Introduction

I have owned this machine for the past few months and I am delighted with my purchase. As a regular coffee drinker I wanted a reasonably strong coffee without being too full bodied and I am impressed with the range of coffee from Nespresso. This machine is a mid range Nespresso machine that cost me £140 from amazon.co.uk website. I think that this was an excellent purchase as I also redeemed a voucher over the winter which gave me a £40 Nespresso coffee capsule rebate which I used to re order some additional capsules at no extra cost to myself on one particular occasion. In short, the advantages of this machine are that the machine itself is not that expensive. The design of the machine is quite compact and does not take up as much space as my Delonghi coffee machine. The Nespresso Krups machine also does not require much cleaning at all. To make a cup of coffee requires me having enough water in the tank at the back of the machine and a Nespresso coffee capsule. After around a minute I am able to press either of 2 buttons to make my coffee and within 20 seconds I will have an excellent flavored cup of coffee. Regarding the cleaning all I need to do is to remove the tray and place the empty capsules in my kitchen bin. That is all that is needed in terms of cleaning. As I use filter water into my machine I have not as yet needed to de-scale my Nespresso Krups machine.

From my experience I have ordered the replacement capsules from the Nespresso website and also have visited Nespresso concession area within Selfridges store in Oxford Street, London. The prices of the capsules are between 29p to around 33p per capsule and you have to order sleeves of their Grand Cru coffee which come in packs of 10.

Nespresso Krups Citiz and Milk XN7106

The design to my eyes is neat and compact and tidy. There are effectively four elements to this machine. Firstly there is the machine itself and has a narrow yet rounded shoulders. It is not that big in terms of size. My machine is colored fire engine red on the outside and is black in parts. The small nozzle is silver chrome colored. Secondly the Aerocinno which froths the milk is black and has a silver colored colored top. Thirdly there is the tray that holds the machine and the milk frother which again follows the same black colored design. All in all the machine is well designed and makes an espresso and a capuccino with less time and effort than you would think. It is effortless and very quick and efficient. The design is slightly retro.

There are two buttons on the machine itself which indicates a small and a large espresso size coffee. This makes it very easy to recognise the size of the coffee you want, although the sizes are pre determined. The way I make my coffee last longer is by making myself a capuccino sized drink which I use the Aerocinno device. I have to pre heat some milk from the microwave and then add the warm milk to the Aerocinno. The Aerocinno does not take long to get ready and within about 20 seconds or so you will get frothy and good quality milk for the capuccino.

In addition there are two drip trays which are made using stainless steel which are easy to clean. The trays look quite nice and a good feature of the design of the machine. They are not only practical but add a nice design feature.

My Opinion

Despite the reasonably high cost of capsules if ordering them regularly, this is still an excellent machine to make Nespresso coffee from. I do like in particular the fact that it is possible to make an Nespresso coffee within less than 2 minutes. Within seconds I check if there is enough water at the water device at the back of the machine, and then I place a coffee capsule in the top of the machine. Then I wait around 1 minute for the water to get warmed up, and by pressing the Nespresso button on the machine will soon deliver my coffee within around 20 seconds or so. Asides from myself enjoying an excellent smooth and tasty coffee, all I have to do cleaning wise is empty the tray of the used coffee capsules. This aspect of the machine I like and it is so much more advantageous and time saving than owning a coffee machine whereby you have to use ground coffee powder. In terms of time saving and cleaning it saves me a lot of time, which is one of the main reasons why I bought the machine.

Using Delonghi espresso machines you can choose types of ground coffee and beans to use, however with Nespresso you are in some respects limited to currently 16 types of coffee capsules. I find that the coffee capsules are convenient.

It is a very neat design,that does not take up a lot of space and would easily fit into most kitchens.

I paid £140 for this machine early January 2012 and so far think the world of this machine and coffee system. This coffee machine has enabled me and other members of my family to enjoy top quality coffee with a system that is extremely easy to use. I did not take long in knowing how the machine worked. I was however confused by the slightly limited range of 16 Nespresso capsule pods. I do like in particularl the Areppegio, Volluti and Dulsao Grand Cru Nespresso coffee capsules. T

The only negative of owning this machine and Nespresso machines in general is the availability of places to buy the coffee capsules from. I have had to order online from Nespressos website and have visited Selfridges in Central London to buy additional coffee capsules. It would be nice if supermarkets sold a select range of these capsules as well. This to me is not the most convenenient way of getting the replacement coffee capsules.

In terms of safety the machine is easy to use and the lid for the water tank is easy to be filled. There are no sharp edges which would to cause injury. The finish of the machine is smooth and there are no sharp edges. Because of the design the machine is easy to keep clean and will therefore remain hygienic.

When making the espresso coffee the machine makes some noise but is reasonably quiet. This is yet another advantage of this product.

In terms of making a choice it comes down to personal preference. If you want to particularly use ground coffee from beans or use a selection of ground coffees then the Nespresso would not be your choice. However, for a coffee lover who wants to enjoy a consistenly good cup of coffee from a good range of coffees, but without having to deal with ground coffee mess, then the Nespresso system would be the ideal choice.