Wait, so you want to press raspberries or pomegranate seeds into your coffee? That sounds absolutely dreadful. No, I haven’t tried it.
For those of us actually looking to drink coffee, however, I started to use the “inverted method” a couple of weeks ago. This avoids the inevitable drip-through you get with the normal method. I was originally worried it would leak if the plunger deviated longitudinally, but (so far) have had no problems at all. This produces a slightly superior result. If the drip-through didn’t annoy me so much, I probably wouldn’t bother.
My Bosch/Tassimo unit arrived just a short time ago.
Bought it from Wal-Mart on-line for ~$99.99, with a $20 e-gift card (so more or less a net of $80 + tax).
Comes with no sample coffees.
My wife bought some Maxwell House regular coffee and latte stuff.
Tried one of the lattes.
You do it in two steps - first a T-Disc with the milk-like stuff, then a disc with the espresso.
Taste is decent, slightly unnatural taste to the milk. Is it soy-based? I may check later. Or perhaps it’s full milk/cream, and my taste buds are used to skim (both when I drink milk, and for most of my more recent purchases of milk-based drinks from Starbucks).
No real foam on top. Maybe a slim hint of it, but nothing like the inches of foam you get with a Starbucks latte.
Seems like it will be convenient. Will reserve judgment on the quality until I’ve had a few more and sampled more varieties…
EDIT:
I checked, and it does appear that it is real milk that’s included with the package I tried (no mention of soy that I saw).
And when I registered the maker, I was given a choice of free stuff (2 kinds) to sample. I should now have some sample T-Discs of hot chocolate and green tea coming my way.
I use one of these to foam milk for cappuccinos. Nuke the milk until 155F then froth it up. You get a TON of foam this way, and it provides the really tiny microbubbles that I always associate with a proper cappuccino. Works great.
Chefs in fancy restaurants use effectively the same thing to make foams for sauces, etc. It really does an amazing job.
On a related note, I am intrigued by this (also by Nespresso), which is basically one of those frothers integrated into a heated pitcher. So you just dump the milk in, and it will bring it to whatever temperature you want and froth it for you. It also has a steaming attachment. Pretty slick.
No, just the juice ;) I figure pulp should get caught up in the grounds/filters.
If you’re just shocked at the idea, I’m surprised you haven’t seen some of the fresh, flavored beans around in the better places. Chocolate-Raspberry roasts are quite common, and are usually excellent.
Heh, I linked that exact same thing in the other coffee thread the other day. It doesn’t look like much but does a fantastic job. I used to have a steam wand but it really didn’t do much of a better job than this, and was a pain in the ass to use and clean for making just a single drink.
You can also use it to add a little bit of lightness and body to a cup of hot chocolate. Delicious during the wintertime.
Seconded. I picked up one of those a few months back and love it. Previously I used the type that resembles a french press (similar to this) but I got fed up when I broke my third glass receptacle (the glass is paper thin).
The Aeroccino Plus is amazing. My sister in law (pastry chef) was so enamored with ours when she visited last year that we got her one for Christmas.
It’s pretty simple; there’s one button, and two frother attachments (one makes really foamy foam, the other just a frothier hot milk). There’s no temp adjustment (just hot or cold). For a single shot cappuccino’s worth of milk, it can heat and froth the milk by the time the espresso has finished (and the espresso finishes quickly). Really handy. Non-stick inside so it’s easy to clean too.
Fill press with water to desired amount, boil that water in the microwave in your trusty mug, let the mug sit with the water in it while you prepare the beans. I use 3-4 scoops of beans in the grinder. (depending on how much kick I want) Did a very short grind to keep the beans nice and chunky. Emptied the grinder into the press, added the water and stirred. Let sit 4 minutes, pressed and poured.
Excellent coffee in less than 6 minutes. Honestly, this is less work than with my Senseo. (which I got for free)
50 bucks, and I can make one hell of a single cup of coffee.
Another great thing, this is perfect for traveling as well, as long as you can get hot water, you can make some coffee. If you have a electrical socket, you can have freshly ground beans as well.
So after years of lousy drip coffee, I finally got a chance to make French press coffee today, and seriously, so great. Just night and day better than the drip stuff, and barely more difficult at all. (If you have a drip machine that doesn’t have a built-in grinder, I think it is zero percent more difficult, in fact.)
Thing that I’d add to what Jon Rowe just said: Get an electric teakettle, set it for 200 degrees, and it’s even easier and faster than the microwaved-water approach.
As long as this thread has been brought back to life by a spammer…
For those with a Nespresso machine - the only 3rd-party capsules I’ve tried that I really like a lot are from a UK specialty roaster, Colonna. With shipping to the US they run a bit more than buying from Nespresso, but their rotating selection of single-batch coffees makes for a nice variety. I was convinced to give them a go when they announced compostable capsules, but I also ordered one of their regular plastic capsule offerings. Both the compostable (Honduras) and the other (Gitchathaini Kenya AA, still available) give a really enjoyable concentrated blast of flavors typical of each region’s coffee. They don’t have the bitterness of a blended espresso shot, but neither do single-origin espressos at a 3rd-wave coffee shop.
