The Nespresso compatible coffee capsule from Pressogno convinced a Jury of Restaurateur and Coffee Connoisseur. Nespresso and Lidl fared the worst.

Coffee in a capsule has become a common household good in our kitchen and offices since Nespresso replaced their Head of Marketing in 1988. Nespresso's initial attempt to wipe out all clones with law suits has now evolved to almost any Retailer offering one or more of the many compatible Coffee Capsule brands.

The Newspaper "Der Landbote" wanted to find out once and for all which Nespresso compatible Capsule Coffee was the best in their opinion and invited Coffee Experts to join their panel. Each Juror was served one Espresso after the other without identifying the product.

The results of the tasting:

• Good:
  • "Espresso Medium" from Pressogno achieved the highest score. The jury's verdict for the surprise winner: "A balanced Espresso."
• Average:
  • Espresso Bar "Italia Supremo" from Aldi
  • La Mocca Caffè "Espresso Forte" from Coop
  • Cafe Royal "Espresso" from Migros
• Below standard:
  • Bonga "Red Mountain" from Rägeboge Biolade
  • "Arpeggio" from Nespresso
  • Bellarom "Classico Espresso" from Lidl

The Coffee Experts at work:

Céline Hauri (Sahara-Bar), Eva Kirchheim (<Landbote>), Kari Fatzer (Cappuccino),
Bruno Müller (Royal Pacific Coffee), Lara Stoll (Promi), Sam Meier (Kafisatz)

Pressogno a surprise Winner

Already after the first Espresso it became apparent, that the Jurors were very critical. Céline Hauri, Manager of the Sahara Bar and being one of the heaviest coffee drinker at the table, was quick to pull out the lowest score and wrote "criminal". Lara Stoll, another Juror, wanted to extend the voting to allow negative points.

The overall results shows that neither of the 9 Coffees was awarded a "very good" (5 Points) nor a "good" (4 Points); the best coffee achieved a "good" with 2.8 Points, the 3 worst coffees even missed out on a score of "bad", having achieved less than 2 points.

The low scores are the results of very high expectations, as the coffee experts compared to coffees from coffee shops. Coffee roaster Bruno Müller critisises that "Home coffee machines often burn coffee, with intention. The producers assume that coffee drinkers won't be pre-heating the cups".

The suprise winner as awarded by the jury was Espresso Medium from Pressogno, which in Australia is available online and from SPAR outlets. There are 3 products sharing second spot were the Aldi Coffee, the Coop product and the Migros capsules, which was the most expensive product.

From the discount retailers, Aldi offered the cheapest Nespresso compatible capsules and the Bellarom pods from Lidl received the lowest scores from 5 of the 6 jurors. Clearly below average ranged the expensive Arpeggio from the market leader Nespresso. The jury liked the look of the product but found the taste too bitter.

Detailed Results: Chart can be found here.

Tipp: The independent Consumer magazine K-Tipp also tested which coffee capsules work best with Nespresso coffee machines and Pressogno achieved a perfect score of 100%.

Source: http://www.landbote.ch/winterthur/winterthurer-jury-mag-den-kaffee-von-spar-nicht-aber-nespresso/story/30082427

Der Landbote 18 July 2015, Christian Gurtner/Michael Graf