks’ coffee sucks’ – I don’t know what that means either, its much better than what I’m making at home I would guess – and most people are drinking it in flavored milk drinks at Starbucks – how do they even know what the actual coffee tastes like?

So how does a guy like me wind up owning a top automatic espresso maker, much less making it his only coffee maker? read on….

Recently, my Cuisinart coffeemaker broke. I didn’t buy a Cuisinart for the quality, I bought it for the unusually large 14-cup carafe and timer – you don’t want to speak to me if I actually have to MAKE my drip coffee in the morning. That’s ugly.

It’s bad enough I have to walk to the kitchen decaffeinated.
Someone could get hurt on the way.

Not willing to do without a maker for one day, I picked up a $17 Mr. Coffee at the local CVS.

But I realized I would have to get a large coffee maker with a timer to replace the Cuisinart.

I jumped on Amazon, browsed and browsed, and started to get interested in these single-serving machines. I had used a commercial Keurig machine at an office I consulted for, and was duly impressed.

Having worked at several startups, I realized that coffee solutions for the office are tricky. You can do the pot and honor-system jar, but its not ideal. People don’t pay, they don’t clean up, and you never know how long that pots been on. Its a mess.

The Keurig solves the mess problem by distributing the coffee in single-serving, sealed pods of different flavors. The user puts the pod of their choice in the machine, presses a button, and in about 60 seconds a coffee is expressed through high-pressure hot water through the pod and into the cup. The used coffee pod falls into a disposal bin.

It’s not instant coffee, its real coffee expressed through high pressure.

So, in 60 seconds, any employee can choose his own coffee, have it fresh-brewed for him, and walk away with no mess or waste. Its a great solution to a tough problem.

While I was pondering these home single-serving systems, I stopped by for a birthday party for my friends’ one-year-old. They offered me a coffee from their Keurig home brewing system, which I grilled them about in detail. In general they were happy with it, but the husband felt the coffee was a little weak. I tasted it, and although we have established I am not a coffee snob, I wasn’t impressed. To be fair, there are a lot of different blends available for the system, and I only tried one.

So, back to the drawing board and back to Amazon to check for single-serving machines that people actually like the coffee out of. Not because I am a snob, but because I am a good shopper.

This is what led me to the Nespresso Cube.

The Nespresso Cube, like the Keurig, is a pod-based single-serving machine – but not designed for coffee, designed for espresso.

This intrigued me, as, given the choice between a regular cup of coffee and a latte or cappuccino, I would certainly choose the latter two- if it was just as easy as a Keurig, than I’d rather have the espresso machine.

Also, if you just want regular coffee, you can just add hot water to an espresso – this is known as a Caffè Americano.

Having an espresso machine in no way limits you to drinking an insanely strong thimbleful of coffee (although I like to do that now once in a while) – it sets you free to have any kind of coffee you want.

The machine was very popular and got rave reviews over competing products, especially for the coffee quality. The price was a bit steep compared to a Keurig, but I wanted to give it a shot.

The machine and coffee arrived just in time for 4 house guests coming over for the weekend, including my mom.

The machine is incredibly easy to use.

Plug it in.
Turn it on.
About 60s later, the lights indicate it is ready.
You push the button for regular or lungo (large).
About 30s later, you have a fresh, steaming cup of espresso.

No cleanup.
The discarded pods collect into a pull-out for disposal later. The water reservoir only needs to be refilled after several espressos. The cup holder pulls out for an easy rinse, if necessary. It also folds up if you wanted to put a larger cup in – sometimes I will use a pint glass for my lattes!

You can drink it as is, with some sugar, or (as I prefer), with some microwaved hot milk frothed with a milk frother (not included – I’ve used steam frothers before – its nice because they heat the milk, but a hand frother is cheaper and works much better.)

From what I understand, the only difference between a cappuccino and a latte is how much milk is used and how much it is frothed, so don’t get hung up on it. As long as you don’t weaken the coffee too much with milk (and this will vary based on what blend of coffee you are using), the amount of milk is entirely up to you – its almost impossible to screw it up.

For example, I can make a short shot of espresso, top it with equal parts milk in a lungo glass, and that proportion has its own special charm. But usually, I will top a pint glass of 2 lungo shots with the milk so the drink lasts longer. Sometimes I will even just drink an unadulterated cup of pure espresso, to better differentiate between the different blends.

Experimenting is the fun part, I haven’t been disappointed with any of the Nespresso blends yet.

We experimented with several different drinks, but my favorite was my special latte – a couple of shots of Risetto topped off with hot frothed milk and a layer of Bailey’s to taste.

What a great way to start a weekend morning that drink is!

Some had laughed at the machine when they got there, but these same folks were lining up for drinks later and truly enjoying them – for entertaining it simply can’t be beat. Usually these guests will only want coffee in the morning – but they came back for afternoon coffee drinks as well – all of them!

I am still not a coffee snob, but I love my Nespresso and doubt I will ever go back to a regular coffee machine – if this machine is so easy, why make drip? Seems silly.

There is the mild drawback that when entertaining, you must make each drink individually, which can be time consuming (especially for doubles) – but what you should do is show your guests how to make their own drinks – everyone loves using it.

You could get around this by just putting a drip coffee maker next to the Nespresso, but it wouldn’t matter – no one would want to drink the drip anyway!

The biggest winner from the Nespresso purchase is probably my wife, who only gets her coffee – as Kramer once put it – ‘on the outside’. This usually means a latte at Starbucks. I don’t think I have ever seen her drink a cup of drip coffee.

From a caffeination standpoint, I do not understand how she gets on the train and rides 45 minutes into the city, then walks 2 blocks, BEFORE having her first cup of the day. That’s just wrong.

My wife had a lot of reservations about my ability to produce a decent latte at home, but I think she’s sold on the Nespresso version. At $.50 a shot, I hope I will be able to wean her off Starbucks and save us a little money.

According to my calculations, if my wife were to switch to a double Nespresso latte in the morning from a Starbucks grande latte, we could save up to $1000 a year on coffee. That’s huge.

Even better, she will no longer need to put me through the hell of stopping at Starbucks before doing ANYTHING on the weekends. I hate it. Our Starbucks is busy and has a tiny parking lot that results in way too many cases of parking rage. Coffee does not go with lines and conflict in my book, so I will be happy to bid this ritual adieu.

Flavored drinks are covered too – you can get the famous Torani Syrups online – I suggest getting the Variety Pack – Vanilla, Caramel & Hazelnut – that covers all the bases. Just a quick shot in the bottom of the cup before you fill it is all that’s required to duplicate or outdo drinks that cost $7 or more ‘on the outside’. There is no barista magic required.

If there is one complaint I have about the Nespresso system, it is that you can only order the capsules online directly from the manufacturer or from one of the few boutiques (see map below for the Upper East Side Nespresso Boutique). I don’t think anyone will have a problem with the quality or selection from Nespresso.com – its outstanding coffee with over 16 blends – and the price is reasonable at $.55-$.62 a cup.

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If you live in NYC, you should definitely check out a Nespresso Boutique before buying at either the Upper East Side or SoHo Bloomingdale’slocations. Make sure you wear a jacket and smirk alot like George Clooney.

It would be unfortunate if Nespresso were to go out of business without third parties supporting the capsules. I also don’t like the idea of not being able to run to the store for coffee.

However, these are minor concessions I am happy to live with. There is nothing stopping me from taking the Mr Coffee out while I wait for a Nespresso delivery due to lack of planning.

As for the blends, I think that the Risetto is really all I will ever need. Its very strong and robust, and a favorite amongst Nespresso users, as is the milder Cosi. It’s difficult to find good reviews of the Nespresso capsules.

After all, when you order a latte from Starbucks, most people don’t indicate the blend anyway. The variety is just ‘nice to have’ – especially if you are a connoisseur.