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Tim Wendleboe vs Nespresso!

adminadmin
edited January 1970 in Have your say
Take a look at this - creating a bit of a stir in social media; Nespresso have made an interesting claim: http://dailycoffeenews.com/2014/03/17/nespresso-to-to-tim-wendelboe-our-quality-matches-yours/

have to say, I'm with Tim on this - guess we can't comment on the 'ingredients' [ie where Nesprsso sources  their beans from, what quality etc] but there's no way pre-ground, pre-packaged beans can produce the same result as (quality) beans sourced freshly roasted and ground on demand.
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Comments

  • conikalconikal
    I doubt Nespresso /Nestle  top PR are happy about getting dragged into a public debate on comparing  their products to fresh brews. If they are not careful there will be some form of quasi formal..but very public... tasting competition with credible judges.......and we all know what would be the result of that !
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  • askthecoffeeguyaskthecoffeeguy
    seems like a bit of a no brainer to me how you can compare stale pre ground coffee to freshly roasted and ground to order is beyond me!
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  • larslars
    on 1395191284:
    I doubt Nespresso /Nestle  top PR are happy about getting dragged into a public debate on comparing  their products to fresh brews. If they are not careful there will be some form of quasi formal..but very public... tasting competition with credible judges.......and we all know what would be the result of that !
    don't know who would be the Nespresso guy who bought into the argument, but you can be pretty sure the PR people have told him to shut up from now on! L ;D
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  • littleroundmanlittleroundman
    on 1395191284:
    I doubt Nespresso /Nestle  top PR are happy about getting dragged into a public debate on comparing  their products to fresh brews.
    They probably wouldn't bat an eyelid. After all, this is the company which describes its' latest release as being:
    The NEW NESCAF
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  • Brett HBrett H
    I'm all to happy to bash that foul tasting next-retcho but you've got to admire how they've convinced a vast majority of otherwise intelligent consumers that it's a worthwhile product.  They'll surely have someone monitor this but it won't distract them for counting the money they're making. 
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  • JonathonJonathon
    I think a lot of it comes down to how the product looks. Ultimately a nespresso shot looks (broadly) like a decent shot of espresso. A bit like cakes that look fantastic, it doesn't really matter what they taste like, they'll sell in droves because of the visual appeal.
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  • askthecoffeeguyaskthecoffeeguy
    ive tasted a half decent nespresso shot from a pod recently - ok I wont be writing home about it, but it was quite drinkable and miles apart from the one i tried bout ten years ago...
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  • mycuppamycuppa
    Having spent almost 4 years roasting for ESE pods and the last 12 months developing capsule solutions, we have learned some interesting insights on what makes up the portion control market. First myth to bust is the nonsense I read and hear about how people think (or they seem to know) somehow that Nestle use crap coffee in their capsules. This may come as a surprise but No they don't. The coffee used for capsules needs to standup better than just about anything else you might taste in an espresso bar putting aside clean cup aspects. The 5g dose is ridiculously small. The temperatures they brew at are all over the place. The time for extraction is faster by almost half the time compared to espresso. These are the constraints, along with extended shelf life. All these requirements bust the traditional laws of coffee. The person who sold the machines used to make the genuine capsules told me face to face 12 months ago that high quality coffees were used in genuine capsules by that big company. There is also a mind boggling r & d effort backing it up.  This is contrary to what people actually believe ( or suspect). In developing our capsules, we used our very best arabicas. After converting to capsules in our pilot testing they were barely comparable to the genuine capsules. Sure, they were super clean and sweet as a black, but in milk it was game over - none of our best coffees could stand up. There is a purpose for high quality robusta after all. I have been told that there may be agents added to capsules to enhance body, cream and aroma. These agents are not coffee but are chemically engineered for the express purpose of assisting the capsule brew process. It's quite controversial so I will not say anymore about it. There are portion control systems that can actually produce a reasonable cup. With an 11g dose and full foil barrier freshness protection used with improved brewing design you would be surprised. Unfortunately, for the moment, the small dose capsule has become the defacto standard.
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  • conikalconikal
    I have worked in a major coffee processor in Europe ( not Nestle) , including capsule filling systems, and  whilst i agree that the quality of the beans and roasting process is second to none, and the principle of product preservation in a hermetically sealed capsule is sound, ...the reality of high volume production processes and filling plant operation dictates that there is a very significant time shift between grinding and the capsule fill/seal operation. Nesle may well have minimized this time between grind and seal but it will no way be as short as we expect to see in our own espresso brew processes.
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  • mycuppamycuppa
    on 1395273828:
    I have worked in a major coffee processor in Europe ( not Nestle) , including capsule filling systems, and  whilst i agree that the quality of the beans and roasting process is second to none, and the principle of product preservation in a hermetically sealed capsule is sound, ...the reality of high volume production processes and filling plant operation dictates that there is a very significant time shift between grinding and the capsule fill/seal operation. Nesle may well have minimized this time between grind and seal but it will no way be as short as we expect to see in our own espresso brew processes.
    Absolutely. Controlled distribution and barrier technologies remain the final frontiers in quality coffee. Working against these factors are the shifts to sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging, which at the moment does not quite match the performance of metalized foils. We bought a few difference capsule machines for our in-house testing. The last unit we purchased was in November 2013 and it came bundled with the supply of genuine capsules. The date of manufacture for the capsules was Jan 13 - so they were already 11 months old and tasted accordingly. We picked up some capsules with a closer date to present and they was a distinct difference ( read improvement).
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  • eggberteggbert
    I've been to the Wendelboe cafe, and it's a surprisingly small place, especially if the roastery is in there too (I can't remember). I had a good (but not outstanding) espresso there and left a little disappointed. Maybe I expected to be blown away and wasn't when *all* I got was a very good coffee.  I wonder if Nespresso are going to suggest that much of the coffee depends on the person making it, whereas theirs is consistent.
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