Are you thinking about getting your own home coffee machine and don't know whether to choose the capsule one or choose the classic one and grind your coffee beans fresh? A coffee lover has a different preference. We all like different taste notes, different aromas, we look for different types of coffee and we have favorite different methods of its preparation. It is extremely fortunate that coffee is so flexible and can offer us an almost endless well of possibilities. On the other hand, it brings with it many crossroads and it is necessary to make a decision right from the initial investment. In this article, we will therefore help you with the choice. We have put together the advantages and disadvantages of each method - ground coffee and coffee drinks from capsules.
Capsule coffee
A recent phenomenon – a seemingly cheap investment promising almost maintenance-free operation. Capsules have taken over in many households and we are now going to take a look at them all advantages and disadvantages of capsule coffee machines.
Advantages of capsule coffee machines:
- Quick preparation
- Almost maintenance-free coffee machines
- Small dimensions
- Lower price of the coffee machine
Both the capsules and the capsule coffee machines themselves they are very compact. They are often no bigger than a kettle, so people with limited space will appreciate them. And they are economical not only in terms of size, but also financially, in terms of the initial investment and subsequently also in terms of time. Their operation and maintenance is not that demanding. Your only task will be to fill the capsule coffee machine with enough drinking water in the reservoir. You simply prepare the coffee by inserting the given capsule and pressing the button. The spent capsule then falls into the magazine and that's it. For a thorough cleaning of the coffee machine, it is enough to use the cleaning capsules, which you use similarly to the coffee ones.
Disadvantages of capsule coffee machines:
- Quality and freshness of coffee
- Non-transparent origin
- Higher price of capsules
- Ecological impacts
- Limited coffee preparation options
- Using powdered milk
If you've already tasted coffee from capsules and thought you couldn't smell it no particularly strong taste, the freshness of the contained coffee and above all the absence of the traditional espresso extraction procedure offered by ordinary coffee machines will be to blame. The capsules keep ground coffee in them for several months or years. This means that they can promise anything, but keep it in this style coffee freshness is not possible. Therefore, loss of taste is the main risk. Another big minus is non-transparency. You cannot tell the quality of the grains used, their processing or origin from the capsules. So if you love the smell of freshly roasted coffee, you won't get it with capsules. Despite the fact that if you already buy a capsule coffee machine, there will be no going back. Yours the options for preparing coffee are thereby reduced only to one option, the push of a button, which may suit some, but if you're a barista at heart, you won't be satisfied in the long run.
Other negatives include ecology page. Coffee capsules are made of plastic and aluminum. From one capsule, the coffee machine prepares one coffee for you. Sometimes, if you like lattes or other coffee drinks with milk (we're talking about powdered milk), you'll need as many as two capsules per cup. It depends on the brand and type of drink. This means one thing – if you put your trust in a coffee machine of this type, you will have to get used to it a lot of waste. Waste that cannot be completely recycled. But some capsule brands take them back and try to create various other products from this waste, such as bicycles. But the production process simply cannot be denied to capsules. This is often more demanding for the planet than the rest of the process.
Coffee beans
Processing coffee beans at home seems rather complicated at first. Grinding and storage issues immediately come to mind for most people. But the truth is that these details they pose no problems at all. What they really are advantages and disadvantages of lever and automatic bean coffee machines?
Advantages of coffee beans:
- Assurance of freshness and quality
- Transparency of origin
- Cheaper purchase price of coffee
- Less impact on the environment
- Flexibility of preparation
- Wide range of choices
- Variety of flavor profiles
You can expect from fresh coffee beans fuller flavor with varied notes and rich cream. These aspects are determined by its freshness, which you can do yourself with the grains to look after reliably, as well as the traditional recipe for preparing and extracting espresso through a coffee machine. On the packaging of truly high-quality grains, you will find information about the date of roasting, as well as other essentials you should know (country of origin, processing method, degree of roasting, etc.). With this transparency, you can also find out if the coffee beans have been brushed fair trade or ethically, which you will probably never find out with capsules.
Since no capsules are needed here, the acquisition the grain price is slightly more favorable and your cup of coffee at once more ecological. You only have one packaging left from the coffee package, which does not leave such a footprint on the environment as the aluminum elements of the capsules, and you are able to prepare several dozen cups from one coffee package.
The big advantage of automatic and lever coffee machines that work on the basis of coffee beans is their flexibility. Thanks to them, you will be able to serve yourself as in your most visited cafe. Treat yourself to an espresso, a latte with your favorite type of milk, and then perhaps an Americano. And when you get tired of coffee from the coffee machine, use k alternative methods of coffee preparation it's already the smallest. Have you ever thought that you can prepare a filter at home?
Disadvantages of coffee beans:
- Coffee machines are more demanding to maintain
- Requirements for proper coffee storage
- Higher initial investment
- Larger dimensions
If you decide on a professional lever coffee machine, you cannot do without a coffee grinder. And that's another item to pay for, maintain and find space for. You can, however, look for an automatic coffee machine that can grind coffee itself - just add it to the tank. This will significantly save both space and your wallet. Automatic coffee machines they usually already know exactly the same procedures as the lever ones. So it prepares you espresso, lungo and allows you to whip milk in a kettle. So you don't have to worry about losing your options. But this flexibility is directly proportional to the purchase price and more demanding maintenance. So a higher initial investment is something you should expect with these professional coffee makers. And maintenance? It's nothing terrible, you don't have to worry about spending hours cleaning the coffee machine. But lever coffee machines they need daily care. The automatic ones can get by with a little less attention, but even here it is needed noticeably more than with the capsule ones.
Summary: So what to choose?
If you are a coffee lover and would like to enjoy everything that coffee has to offer, from taste to aroma, definitely reach for the beans. They will scent your entire room and have a wide range of uses. It will satisfy even the most demanding coffee lovers and will never tire of it. Coffee capsules and capsule coffee machines, on the other hand, are a really economical solution when you know that you will prepare coffee only occasionally, for example for visitors or you are simply not a demanding barista. But if you know that your capsules would run like a treadmill, it's a question to think about already for ecological reasons. Did you know, for example, that you can make an effective natural fertilizer for indoor flowers from coffee grounds or use it as a homemade scrub for mature skin? This is how far you can go with coffee beans. Not with the one in capsules.
At Coffee Source, we rely primarily on the quality and rich taste of coffee. Therefore, the choice is clear for us, and given that we could not guarantee the excellent quality of coffee in capsules, as we can guarantee it within the coffee beans in our bags, capsules are not a viable option for us. Regardless of the environment, which for us is a very important argument against capsules and we make it a point to save it as much as possible.
If you also decide on coffee beans, be sure to use them content on our blog. There you will find a lot of valuable advice and tips on how to store beans and start turning them into delicious coffee in countless ways. If you are still unsure about something, do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to help you, either with the selection of suitable beans or with anything else related to coffee and technology.
