As François Etienne explains in his book “Le guide pratique du café”, Nespresso has done good to the world of coffee. This great brand has managed to make (with their varied range of capsule) realize to the general public that coffee does not have a single taste. They paved the way for the concept of “coffee for oneself” and people began to take an interest in the different possibilities that a cup of coffee can offer.
Some of the consumers (including me) who can be categorized as “disappointed with Nespresso” have begun to return to conventional extraction systems with the sole purpose of creating a good coffee. But there was in my case an intermediate step that was to use reusable Nespresso capsules. I relighted my old Nespresso machine to explain step by step how to use it with reusable capsules.
Like my tutorial on the use of moka pot, I will start with some generalities.
Overview
Where to get Nespresso reusable pods?
There is a large number of reusable Nespresso capsules available for sale including Amazon.
Reusable pods are available in plastic or stainless steel. Personally, for having tested both, I advise you to opt instead for stainless steel. They are much stronger and it is certain that there are no bisphenol A in their compositions (unlike plastic capsules).
Plastic capsules are more fragile, sometimes they deform under the pressure of water. It happened to me, it does not break the machine, but the distorted pod are hard to extract.
Some capsules are sold with a small tamper. It is a practical accessory for slightly brewing coffee. It is not essential (we can easily replace it with a cork for example) but who is nice to have.
Using Nespresso Reusable pods does not bother machines anymore. Finally, it was true until Nespresso was caught up by the authorities who forced him to make their machines compatible with the competing capsules. So, if your machine was manufactured after 2010, you will not have any problems.
Do Nespresso reusable pods give the same coffee as the original Nespresso?
No, you will not have the same coffee. Two reasons for this:
- The coffee used to fill the capsules is different.
- Reusable capsules can hold about 0.5g less coffee than the original Nespresso capsules. It is the shape of the capsules that make them contain less coffee.
These are two factors that make the resulting coffee close, but not the same.
Do we save money by using Nespresso reusable capsules?
Yes, we save money. The shot of the capsules you buy will be quickly amortized.
- A Nespresso pod costs approximately $ 0.35 (for 5.5g of coffee). So at the rate of 3 coffees a day in one year you will have spent $ 383,25 for one person.
- With a reusable capsule, if you buy 1 kg of ground coffee at $ 15 per kg, you can make about 200 coffees with (5g of coffee / capsules). Each coffee costs around $ 0.075. So in one year, at the rate of 3 coffees a day, the cost is about $ 82 with a reusable capsule. The investment is quickly profitable.
- Another advantage is that you have the freedom to choose the coffee you want.
This little demonstration shows that in addition to the ecological benefit, there is an economic advantage to using reusable Nespresso capsules.
How to use Nespresso reusable pods?
- Fill the capsule with ground coffee. Personally, I invested at the time in a small hand coffee grinder. The interest of the coffee grinder is that we can really refine the coffee grind (so it’s easier to adapt for a good extraction) and it’s better because the coffee is freshly ground. A manual mill corresponding to this use costs about 30 $.
- The ideal coffee grind is as fine as that used for espresso. It should not be too thin (at the risk of clogging the capsule) or too big (the water will pass too easily). If you do not have a grinder, you will have to buy different bags of ground coffee until you reach a suitable grind.
- As soon as the capsule is filled with its coffee, pack it with the tamper (or with a cork). Do not hesitate to supplement if necessary with coffee.
- Once the coffee is packed, close the capsule. She is ready to use.
- The capsule is used as a normal capsule.
- I have not used a reusable Nespresso capsule for many years. So I completely forgot how to adjust my mill for this use. It is possible to have a better extraction than what I got.
- That’s the result.
My selection of Nespresso reusable pods
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