Recently I was at a Disney hotel and they had a self-service Nespresso machine for guests. I fell in love the coffee. So, while standing in a line at Disneyland I ordered the U on my phone. I compared several of the machines and the U seemed to have the best features for the price. Plus, what man is going to order something called the "Pixie." Really Nespresso?I have only had it for a couple of days and I will update this review if I run into any problems or have more to say, however this is my first impression.
Likes
* It was easy to set up. The instructions are good, although it seems as though they were translated from another language. The wording is clear, but sometimes awkwardly phrased.
* After a couple of cleaning cycles, you are ready to brew. I had my first cup about 10 minutes after unboxing.
* Its attractively styled. It's has basic utilitarian look, not overly "blingy" or gaudy.
* It comes with a sampler of 16 coffee capsules.
* All of the coffees I have tried are very good. I actually enjoy my Nespresso coffee more than what I'm served when I go out.
* I like hot coffee, but not scalding. Even the first cup comes out very hot.
* The water container can be set on either side of the machine or in back of it, which gives you more options for placement.
* It takes up very little counter space.
* The water tank holds 27 oz., enough for 7 lungo cups or about 20 expresso cups. I like the fact that is clear.
* Operation could not be simpler. Insert capsule, close door and brewing starts in about 25 seconds for the first brew, almost immediately for second and subsequent cups.
* It is very clean. Drip cup captures any dripping. No leakage. Capsules fall into a hidden bin that will hold 12 used capsules.
* You can select 3 different cup sizes. Ristretto, Expresso, and Lungo. The largest, Lungo, is about half the volume of a standard 8 oz. cup of coffee.
* It has all the feature you'd expected from a modern coffee maker such as auto shutoff. The machine itself is not inexpensive. However, for under $200 I feel its a good value for what you get.
Dislikes.
* The outside is all plastic. (However, to the eye it's hard to tell this.)
* Cost of the coffee. I knew this when I bought it, but each capsule is about $0.65. (see below for full story on cost.) This is certainly much, much cheaper than at the coffee shop, but it's probably 2 or 3 times the cost of bulk coffee. If you have a cup each day, you'll spend about $240 annually. You are paying for the convenience and coffee quality.
* The cheapest capsules seem to be those bought directly from Nespresso. You have to buy in multiples of 50 capsules (you can mix and match flavor though). In the U.S. they charged $6.50 for 2nd business day shipping for an order of 50 capsules. This is their cheapest shipping option. With shipping, per capsule cost grows from $0.65 to $0.80 each.
A note on caffeine content. Many assume that an espresso has more caffeine than a standard cup of coffee. Actually an espresso shot has about 6o-80 mg, compared to a cup of drip coffee that can have 100-200 mg.
Overall I'm very pleased with my purchase. I plan to set my traditional coffee maker aside and have and espresso each morning instead.
The unit was packaged well. I was not anticipating the cheap plastic build quality when I opened this machine though. The unit is very lightweight and looks and feels cheap. I definitely do not like the look of the machine in my kitchen at all.
Now for the important part… the coffee. The unit makes a very good cup of espresso. It is very easy to clean and makes an espresso in about a minute (this includes the 25-30 second start-up time). The espresso is not overly hot, but I found that if you microwave water in your espresso cup for 25 seconds (which matches the unit start-up time), the coffee is the perfect drinking temperature. I prefer the sliding mechanism to insert the Nespresso capsule compared to the lift and drop of the Gran Maestria.
That said, I am going to return my Nespresso U due to the fact that the build quality is so cheap. I expected a little more heft, a little less plastic, and a little better looking unit (the magnetic cup holder concept is great, but it looks and feels again... cheap).
I decided to also purchase the Nespresso Gran Maestria. The coffee quality is the same as it should be, but the unit is more flexible for cup sizes which I absolutely love. The build quality is amazing with the exception of scratches and dents on the unit. For $699 I expect an almost perfect finish. I tried a second machine and this also had minor scratches, but no visible dents like the first unit had.
The LED lighting also adds a classy looking touch. The Gran Maestria is definitely a welcome addition to most kitchens, mine included. The milk frother is in a word… amazing. It is so simple and easy to use. The cup warmer is very nice (I will require this on all of my Nespresso machines going forward) and not a gimmick at all. It heats up the espresso cup in about 10 seconds and eliminates the need for the microwave trick like the Nespresso U requires unless you look slightly warm espresso.
Overall, the Gran Maestria is an amazing machine. If Nespresso can figure out the scratches and dents they will have a winner on their hands.
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