Capsule or single-serve coffee brewing technology is one of the most popular in the world, because it allows an ordinary coffee lover to get a cup of perfect-tasted beverage in short time without recourse to the barista or visiting the coffee house. It sounds amazing, somehow, but still. To get a drink, you only have to insert the pod with your beverage in the special slot, push the button or move the slider, and minute later enjoy rich, intense coffee with peculiar foam on its surface.
Pod coffee machines have several advantages, first of which is their low price while comparing it with other coffee brewing systems and technologies. This thing clarifies their popularity and quite a wide range of the choice. Which one to get? Let’s look at the top 5 best capsule coffee machines.
Few words of the pod coffee brewing technology
Single-serve coffee brewing technology appeared not so long ago ― in the early 80s of XX century. Thanks to its functionality and usefulness it had spread all over the world and had got a lot of amateurs. Up to date, we have a certain amount of brand that performs pod coffee machines in the market.
Three of them are the most famous and fertile; those are Nespresso, Dolce Gusto, and Tassimo. More info about these brands and pod coffee brewing technology you can find here. This article will be dedicated to the most functional capsule coffee makers for home use. We’ll take into account their price (not more than $150), design, functionality, and taste of the finished beverage.
Well, let’s start from the end.
Bosch TAS2002UC8 Tassimo
The last place of our top 5 rating goes to the Bosch ― great and almost the only Tassimo brand performed in the market.
TAS2002 is a cheap but very handful coffee maker that works only with Tassimo coffee t-discs and has quite a range of functions for an automatic coffee brewing system.
The list below indicates some technical features of this coffee machine and define some disadvantages.
- capsule technology: Tassimo;
- power (Watts): 1300 W;
- water tank volume: 51 oz;
- water tank type: removable, glassy plastic;
- pump pressure: 3,3 bar;
- body material: plastic.
As you may notice pump pressure is quite a small that, of course, will be reflected in the taste and consistency of the beverage. To get the real rich espresso with dense foam coffee machine has to work out pressure from 14 bars. A special form of Tassimo capsules compensates this disadvantage a bit, but still, pump pressure is rather low to brew barista-style coffee.
For pros discussing we can mention the rather wide range of setting you can apply to make your drink taste better. For example, with Bosch TAS2002 you can choose volume and richness of your coffee. It also allows brewing milk beverages such as cappuccino or latte.
Well, this thing is cheap, functional, compact, but a bit short of power.
More information at the video below
Krups KP1009 Piccolo
The fourth place is gone to the famous Dolce Gusto technology brand ― Krups.
KP1009 is a small but very functional creature with the ability to brew espresso as well as many others coffee beverages. This coffee maker is one of the smallest in its class and can be compared in the dimensions with MiniMe by Delonghi.
A short list of technical features that will give us a view of this coffee machine.
- capsule technology: Dolce Gusto;
- power (Watts): 1500 W;
- water tank volume: 20 oz;
- water tank type: removable, glassy plastic;
- pump pressure: 15 bar;
- body material: plastic.
Here you can see smaller water tank volume and much higher pump pressure. 15 bar is a perfect count to brew rich barista-style espresso comparable with the coffee houses drinks. Compact dimensions allow to use it in a small household or kitchen. KP1009 don’t fit the offices because of the rather small water tank volume. That’s why we can regard it as a coffee maker for home use.
Wide range of pods for Dolce Gusto coffee machines (over 20 types) helps coffee lover to choose the favorite taste and enjoy hot perfectly brewed beverage.
More information at the video below
Now the capsule coffee machines of top 3
Top 3 places are given to the coffee makers of Delonghi brand. This manufacturer was able to combine extreme power with the great taste of the beverage and external functionality of each of its product.
Well, welcome the winners!
Delonghi Dolce Gusto MiniMe ― the third
We have mentioned Mini Me several lines above. Yes, this creature is worth to stay third. Stylish, compact and very powerful. Here is a list of its technical features:
- capsule technology: Dolce Gusto;
- power (Watts): 1500 W;
- water tank volume: 27 oz;
- water tank type: removable, glassy plastic;
- pump pressure: 15 bar;
- body material:plastic.
Also Mini Me has an adjustable drip tray for different sized cups and manual control of strength and richness of the beverage. More about Mini Me you can find out here.
Delonghi Nespresso Essenza
Essenza is the second of the top. This coffee machine has quite a number of settings and widens functionality. You can brew different types of coffee by choosing the mug volume you want and inserting the pod you desire. The thing is larger in its dimensions than any other coffee maker of our review and more, much more powerful. Here is a list of it technical features:
- capsule technology: Nespresso;
- power (Watts): 1260 W;
- water tank volume: 34 oz;
- water tank type: removable, glassy plastic;
- pump pressure: 19 (!) bar;
- body material: plastic.
You may notice its extreme pump pressure. It is perfect to brew real high class espresso with saving whole taste and flavor of the coffee bean. Special compartment allows to store for about 14 used capsules. Volumetric removable water tank allows to use it even in the offices, and Essenza is perfect for the whole family of coffee drinkers.
More information at the video below
Delonghi Nespresso Pixie
And the winner is… Yes, it’s Pixie. Compact, stylish, functional and cheap. Its functional can be comparable to the Essenza but Pixie more intelligent. It has quite a perfect outward and pretty brewing abilities. If you are looking for a coffee maker for home use, Delonghi Nespresso Pixie is a thing for you.
Here is a list of it technical features:
- capsule technology: Nespresso;
- power (Watts): 1260 W;
- water tank volume: 24 oz;
- water tank type: removable, glassy plastic;
- pump pressure: 19 (!) bar;
- body material: shiny metal.
More about Pixie you can find out in separate article, and here we post the summary table of each item we had viewed.
| Features | Bosch TAS2002 | Krups KP1009 | Delonghi MiniMe | Delonghi Essenza | Delonghi Pixie |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensions, in | 14.7 x 12.5 x 10.2 | 8.7 x 6.3 x 11.3 | 6.33 x 9.52 x 12.08 | 8.1 x 10.2 x 13.5 | 4.33 x 12.83 x 9.25 |
| Capsule type | Tassimo | Dolce Gusto | Dolce Gusto | Nespresso | Nespresso |
| Water tank volume, oz | 51 | 20 | 27 | 34 | 24 |
| Body material | Plastic | Plastic | Plastic | Plastic | Metal |
| Power, W | 1300 | 1500 | 1500 | 1260 | 1260 |
| Pressure, bar | 3.3 | 15 | 15 | 19 | 19 |
In conclusion
We have rated only five coffee machines of the famous brands and this rating is, of course, challenged because there are hundreds and hundreds of coffee making models as with single-serve system and other coffee brewing types. We reviewed the most popular and functional ones.