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Comment by senkora | Hacker News Reader

I did some research recently on K-cups vs Nespresso pods. One thing I found was that none of the official Keurig machines heat water to the optimal temperature for brewing coffee (around 195-205 F).

There are a few third party brewers that will hit that level, but I’m very curious why Keurig itself doesn’t offer one. Maybe safety/liability?

Also, whereas every Nespresso machine brews the pods basically the same, the Keurig machines vary widely in terms of brewing temperature, so you have to be careful which one you buy.

Honestly, I started biased towards Keurig but came away with the conclusion that, if you really want capsule coffee, the only reasonable choice is Nespresso. The original Nespresso pods are an open ecosystem with third party pods so that would be my recommendation.

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Why not get a normal espresso machine or automatic coffee machine? Why would you ever want to coffee pods?

A real coffee machine almost certainly makes better quality, but requires more effort. A pod based system makes mediocre to decent coffee easily and consistently. And in a small amount.

Using a drip coffee machine usually means making way more coffee than I'll drink, even though I'd love to own a machine named Mr. Coffee.

If you only want one or two cups, a stovetop maker might be a good alternative. Slightly more work, but less waste.

Exactly, a decent moka pot will brew pretty good coffee for just the cost of water, heating, and the coffee itself. Cleaning is easy, and they'll last generations in a family.

Coffee pods are expensive, wasteful, and not even that tasty...

I just press button to get better than Starbucks coffee for literally 0.35$ (premium coffee beans). Modern automatic coffee machine take really no effort. My De'Longhi Primadonna S Evo made 2094 coffees in last 4 years.

That particular coffee maker starts at approximately $500 USD[0] and seems to go for closer to $1000. Maybe in Europe its cheaper (not sure where you are based) but that is not the market of a Keurig or even Nespresso customer

[0]: https://www.google.com/search?q=De%27Longhi+Primadonna+S+Evo...

Pod themselves are often more expensive than coffee beans. Over time it would be cheaper to own coffee machine.

If someone is price sensitive then small drip machine, stove moka pot or aeoropress would be cheaper.

I thin only legitimate case for coffee pods is when you are not drinking coffee but want to serve to guests.

There are drip machines that will make one cup and even if you had the roaster grind the beans for you, it would probably be far, far better than anything you can get for a Keurig.

Brewing standard espresso for a few years now, I can see how it's a completely different value proposition.

They'll probably want to grind their own beans as well, and while the results are far far tastier, it's also a whole ceremony with finicky adjustements. There's that weird pressure telling to not be lazy and settle on worse pre-grind stuff, but thing is people are actually lazy so it becomes a friction point.

A fully automated machine solves that issue, but then they're huge, expensive, you're stuck with one variety of coffee at a time and any part that breaks means you repair the whole thing.

I have one for guests. I grind my own beans and make cold brew concentrate for myself, but I’ve found that guests are typically more comfortable with the pods.

> Why would you ever want to coffee pods?

For other people in the household.

Relationship lubricant - a simplified morning workflow for your caffeine deprived family members. win.

People shit on them, but they really are easier and more convenient.

Many regular automatic coffee machines are terrible at maintaining proper brewing temperatures as well. I think they’re just designed to be an inexpensive convenience product for a not-especially-discerning customer base. Nespresso is marketed as a premium product and the starting price of a Nespresso is like 3x that of a Keurig.

Personally I find Nespresso compares way better against decent regular espresso than Keurig does to decent regular drip coffee. Most Keurig coffee I’ve had has been dreadful–I’d rather drink gas station coffee or instant instead.

Possibly because it either costs more for a more powerful heating element or takes longer?

Nespresso has an advantage in the way it works as it's a pressure system. Coffee vs. Espresso.

Use a moka pot instead, it's also a pressure system. And probably much better at it than the cheap electronics of a Nespresso.

I've used pretty much every coffee system you can imagine at this point.

Moka pots are pretty fussy as far as temp control and can be quite messy. A Nespresso is far more convenient (and IMO much better than a Keurig is to coffee). I do love Moka pots and French presses as very cheap, old tech ways of making coffee that I think are nearly as good as very pricy methods.

> Moka pots are pretty fussy as far as temp control and can be quite messy.

The best method I've found so far is to use a kettle to pre-boil the water, or get it to almost boiling at 85-90C if you have a temperature controled kettle, and then just finishing the brewing on the stove top. Almost no chance of burning the ground coffee, it's really quick to cook, and the water temperature seems to stay where it should, at least for my taste.

Don't get me wrong, it's easy for me. It's just not in the same vicinity of ease of use as a pod machine, ie. it's going to be a learning curve for most. It's not something I'd expect my elderly parents would be able to do it.

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