Espresso Capsules Test in Nieuwsblad

This Saturday we had 3 pages in one of Belgians biggest newspaper 'Het Nieuwsblad'.

Jürgen (The Glorious owner and a well known sommelier) en me were invited by André Peeters to test some coffee's.
The place to meet was at the Piva (cook school), where Luc was running the whole process and also judging the drinks with us.

This wasn't about Specialty Coffee, but household espresso machines working with capsules.

The tested coffee's were Illy, Lavazza, Nespresso and Dolce Gusto Nescafé, all on their own equipment of course.

We were testing them blind in neutral cups.

I was afraid I wouldn't like the espresso's at all and told this to André. He understood, but asked us not to sack the coffee's. Of course I understand.

The biggest problem for me was the way they made the coffee's. I'm sure this could have been better, but on the other hand was this system an ideal way to copy the way people make their coffee's at home.

This test happened two weeks ago, but I didn't report you to keep the scoop to the newspaper. A part of the article (in Dutch) you can find here.

My personal taste results?
Best cup of the day was the lungo from Dolce Gusto. It was a pleasure drinking it. Fruity, balanced and fresh.
Unfortunately we were looking for espresso's and therefor we couldn't give it more points, although I tried.

Best brand was Lavazza. They gave this typical Italian taste. I missed intensity and freshness and details, but it was better then I expected.

Illy was liked more by my two friends, but not by me.
I tasted cheap and old beans. Can't understand the Trieste men can not perform any better.

Nespresso was the biggest disappointment. Don't know what happened, but I even had one cup on which the crema looked like sour coffee milk.
Their ristretto I simply couldn't drink and all of the 3 variety's tasted very chemical.
Based on earlier Nespresso testing this came to me as a big surprise.

So happy with the fact the press is giving a bit extra airplay to coffee. Hopefully this may inspire the big names in the Industry to give us better beans and machines.