Aldi Launching "Expressi" - Nespresso-esque coffee machine!

I went along with a mate who was going to buy one and he got the strength 9 and 6.

Having worked as a barista for 2.5 years myself, I trained myself to like straight coffee shots with no sugar or milk.

The shot of 6 is nice and mild for me, but not strong at all. The shot of 9 tastes like a coffee, but still not strong at all for me. I tried a 6 mixed with milk and was really weak. So I'd say if you're going to mix it with milk, you definitely need to do it with one of the stronger blends.

I tried the 9 using the longer shot which gives 100-200ml. I think if you don't set it to a custom level it defaults to shooting out 200ml. In the 9 this was really weak to me. So I tried it using the shorter shot of 40-100, which I believe defaults to 100ml. This tastes a lot better and a lot closer to any random short black you might buy from a cafe.

So in my opinion there's no point buying any strength less than 6-7.

Reasons you may want to get weak ones are if you're not a coffee drinker in the first place, or you're looking to train yourself to drink coffee with no milk. Perhaps the flavours are different at any strength so you might want to try them.

I've never tried nespresso so have no way to compare it.

 

I had the exact same problem as StopShootingMe, with just a standard press of the lever I snapped it. I've since exchanged it and I'm pleased to say made a great little cup of coffee first go.

I picked up a 'Tauro' capsule, held down the small cup for roughly 20 seconds and then put ~2 times the amount of milk (from my aldi milk frother). I'm actually amazed at how good it tasted for a coffee that took such little time and effort.

I've also picked up a 'Reggio' and 'Milano' for when I'm making a bigger cup (Travel Mug).

 

nice review

 

not sure what i'm doing wrong this morning however the pod lever refuses to stay down when I place a pod inside.
Its like the lever is not piercing the pod and therefore pops back up...

made my first cup yesterday and that was fine...

confused?

 

Hmm, this machine seems to be quite hit and miss, seems 50% of people have had an issue on their first try.
I think I'm going to go with my original idea of getting the Nespresso Citiz for the apartment for Christmas, sure it's $449 instead of $98 for coffee and milk but for something that is going to be making ~5 coffees a day for the rest of it's like I think it's worth it.

Would be tempted to grab one for these for work though maybe!

 

I've seen the essenza nespresso machine as cheap as $200 so not sure these are worth it as they're clearly sub par build quality.

maybe wait and get version 2

 

If you've heard a loud crack either today or yesterday that's the sound of the lever breaking where the metal meets platic.

The first sign that mine was busted was the loud crack, the second as you mentioned the lever kept popping itself back up.

Must say very pleased with how easy the exchange was and the machine seems to be great so far.

 

Just been down to buy one. Had plenty in stock. Will try after my Sunday morning bacon rolls

 

I picked one up this morning.

So far I've tried the '9' and '10' strength coffee's. 9 seemed stronger and more suited to my tastes, but will see how I go.

The milk frother is useless as far as I'm concerned, but for $20 I'll keep it in the cupboard for when the parents come to visit

All in all I'm pretty happy with it. I probably would have been scared away with the horror stories that have been described of handles breaking. But I have huge faith in Aldi's return policy and 2 year warranty. I know if/when it breaks they'll have no issue swapping it over. Had it been from any other retail store I probably wouldn't risk it.

 

yea handle bar not staying down means its broken, take it back.

i got mine replaced and the new one i have no issues with, for now anyway.

As for dearer machines; they are simply not worth it for me, i have maybe 4 coffees at most when at home every week.

So this is a nice improvement over Nescafe Gold without "wasting" money on a dearer machine.

 

Click to view full size!
$125.56
64 coffees, a machine, and a frother.

Straight up bargain.

Coffee is decent.

Tried a 10 espresso, found it too long (later read that default was 50ml, might change this) and not as strong as I would have expected, but pleasant with good aroma and good faux-crema.

Lady friend tried a 6 espresso, with 125ml of milk froth, enjoyed it thoroughly.

Good pleasant coffee overall, but a mean 30ml shot of intensity it is not.

No room for a proper coffee maker and grinder here so I'm still happy with this price/performance wise relative to a nespresso machine (which I've had dozens of and quite like but my god $$$).

 

Had a really crap coffee the other day, burnt, watery, no aroma. 10 mins later saw the "barista" wheeling back a trolley full of these pods from the Aldi across the mall (nor did Aldi have any left of the 50 buck film negative scanner I went there for in the first place... what a waste of an hour)

Pass. YGWYP4.

I got a stove top percolator. 250g ground beans for $10 from Vic market, makes at least 25 strong (aka proper) cups. I'm not against pods totally, there's a few of my mum's Nespresso ones which are pretty nice (the Columbian one is pretty dayum fine) but as above ^^^, not worth it for us.

 

The nespresso pods are something like twice the price of the Aldi ones so your ongoings will be higher.

 

You can import the Citiz for much cheaper. International warranty apparently. Just need a EU to AU converter (a few bucks worth)

http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/56608

$220 shipped with 16 sample pods.

 

Yeah, Nespresso have started charging way more for machines in Australia these past two years. Mine was ~$289 after rebate in late 2008, and it was one of the better machines available. The equivalent machine now is well over $400.

 

Decaf and others coming!

Asked about this late last night, and got the following answer even later last night

Probably have some flavoured pods a swell.

great bit of gear

Cheers

 

If you've just bought one of these, I highly recommend setting the espresso button to ~30mls!

I changed mine this morning (eye balled it, ended up being 34ml when I weighed it) and it's 100x better.

My number 10 was knockout strong!

The default of 50mls does indeed taste a bit watery for short-black fans.

 

Cool

gotta admit, it was pretty sweet enjoying a nice cup before heading to work today

 

I hope this is an isolated incident but I got mine on Saturday and after only 6 coffees the lever broke. Exchanging it today see how the new one goes.

 

At least 3 people in this thread have had the same thing happen..

Im guessing either some of these were dropped or it's a design flaw.. either way the 2 year warranty should cover it