One thing I love in life is a great cup of coffee. Not too strong and not too weak. I am also impatient so when it comes to coffee machines, I like them simple and easy to use without needing constant loving care and cleaning.
I also hate stale coffee beans, having to grind coffee (because of the mess), and having to run out for good quality coffee beans every week or so.
The answer to my coffee problems came a few weeks ago when I was offered one of the new Nespresso Citiz coffee machines to review.
Built around the new Nespresso coffee system, the Citiz is designed for a new style of coffee capsule that eliminates stale coffee beans, grinding and saves a lot of time. However, it does have its limitations, which I will come to shortly.
The new Nespresso system brews one cup at a time and it must be popular because the Swiss company that makes it has recorded average sales growth of more than 30 percent over the last eight years.
What attracted me to the new Citiz was the introduction of an, easy to use, milk warmer that also creates instant froth. The milk warmer eliminates the need to stand in front of coffee machine warming milk every time you want a cappuccino or latte.
Instead you simply pour the milk into the container press a button and seconds later you have hot frothed milk.
And making coffee is even easier. Attached to the back of the stylish black coffee maker is a clear water tank. Once this is filled you simply drop in a coffee capsule into a plunger slot, press and stick your cup under the spout.
Two power saving buttons are located on the top of the device. Press one of these, fill the cup with the amount of coffee you want and simply add the frothed milk for an excellent cappuccino.
The coffee that is produces is brilliant however I do believe that Nespresso need to rethink their distribution system for the coffee capsules.
The word “espresso” comes from the Italian “esprimere”, which means “to express” and what Nespresso has done is to develop a new system whereby hot water is forced under pressure through ground coffee.
Their exclusive system consisting of unique coffee capsules together with new machine technology enabling Nespresso to capture all the character of a coffee and produce a genuine, high-quality espresso.
The coffee can only be purchased online or from one shop I found in the Sydney CBD meaning if you have an “Oh shit we’ve run out of coffee” moment, you can’t just make a quick trip to the local supermarket.
This is the only process that let’s this system down. However, when purchasing online, there is a vast array of coffee flavours available and out of eight that I have trialled I have not had one dud coffee yet (though some can be a little weak for my strong tastes).
