Pingu

My Christmas present ...

Which immediately got named Pingu due to its resemblance to the little TV penguin. This Dolce Gusto coffee machine came recommended by senior daughter who loves hers. This is the manual version of the machine, which I guess is probably being phased out as it was dramatically reduced in price towards the end of the year making it (in my opinion) ridiculously bargainous, especially as it came with a voucher code for £10 of free coffee pods. 

Pros

- it makes coffee shop style coffee quickly and easily

- lots of choice of coffee (espresso, lungo, latte, americano, cappuccino etc)
- can also make hot chocolate, fancy teas, and iced teas / coffees

- pretty coffee (latte macchiato which comes out in layers, frothy topped espressos etc)

- no mess

Cons

- the individual coffee pods can be pricy, particularly for lattes, cappuccinos and hot chocolates which require two pods per drink. The basic coffees work out as 25 pence per drink, with the fancy ones costing 50 pence, although it is possibly to get some discount by buying them in larger boxes online or at Costco. As I am the only regular coffee drinker in the house I can live with the price of the pods, but if there were two or three of us drinking lots of coffee it could get very expensive fast. 

Verdict

After a week of testing out various coffees (and the hot chocolate) I love it. I like strong coffee and the machine is churning out some very satisfying coffee hits - mostly I am choosing grande for a mug full, and espresso intenso for a supercharged coffee shot. I bought cappuccinos to share with middle daughter who is an occasional coffee drinker, and latte macchiato for the sheer pleasure of watching it make stripy layers. Both the cappuccino and latte macchiato have "skinny" options without sugar, which are perfect for someone like me who much prefers coffee unsweetened. I am amazed at how simple it is to make a complicated looking coffee. A bonus is that small daughter thinks the machine is great fun and keeps offering to make me drinks!