Why upgrade from a Nespresso to an espresso machine at home?

If you use a Nespresso machine to make your coffee at home — or you’re thinking about buying one — then you already know why these machines are so popular. They’re so convenient and easy to use — and much cheaper than going to a cafe every day to get your espresso fix.

They take up hardly any space in the kitchen, and making yourself fresh coffee is as easy as putting in a capsule and pressing a button. And even confirmed coffee geeks like us have to admit that the coffee from these capsules can be pretty good — much better than instant, or stale old supermarket coffee.

So what’s the catch? If Nespresso machines are so good and so convenient, why are most serious coffee lovers still going to the trouble of making espresso by hand? Why would you dedicate so much space in your kitchen to a big, shiny espresso machine, when a Nespresso machine can fit in a drawer? And why spend so much time learning about coffee and obsessing over the best way to make it, when a Nespresso machine can make perfectly good coffee at the touch of a button?

For coffee lovers like us, there are plenty of reasons why Nespresso will never replace real espresso. Here are some of the most important:

Nespresso is not the same as an espresso

The first thing to know when you’re comparing Nespresso with traditional espresso is that they are not exactly the same drink. 

Just like espresso, Nespresso is brewed in a machine at high pressure, which creates a strong coffee with lots of crema. At first glance, this looks exactly the same as a traditional espresso — but there is one important difference: the Nespresso is much weaker.

A Nespresso machine uses 5–6 grams of grounds to make 40ml of coffee, while a traditional Italian espresso is only 25ml in size, but made with 7 grams of coffee. Your local specialty coffee shop probably uses even more coffee than this — as much as 10 grams for a single espresso.

This doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to call Nespresso coffee ‘espresso’ — but a Nespresso coffee will never have the same strength, body, and texture as a well-made traditional espresso.

This difference is important even if you normally only drink lattes or cappuccinos. The weaker Nespresso coffee will give you a more watery result than a cappuccino made with a traditional espresso. If you want to make a rich, creamy cappuccino like the one you get in your favorite cafe, then only a traditional espresso will do.

Better beans

If you’re using a Nespresso machine, then you can only use coffee that has been packed into capsules. The number of options for capsule coffee has increased a lot in recent years, but the selection is still limited.

On the other hand, if you’re making your own espresso, then you can use any kind of coffee you like. If you want to drink locally roasted, artisanal coffee, then traditional espresso is your only option.

Making traditional espresso, therefore, means you can really explore the different flavors of different origins, processes, and roasting styles in your coffee.

There’s also nothing quite like the smell of freshly-ground coffee in the morning! In fairness, Nespresso coffee is hermetically sealed and keeps fresh for a pretty long time — but it will never match the experience and flavor of opening and grinding a freshly-roasted bag of specialty coffee.

Better Value

Making your own espresso is a lot cheaper than using capsules. While Nespresso machines are fairly cheap, Nespresso-compatible pods cost around 2–3 Riyals per capsule. Assuming each contains 5 grams of ground coffee, that’s 400–600 Riyals per kilogram of coffee. If you’re buying beans, on the other hand, then a typical espresso blend costs just 100–300 Riyals per kilogram.

When you look at it this way, an espresso machine can pay for itself remarkably quickly. If you drink just one double espresso per day (using 14 grams of coffee), then you can save enough to cover the cost of a basic espresso machine and burr grinder in just one year.

Less waste

Single serve capsules generate an incredible amount of waste. By one estimate, more than 50 billion capsules end up in landfill every year. Nespresso capsules are recyclable, but Nespresso themselves admit that, in practice, more than 70 percent of them do not get recycled.

Some brands use compostable or biodegradable capsules instead of plastic or aluminum. This can reduce the amount of waste, but only if the capsules can be sent to an industrial composter — they do not break down properly in landfill.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that capsules are worse for the environment overall — after all, Nespresso machines use very little electricity compared to traditional espresso machines. However, making your own espresso certainly reduces the amount of waste you generate.

Bring the barista experience home

The best part of getting a real espresso machine at home, however, is that making espresso is a lot of fun. For many home baristas, making espresso and perfecting latte art quickly becomes an absorbing hobby. Making your own coffee at home every morning is an enjoyable ritual — and what better way to impress your guests than to pour them a perfect cappuccino?

The only downside is, once you’ve got used to drinking barista-style coffee at home every day, it can be hard to go back to drinking regular coffee!

How to upgrade your espresso experience

If you’ve decided to take the plunge and start making your own espresso at home, the first decision you have to make is what kind of machine you’re looking for. Which kind of machine is right for you depends on how much input you want to have in the espresso-making process. If you like the idea of becoming a home barista, then you’ll need a barista-style espresso machine. If on the other hand you want fresh coffee but with the convenience of a Nespresso machine, then a super-automatic or bean to cup machine is the way to go.

Super-automatic / Bean to Cup machines

Super-automatic machines, also called bean to cup machines, do all the work of making espresso for you. You just put beans in the top, press a button, and out comes a freshly brewed espresso!

The machine does all the work for you, grinding and brewing the coffee to a set recipe. Making coffee with a bean to cup machine is therefore just as easy as using a Nespresso machine. However, with one of these machines you’re missing out on some of the fun of making your own coffee, and the espresso will never be quite as delicious as one that you made yourself. They also need a little cleaning and maintenance to keep them in perfect working order.

Nonetheless, bean-to-cup machines can make great coffee, and this is definitely the option to choose if you just want freshly-made espresso in the simplest way possible.

If you’re on a tight budget, or just starting out on your espresso journey, then a good machine to consider would be the Delonghi Magnifica Smart. This compact machine can use whole beans or pre-ground coffee, which makes it very convenient.  You will have to steam your own milk — but the machine makes this very simple.

If you are able to invest a little more into the quality of your morning coffee, then the ENA 8, from the renowned Swiss brand Jura, is hard to beat. It can make different styles of coffee with a single button press and features its unique Pulse Extraction technology to get a rich flavor out of any coffee.

For a truly high-end experience, then the DeLonghi Primadonna Elite is an excellent choice. This slick machine can be controlled from your smartphone thanks to its BlueTooth connection. Best of all, it can make both iced and hot coffees — it’s just like having your own personal barista!

Barista-style machines

If you’re ready to get stuck into making your own coffee, then this is the section for you. Home espresso machines run the full range from simple, low-cost kitchen appliances all the way up to compact versions of the large, sophisticated espresso machines you find in cafes. Here are some of the best espresso machines at each price point:

Beginner

For your first foray into home espresso-making, then a compact, budget machine is a great place to start. The De Longhi Dedica represents excellent value for money. It allows you to adjust the temperature and volume of your espressos, giving you a lot of control over the flavor. It’s also very easy to use — making a frothy cappuccino is simple with the built-in milk foamer.

Alternatively, the Solis Perfetta Plus is a great all-round performer. The built-in pressure gauge gives you real-time feedback on your espresso-making, which can help you find the perfect dose and grind size for your coffee. It also features a traditional — and powerful — steam wand, which is very unusual in a machine this size. This makes it perfect for the budding barista that wants to learn how to make latte art.

Finally, the Sage Bambino Plus is designed to make the whole process of making a coffee as simple as possible. The soft pre-infusion helps you to get the full flavor from your coffee, while the smart milk steamer can produce an incredibly silky microfoam with just a single button press.

Explorer

If you want to start exploring all the flavors and textures that espresso can have, then you’ll need a mid-range machine with a dedicated grinder. With these machines, you’ll be manipulating the grind size and brew time to tweak the flavor of your coffee and personalize the recipe to suit your tastes.

The Barista Express from Sage represents incredible value, with a high-quality burr grinder built right into the machine. The brewing temperature is precisely controlled with the onboard PID, and the soft preinfusion ensures your espressos have a rich, full flavor.

The Sage Barista Pro has all the features of the Barista Express, but offers more control for the barista, with an intuitive LCD display that gives you all the information you need at a glance. The Barista Pro gives you finer control over the grind size settings, giving you even more options to optimize the flavor of your coffee. It’s also more powerful, with a more powerful steam wand, and can heat up and be ready to brew just 3 seconds after you turn it on.

For the full home barista experience, though, the Oscar II with OPV is hard to beat. The heart of this machine is a copper boiler with a heat exchanger — similar to what you’d find inside commercial espresso machines. Unlike most other machines at this price point, it includes full-size portafilters and a professional steam wand — allowing you to make coffee exactly the same way as the baristas in your favorite cafe.

Pro

For the more experienced home barista, then the upgraded version of the Oscar II, the Oscar Mood, is one to consider. The Oscar Mood’s improvements over the original Oscar II include a PID, which gives precise control over the boiler temperature, and cool-touch steam wands which are easier to clean and reduce the risk of getting burnt. The slick new design also includes a digital display, which makes it much more user-friendly.

For a fully manual brewing experience, then the espresso machines from the Italian brand Rocket are some of the best on the market. Rocket machines are considered ‘prosumer’ level, made with professional-grade parts and solid materials, but designed to fit in the home.

The Rocket Appartamento features all of Rocket’s espresso-making know-how wrapped in an iconic design. The two-stage preinfusion gives great control of the flavor of the coffee, while the cool-touch steam wands are easy to clean and less likely to burn you and your milk!

The Rocket R58, meanwhile, is Rocket’s first dual boiler machine, meaning it uses separate boilers for brewing espresso and steaming milk. This gives full control over the brewing temperature, without sacrificing any steam power — a technology usually found in high-end commercial espresso machines. In addition, it uses a quiet rotary pump instead of the noisy vibration pump found in most home machines.

Taking it a step further, the Rocket R60 includes the same dual boilers as the R58 but adds 5-step pressure profiling — giving the barista control over the flavor of every stage of the espresso extraction. The R60 can connect to an app on your smartphone for easy control over all the variables this machine has to offer.

Finally, the ECM Synchronika is another popular prosumer-grade machine, with dual boilers, a rotary pump, and very powerful steam — the closest experience to using a full-size commercial machine in this price bracket.

Professor

If you’ve truly mastered espresso-making, then you need a machine that can match your skills. The R9 One is Rocket’s flagship espresso machine, with capabilities similar to the very best commercial espresso machines. It features two very large stainless steel boilers, with a volumetric pump to automatically control the amount of espresso delivered. It features pressure profiling that can be manually controlled during brewing or pre-programmed via the full-color touchscreen. This is the machine to choose if you want to push your espresso-making skills to the limit and have the full power of a commercial machine in your home.

The La Marzocco Linea Mini is a machine that needs no introduction. This iconic machine is a compact version of the Linea Classic — a machine that is found in specialty coffee shops all over the world. La Marzocco’s build quality is second to none, and their machines have rightly earned a reputation as some of the best in the business. With this machine on your counter, there is nothing to separate you from the world’s top professional baristas.

Whether you’re going all-out with a prosumer-grade espresso machine or dipping a toe in the water with a compact model, any of the machines on this list can make an espresso that is very different from the coffee you get from a capsule machine. Once you’ve started making your own coffee and discovered just how good you are at making espresso at home, you’ll wonder why you ever settled for anything less.