The Nespresso machine that has saved me hundreds on my daily coffee

One thing I love more than drinking coffee every day is not having to buy coffee every day. For years, I have been a pod coffee girlie. It started when I was still living at home and our family got a Nespresso machine. It continued when I moved out and realised I needed a coffee machine.

Pod coffee works for me because while I enjoy buying coffee from a cafe, it's a special treat, and I'd rather put the money I would spend on daily takeaway coffee towards something else. Instant coffee doesn't quite do it for me so I find pod coffee to be the sweet spot.

The coffee machine that has served me well for the past three years is a Nespresso Pixie. And I really love it. Every morning, right before I leave for work I make a coffee for my commute. This is my routine, and while I'm usually of the mindset 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', I thought, maybe it is time to test the waters with something a little different – the key being a little different. Yes, I'm trying a new pod machine.

NOTE: Prices are accurate at time of publishing.

Nespresso Vertuo Pop

Buy now from Nespresso

Price: $129, was $229

I have to preface this review by saying a lot of my thoughts will be how the Nespresso Vertuo Pop compares to the Pixie – that's how highly I think of my first machine.

The machine

With its bright red shade the Vertuo Pop makes a bold statement (especially against my green kitchen walls). Currently there are six colours to choose from. Pod machines are great if you have limited benchtop space but this one is a little bulkier compared to the other.

It comes with a water tank (with 0.56L capacity) and detachable cup support stand that catches drips. However, even with the cup stand removed there's not enough room to make coffee in a tall cup. It would need to be elevated on another platform to use a tall cup, or you'd have to make the coffee in something shorter and then transfer (which is what I have been doing).

Using the Nespresso Vertuo Pop

The Vertuo Pop is straightforward to use – there's only one button! You can't go wrong! Except you may need to educate yourself about the dome-shaped Vertuo coffee capsules the machine takes, which are only available to buy at Nespresso.

With other machines, including the Pixie, there are two 'coffee preparations' you can choose from: espresso (40mL) or lungo (110mL). Basically, there are two buttons on the machine and you can choose which size coffee to make.

The Vertuo Pop has five 'coffee preparations': espresso (40mL), double espresso (80mL), gran lungo (150mL), mug (230mL) and cold brew (355mL). But how does this work if there's only one button?

It's all about the pods. The Vertuo coffee capsules come in six different sizes and it's the pods that determine what style of coffee you'll make. The pods have barcodes so the machine knows how much water to use. Pretty smart! And the pods have their sizes marked so you should know what you're getting (something I should have checked before popping in my first 230ml mug-sized pod).

A fun little feature of the Vertuo Pop is that pods literally pop out of the machine into the used capsule container when you're done.

A few things I wish were different: a larger water tank would be good as its limited capacity means I have been caught out with no water mid-coffee-making, and the aforementioned (lack of) height of the machine. This is also quite a loud machine.

I have also had a few instances where the machine just won't play ball with me in the morning, which can be stressful when I've left a specific amount of time (four minutes) to make my coffee before I need to leave. I can usually sort this out by turning off the machine and unplugging it for a bit, then trying again with a fresh pod – a tip I learnt from the friendly technicians on the Nespresso troubleshooting phone line.

The pods

Other Nespresso machines can take 'original'-shaped pods that can be bought almost anywhere – brands such as Vittoria, L'OR and Nescafé make them and I usually stock up when they're on sale at my local supermarket.

Vertuo pods are still patented by Nespresso so you can only buy them at Nespresso stores or through their website, which is kind of limiting. But they have lots of flavours to choose from.

After some trial and error I've worked out the ideal pod for my weekday morning coffee is either a double espresso (80mL) or gran lungo (150mL) because I like to add frothed oat milk. My partner likes a large coffee so he's been using the mug pods (230mL) with a bit of added milk.

As the weather has warmed up I've enjoyed making the Tropical Coconut Over Ice pod on Saturday mornings with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. I'm also keen to try a cold brew (355mL).

Buying pods directly from Nespresso is more expensive than buying other brands from supermarkets, but with the Vertuo Pop you don't have a choice. It's still much cheaper than buying a coffee every day.

And I have to say, after going between the two different kinds of pods, I think the Vertuo pods have more depth of flavour than the ones I buy from the supermarket.

You can also get bags from the stores to recycle used pods. I love this because I've been unsure what to do with my previous pods and end up throwing them out (the 'advice' online is mixed).

The verdict

If you already have a pod coffee machine you're happy with, you don't need the Vertuo Pop. My first machine is still going strong and I think it's still got a fair bit of life in it.

But if you don't have one, the Vertuo Pop is a great pod coffee machine thanks to its technology, varied coffee size options and flavours, and the fun little pop when you're done with capsules. At $229 (although it's on sale now for $129!) it's reasonably priced, though if you want a milk frother, you can buy a combo with the machine and the Aeroccino3 frother for $219 (also currently on sale).

If you do the maths, my coffee of choice (regular oat cap) would cost me at least $22.50 a week, or over $1600 if I bought one every day.

For this machine, the milk frother and a pod that costs around $1, I spend $2.87 each day for the first year, if I make two coffees a day.

So for less than half the price, to have coffee I am perfectly happy with, I would say it's worth it.

Buy your Nespresso Veruto Pop on sale now for $179

Buy now from Nespresso

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