Why bean to cup machines and not cheaper pod or capsule machines?

This is not a sales review and not controlled in any way by Melitta or Bella Barista. Even though both have involvement in capsules and pods.  I simply don’t believe in capsules for many reasons.

They look great don’t they,  various capsules in bright shiny colours (some flavoured) advertised by film stars. I talked about coffee drinks that didn’t really meet my definition of coffee……..Anything that has pre-ground coffee contained within it has lost any semblance it had to the original product minutes after it was ground. It’s like buying ready peeled bananas. Nature made a great container called the roasted coffee bean. It does it’s best to retain flavour and oils right up until it’s ground and it does a good job.

With a capsule, you have as little as 5.5g (and rarely more than 7g) of coffee, it’s not a lot. The Varianza uses 12g to make a shot, because if you tried to make a single shot with 5.5g you would have to “over extract” heavily roasted coffee. Over extracting coffee does not bring the best out of it, because putting too much water through it brings through the bad flavours as well as the good flavours.

Has it been craft roasted, is it high quality coffee…who knows? What I do know is, it wasn’t your choice and the capsule probably costs more than the coffee inside. If you want a “lotta mocha latte choco” experience, you’re going to have to have it with whatever beans they decide to grind for you, their flavouring to their strength, stuffed into some plastic/Aluminium thing months ago. Then there is the packaging waste capsule machines produce….don’t even get me started on that one.

Surprisingly the “speciality coffee” side, have actually been getting into capsules.  I believe this is a real dumbing down of the coffee scene, almost going back to instant. However, it’s very profitable and this stuff is heavily marketed. If the choice is between fresh coffee beans from an Artisan roaster, or brightly coloured capsules of pre-ground powder on the right, I know which I would choose!

Strengths of the Caffeo Varianza is:

  • YOU choose what beans you want and how much you want to pay for them.
  • You can decide on Ethically and sustainably sourced beans
  • There is a huge number of Artisan roasters in the UK that sell fantastic quality roasted coffee beans on line.
  • Explore a world of coffee at the click of a mouse.
  • If you want flavours, you can choose from a huge range of flavours to add, after the drink is made. Natural super high quality flavourings (sweetened or unsweetened) you add in whatever quantity your taste desires!
  • Your beans are ground just before the coffee is made, not months ago
  • You have 12g of high quality coffee to an espresso shot, not 5.5 to 7g
  • Coffee is ground correctly rather than to a powder, so it doesn’t over extract.
  • Minimal packaging waste, 250g or 500g of real coffee beans supplied in a single bag, not 35 or 70 individual capsules. Each drink means one manufactured capsule.
  • Coffee grounds are easily composted, capsules have to be specially made and then specially recycled, not very environmentally friendly
  • You load the hopper with beans every 1-3 days rather than load (and unload) a capsule each shot.

The Varianza is, your coffee, your way.

What about prosumer espresso machines, aren’t they better

This is a more difficult question, they cost so much more. You need to spend approximately £1400 for an entry level prosumer machine and grinder (and double or treble that for medium to high end equipment). The quality of beverage can be better, but:

  • You have to put some effort into learning how to use it and actually making the coffee, it also has the potential to be more variable
  • It uses a fair bit of kitchen space with it’s requirement for grinder, tamper, knock-box, shot glass etc..
  • You are more likely to be the only one using it

A poor operator can easily produce a significantly worse drink than a BTC machine and many do as I have found by bitter experience. Go round a coffee geeks house for a coffee, sometimes they waste 50g dialling in the grinder for a new bean (because when you change beans you must change grind). Espresso shots that, to them aren’t perfect, go down the sink. Eventually you are left thinking, “just give me a coffee, I don’t care if it’s not perfect…I’m loosing the will to live here”.  That’s the time when I sometimes wish they had a BTC machine

BTC Machines vs Prosumer Machines

Pros

  • Integrated grinder, no separate grinder required
  • It gives you consistency and a decent standard of preparation with no experience required
  • Anyone can use the machine (as my entire family have proved)
  • A large variety of drinks can be made easily with the press of a button
  • Much cheaper than prosumer equipment, very good value for money vs. taste.
  • A reasonably low total cost of ownership, It’s a lot cheaper in the long run than capsules (and much nicer). In fairness prosumer also has a low total cost of ownership after the initial large outlay
  • Maintenance requirements are minimal
  • They occupy a small space and don’t look out of place in a kitchen.

Cons

  • Milk texturing and temperature is not as good as prosumer machines, BTC machines do not even come close. They will give an acceptable latte and some texture to the milk, but not the smooth silky microfoam a skilled prosumer machine operator can produce, however, not many people produce it reliably!
  • They have a limited life. Prosumer machines may go on for 15 years or more, although parts and maintenance are not cheap.
  • The espresso is always better from a prosumer machine used by a skilled operator.

I thought long and hard about reliability, I don’t think there will be a huge difference if the required cleaning/maintenance is performed. Often when prosumer machines go wrong, the owners don’t even realise. The coffee quality may go down, there might be small leaks or noises, but generally, the machine keeps working. With a machine like the Varianza, an error e.g. the brew group, will simply stop it producing coffee, so it’s obvious. Even in the unlikely event the entire brew group breaks, it’s only around £60 to replace

In terms of longevity, a prosumer machine can last for 15 years or more with good maintenance, as long as you are willing to spend the money on it. A BTC machine may well landfill in 5+ years, but overall the cost of ownership is going to be similar, because they are much cheaper to buy and only get better as technology progresses.

If your basically lazy, or perhaps don’t want to invest time and money with prosumer kit, a BTC machine may have advantages. Prosumer stuff needs to be kept meticulously clean, otherwise drinks start to taste bad, most people don’t clean their machines anywhere near enough. The computerisation of the bean to cup means it self cleans,  you are also  nagged to clean it and run maintenance cycles (they are easy to do). The mechanism doesn’t lend itself to trapping dirt as a prosumer machine does. So the BTC machine is always likely to be cleaner than a badly maintained prosumer machine and like a well known burger chain, more likely to be consistent.

I do feel that the advantages of BTC machines far outweigh the disadvantages for a certain class of consumer and allow anyone (and I do mean anyone), to make decent coffee with a sensible overall cost of ownership. If you buy just 3 coffees less per week outside, the savings pay for the machine and all the coffee you would use in under 2 years. As the guarantee is for 2 years, you can’t really go wrong can you!

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