Imagine my surprise when at the end of March the Mr produced a parcel the postie had delivered & I wasn't expecting anything, upon opening it two boxes of Cafédirect Coffee Pods fell out and a press release!
Now once I got over my initial joy at this surprise review parcel the Mr pointed out that our coffee machine was in fact a Tassimo and not a Nespresso, that these pods are designed for! So here began my scavenger hunt for a machine! After a week or so of asking around for one to borrow, with a promise of the remaining pods after I'd finished my review & no-one owning one, I resorted to eBay for a cheap machine of my very own! (The Mr called this a colossal waste of money but guess who uses it the most!!) Skip forward three weeks, one week for the auction to end and two for it to finally arrive (Shipping speed was not the sellers strong point!) and we had a fully working, slightly battered basic Nespresso machine! Booyah!
From their range of four intensities I received a box of the Peruvian Spirit - Intensity 7 and a box of Espresso Vivo - Intensity 9.
Now I am a relative new comer to coffee with my main expertise being tea, so I am still building myself up for the really intense types. The Mr can and does knock back the strongest coffee I've ever seen and not bat an eyelid, where as just the smell of it knocks me off my chair so this was a great way to build up my strength immunity!
As you'd expect from my previous statement I did of course start with the Peruvian Spirit, I found this wonderful blend rivalled any I'd had in coffee shops, I could drink this as a replacement to instant any day, and its just as simple to make! Now we have a branded coffee shop at the end of our road that we haven't even entered since getting these pods, that is testament to how great they are! Now back to the actually coffee rather than my ramblings! The blurb I got with my pods advises of chocolatey notes, these are certainly present but I found with a slight hint of earthiness too. All in all this is a gorgeous cup of coffee again and again! This is one we will definitely be keeping stocked up in the cupboard!
And finally the Espresso Vivo, this has to be the strongest coffee we have in our home, yet despite the strength it was an immensely enjoyable cup, certainly not a blend to be drinking last thing at night but a great afternoon pick-me-up. As I mentioned earlier the Mr loves his strong coffee, we had to hide a few away to make sure we had enough to use for this review! The smoothness of this blend is quite amazing for a home made brew, it looks like it had come straight out of a professional machine rather than my worse for wear Nespresso!
All in all these pods are a fantastic idea, and as they are available in most supermarkets they score one against the official Nespresso pods that can only be purchase in their online store or the London shop. They are great value for money, retailing at £2.99 for a box of 10 pods, you couldn't even get a small coffee from a chain stop for that price!
As I start my journey into the coffee world this was a great introduction, already I have a growing collection taking over my kitchen but at least the Mr enjoys these so he doesn't mind as much as he does with our tea!
P.S. Photos are property of Cafédirect, I couldn't do it justice! ^_^
P.S. Photos are property of Cafédirect, I couldn't do it justice! ^_^
