Perfect drink every time (Bosch Tassimo TAS4011GB)

Member Name: tommy7

Product:	Bosch Tassimo TAS4011GB
Date:	28/07/09 (336 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High Quality

Disadvantages: Not cheap compared with instant

While browsing on Amazon I noticed that the Bosch 'Tassimo' machine is currently reduced to £69.90 from the RRP of £100 so I thought I would highlight this and give a quick review of what I consider to be an excellent machine.

Firstly, Tassimo is a hot drinks maker which has very few parts to it. It has a water reservoir at the back, a compartment for putting the drink discs into, a cup holder with an integrated drip tray and a very basic control button. The drip tray is adjustable so that you can raise it for espressos, leave at normal height for most drinks, or remove altogether. You can assemble it in seconds and once you go through the initial use programme (basically running the cleaning disc through it a few times) you are up and running.

It can produce a wide variety of drinks, all of which are at the high end of the market and are comparable in taste and quality with anything you would get in a high street chain. You can buy the following T-discs to put in the machine

Kenco Medium Roast
Kenco Caffé Crema
Kenco Pure Colombian
Kenco Decaffeinated
Kenco Espresso
Kenco Cappuccino
Kenco Latte Macchiato
Carte Noir Crema Intenso
Twinings Breakfast Tea
Suchard Hot Chocolate
Milka Hot Chocolate
Starbucks House Blend
Tassimo Creamer (for adding to the fancier coffees)

So as you can see there is a huge range to suit most tastes.
These discs can be bought online from www.tassimo.co.uk or can be picked up in most supermarkets. Typically you will expect to pay around £3.30 for a box of 16 discs. Generally you will get one drink per disc so you are looking at a shade over 20p per drink. I say generally as for some of the drinks, for example the Kenco Latte Macchiato you effectively use an espresso disc and a creamer disc to create this, meaning you only get 8 drinks at a shade over 41p a cup.

The discs are well packaged coming in a shiny outer packing which when opened reveals two cardboard packets containing 8 discs in each. These come well branded so it is immediately obvious if you want decaf (bright green), cream intenso (black) or caffé crema (purple). These are the three I tend to buy.

The discs are ingenious. When you put them into the machine the Tassimo reads a barcode on the disc which tells it how to prepare the drink. For example the espresso code tells it only to put in a small amount of water (75ml) before frothing it up, whereas the coffee ones assume you are having a mug and give you a lot more (150-300ml depending on the drink). This requires no intervention from you other than popping open the lid, inserting the disc, closing the lid then hitting the big start button. The machine generally takes a few seconds to heat the water and then begins processing the water through the disc. This is effectively done by forcing water through the disc but at such a rate that it comes out as a continuous drip stream, for around 30 seconds. If you like more liquid, or your drink a little weaker then you can press and hold the large start button and the machine will continue to add water for as long as you have it depressed. Depending on the drink the machine may then create froth by spraying the last few seconds to leave a frothy coating. You can then reopen the disc compartment and remove the used disc (you will only get one use from it, I've tried using the same disc twice with poor results!).

You can fill the reservoir while making a cup (as long as its still attached and you are filling from another container) and can even do so without removing the lid due to the design but I find this a little messy so usually take it off. If the machine does run out of water mid-drink you can add some to the resevoir and hit the start button again, the Tassimo remembers how much it has dispensed and finishes the correct amount.

There is a cleaning disc which is included which is handy for a few things. It produces hot water and runs it through the system so it is needed for descaling. In addition to this it can be used to give you hot water in place of a kettle. Admittedly only a cup at a time but its still handy. Someone threw my last cleaning disc out, mistaking it for a used disc. This time though the cleaning disc is bright yellow which makes it harder to mistake. In addition there is a small retention compartment for it behind the reservoir so you shouldn't ever lose it between cleans. The machine requires very little maintenance and all the parts you need to clean are easily removable.
I bought my first Tassimo about 3 years ago, pretty much taking a gamble on it, and it lasted about 2 and a half years before I bought the current Bosch model. The reason I replaced it was that I never descaled it and the machine stopped working. We knew it was dispensing less water but didn't know why so just added water 'til it stopped working. Unfortunately after going online I discovered the limescale problem. The new machine has a limescale sensor and tells you when it needs descaled. After six months it has told me for the first time and it runs its own program when you put the descaling agent in the reservoir. I imagine this is premature for Scottish water given the last one lasted 30 months but prevention of build up can only be a good thing.

The only slight negative I have is with the price. Although it is good value when compared with coffee shop prices it can be a lot more expensive than instant coffee but I feel the difference in quality more than justifies the price. It's just a shame there is little or no competition in the production of the T-discs.

If you like good coffee (or tea or chocolate) I would grab one of these as they are a steal at the current price.

This is a review of the Bosch TAS 4011GB, there are many variations on the market.

Summary: Great value at current price of machine.

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