The inspiration: While we love to meet up with friends over coffee, we’d also like to be able to brew our perfect cup of java at home. Since specialty coffeemakers have made it on to many of our holiday wish lists this year we decided to test some of the market’s most popular to see how they measure up.
This week’s testers: The entire Sweetspot office
Note: All ratings are out of 5.
TASSIMO T65
Cost: $250, available at all major retailers, including The Bay, Home Outfitters and Sears
Usability: 4
Taste: 3
Appearance: 3
Cost of T Discs: $3-$10 for 8-16 discs ( available at most grocery stores, online at www.tassimo.ca or wherever machines are sold)
Advantages: Offers the best variety of beverages from coffee (including Starbucks blends) and cappuccinos to tea and hot chocolate, has a filter in the water tank and is the most compact of the three machines.
Overall Impression: Perfect for the host who likes to have lots of options for their guests.
NESCAFE DOLCE GUSTO BY KRUPS
Cost: $199, available at The Bay, Home Outfitters, Sears, London Drugs, and fine kitchen stores
Usability: 3
Taste: 3
Appearance: 3
Cost of Capsules: $9 for pack of 16 (available at most grocery stores, online at www.dolce-gusto.ca or wherever machines are sold)
Advantages: This machine comes in a variety of colours, offers a good selection of coffee beverages and has a manual stop function so you can vary the strength of your drink (though this takes some experimenting to get just right).
Overall Impression: The best budget-friendly option for the average coffee drinker.
NESPRESSO CITIZ & MILK
Cost: $369, available at gourmet kitchen stores and leading department stores such as The Bay and Home Outfitters
Usability: 4.5
Taste: 5
Appearance: 4.5
Cost of Coffee Capsules: $6 for 10 pack (available at Nespresso boutique locations in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and online at nespresso.com)
Advantages: We love how serious this machine is about caffeine from espresso to latte, and our favourite feature is the milk steamer with hot and cold options. The most professional of the three machines, it looks sleek, comes in a variety of colours and offers a great espresso variety pack for parties.
Overall Impression: This machine is for the coffee purist and connoisseur.
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