Expert Nespresso vs. illyEspresso Comparison

Nespresso and iperEspresso capsules underwent rigorous testing at Kenneth Davids's 'Coffee Review'. Conclusion: They both produce really good espresso, but Nespresso's cheaper and offers more variety. I think I'll stick with Nespresso for my capsule needs.

Also I have a feeling Illy's cheating with their crema production - LAME.

Instant Coffee Revolution?

Starbucks VIA Ready Brew
Single-Serving Instant Coffee packs

Taste: 6/10 (Not quite Turkish Coffee, but markedly better than instant.)
Marketing: 11/10

"Coffee should be black as Hell, strong as death, and sweet as love."

(Turkish Proverb)

Starbucks' new-ish single-serving instant coffee known as 'VIA' has 3 gum-stick-size packets in one slim package. Opening the top reveals three shiny packets. These packets are sexy, and possess a clear urban chic. They are designed using colors which one would associate with coffee culture - luxurious brown, white, gold. Holding one between your fingers feels like holding a cigarette or a condom case. You need to hold it to believe it.

The VIA package itself easily belongs in the room of a luxury business hotel. In fact, behind the middle packet is a little mug logo and the phrase "Hotel stay," indicating that the product was at least partially intended for this purpose. On the cover is a cutout of a takeout cardboard coffee cup, with details of the brew indicated with little X's, as they would be indicated on a real cup of coffee to-go. Here again Starbucks paid attention to the little things. The colours feel modern, and again, bold. But they are calming as well, as coffee products should be.

It should be clear by now that taste is not my main focus with this product.

Starbucks is trying to milk the instant coffee cow. They came up with an idea that would elevate their instant above the competition. The idea was to add pure ground coffee to their freeze-dried granules, giving a taste more closely resembling a freshly-brewed cup. And it sort of worked. Of course this solution has already been in use for hundreds of years by the Turks. Turkish coffee (more like the Israeli version of Turkish Coffee) is just finely ground coffee which is added to hot water. And then consumed. It is fantastic. It is strong, bold, sweet, and it doesn't need to pose as a different product - because it is much loved on its own merits.

Ready Brew does take some of the grossness out of instant, but not all of it. To me it tastes like 3 ingredients were loosely mixed together - drip coffee, instant coffee, and ground coffee.

I've read lots of reviews saying that this coffee is midway between classic instant and freshly-brewed coffee. That's not a bad description. But if you have the option, go for the real deal - and make an intense cup of Turkish coffee. It's just as portable, twice as strong, and doesn't involve any compromises.

3 Office Drinks

(Photo taken with the Retro Camera app on Android)

I get my work espresso from an industrial Lavazza machine. It's a pod machine, using one of five Lavazza pod flavours (Green, Brown, Blue, and Decaf (not sure what colour it is, but who cares, right?)). I do appreciate having a decent machine, but unless we live with variation, we're all just drinking Victory coffee, aren't we?

Ice Coffee

Not all offices have ice. My floor doesn't, so I sometimes climb to the 12th floor to take some from their freezer. If yours doesn't - no matter. I had a great Ice Coffee from Caffenetto which was sans glace, and it was perfect. Don't bother using instant coffee for this, because it won't make ice coffee. And if you only have instant, then you can make a decent Ice Instant Coffee, but that should probably be filed in a section other than Ice Coffee.

Use the strongest espresso you can find, because the more espresso you put in - the harder it will be to cool it. If you have ice, then you can bypass that instruction.

Without Ice: Fill a glass with a shot of espresso. Mix in 2 heaping mini-spoons of sugar (sorry, but that's what we've got at the office). Top up with milk.

With Ice: Fill a glass with a shot of espresso. Mix in 2 heaping mini-spoons of sugar. Add lots of ice, and then top up with milk.

Chai Latte

You need a milk steamer for the next 2. Sorry to people working in smaller offices who are mal-equipped.

Fill up a glass with 1/3 hot water. Add a Chai tea bag. Add sugar - don't skimp. Remove tea bag and top up with frothed milk. Mix, and powder the top with cinammon and chocolate shavings. Just kidding.

Hot Chocolate

Add 3 or 4 spoons of chocolate powder (less if you're sensitive to sugar) to a glass. Top up with frothed milk.

Chocolate powder seems to be unusually common in Israeli offices. And I've never seen anyone else drinking it.

Lavazza Espresso Point

What kind of coffee I'd be drinking for the next year(s) was one of the big unknowns coming to work. I figured I would be spending countless hours at the firm, since it's my articling year, and I was hoping that they had invested in a real espresso machine. Turns out I was right and wrong.

The machine is the Lavazza Espresso Point (pictured here).

Notice that the machine is both completely automatic (always at the right temperature, no pumping required, espresso shot size pre-determined), yet still has a steaming wand. It runs on Lavazza pods, similar to Nespresso, Illy, and all the rest of the pod systems. Also, mugs are stored and heated on top of the machine - something nice which I hadn't encountered before. The espresso itself is ok. I did not fall in love, and it was definitely not as good as the rich Nespresso taste I've grown used to. But the machine itself is definitely pro level, and the wide range of espresso drinks it can produce makes up for its flaws.

The machine can heat milk automatically without the need to use the steam wand. Clearly this is a bad idea since it allows the workers to be lazy and subsist on merely heated milk, as opposed to frothed milk. I'm still working on that learning process, using primarily Youtube videos and CoffeeGeek's guide to frothing for newbs.

An interesting thing I found on this Q&A is that water initially comes out of the steam wand in order to clean out old milk. This is good to know, since you don't want gross old milk-water in your coffee. Therefore it suggests you first turn on the wand while it's pointed at the grill, then, while it is still emitting steam, turn it (holding the sleeve so that you don't burn yourself) and quickly plunge it into the cold milk.

Back to the Melitta

My first foray into the coffee world was with an old Melitta plastic cone, the kind that you place on top of your mug, and the coffee brews right into your cup. It's definitely convenient - takes just a couple minutes longer than instant coffee. Still, after discovering espresso, it was hard to go back. I found that espresso was a perfect example of the "good things come in small packages" idea. Despite its small dosage, it did not lack in richness and taste.

But today I decided to revisit the Melitta, and it produces a decent cup of drip coffee. Since I've been using my 3-shot Moka Pot to get my "espresso", I've only been able to produce a relatively small quantity of coffee per brewing. Since it's exam time, I decided to make a giant cup of drip coffee. This time I first heated 1/2 C of milk in the glass, in order to get both the glass and the milk warm. Then I brewed directly into the milk.

New Moka Pot Alert

In my hands right now is one beautiful red Moka Pot made by Aeternum, one of espresso-giant Bialetti's daughter companies. The pot was one of the best presents I've ever received, and I am incredibly excited to make my first batch of coffee with it! Here it is, displayed with pride:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="229" caption="Red Aeternum Moka Pot"][/caption]