CBTL Kaldi Single-Cup Brewer Espresso, Coffee and Tea Bundle`

I bought this as gift for my fiance in December. It worked pretty well for the first month or so then we started having problems. Here is is, just 4 months later, and it has completely stopped working. That would be fine except not only will Amazon not replace it or return it, neither will Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I didn't expect this product to quit working so soon after purchasing or I never would have gotten it.

If I had to do it over, I would look closely at the return details and probable would have spent more to get a Nespresso instead.

free with purchase! gift box featuring 12 CBTL(tm) capsules (one of each variety so you can sample all and pick your favorites)

That's what you will get if you order the Kaldi directly from CBTL. If you order the Kaldi from Amazon, you get a sleeve of House Brew Coffee, a sleeve of Espresso Premium, and a sleeve of English Breakfast Tea.

I contacted CBTL directly to find out if I could purchase a sampler of the capsules so I could try all the varieties, but they do not sell the samplers without the purchase of a machine from their site.

At the time of my purchase, Amazon also included the following selling point for the Kaldi: "The only single-cup machine that makes great coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and espresso." A search on Amazon and at CTBL yields no results for hot chocolate beverage capsules. So I asked the CBTL rep, Melissa, about hot chocolate beverage capsules and she advised that they were working on hot chocolate for the Americano machine only (availabe through CBTL and/or Bed Bath and Beyond).

Regarding the actual machine, I'm not sure that it is any better than my Tassimo 6515. The Tassimo has a filtration system. The CBTL Kaldi does not. I also like the fact that the Tassimo reads each barcode on the T-Discs prior to dispensing your beverage. Something about this process makes me feel like the Tassimo machine may be more technological.

The Kaldi does have a smaller footprint than the Tassimo 6515. But that also means a smaller water reservoir, which translates to more frequent fill ups. Because the Kaldi does not have a filtration system, you must use filtered water, which adds to the expense per cup.

At $21.92 for a pack of 3 sleeves of coffee (10 capsules per sleeve), a cup of coffee in the Kaldi will cost you approximately $.73 per cup. My regular cup of coffee in the Tassimo (Jacobs Kronung @ $24.35 for 32 T-Discs) runs approximately $.77 per cup. This is a savings of $.04 per cup...but then you need to factor in the cost of filtered water for the Kaldi vs. filters for the Tassimo (minimal...I haven't had to replace the filter in my Tassimo in the year that I've owned it).

Overall, I'm not sure that the Kaldi is any better than the Tassimo 6515 I have been using. I prefer the taste of the Jacobs Kronung coffee and I like that fact that Tassimo carries actual European coffee brands. However, I am disheartened that Starbucks recently cancelled its contract with Tassimo and went the Keurig and Seattle's Best is no longer available for the Tassimo either.

I wish there could be a universal at-home pod coffee system where the pods could be used interchangeably between machine brands. But, of course, that won't be happening.

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