A good cup of intensively cultivated coffee is certainly enjoyable, but the reality is often a slap in the face:
Waking up in the morning to get a few more minutes of sleep, going to work is like going to war, and I don’t even have time to go to the convenience store to buy a coffee.
Luckily we have a capsule machine. Insert a capsule, press a button, and drink a decent cup of coffee… I have to admit, it’s really super fast and super convenient. Moreover, compared to the mixture of creamer, emulsifier and coffee powder (yes, I am talking about instant coffee), at least what is extracted from the capsule is a cup of coffee.
However, the capsule coffee machines in various advertisements are a symbol of fashion and taste: both the capsule and the design of the machine cost a lot of money, which is much higher than a fully automatic coffee machine, and it tastes (like) like the real one. Coffee doesn’t make much difference…
As a result, it quickly occupied the offices of executives, the homes of fashionable people, and even in many cases, the key point to quickly judge whether a high-star hotel is “really upscale” is to see whether the guest room is equipped with instant or capsule machines!
So, what exactly is a capsule machine? With a capsule machine, can you really drink coffee that is as good as coffee produced in a coffee shop?
How was the capsule coffee machine born?
Capsule coffee was invented in 1976 by Nestle, the world’s largest food company.
What? There was such an advanced concept in 1976?
It is said that Eric Favre, the inventor of the capsule machine, accidentally drank a cup of espresso in a Roman cafe: the owner of the coffee shop thought the machine was malfunctioning and repeatedly pulled the handle, causing a large amount of compressed gas to enter the cup… Inspired, developed a capsule coffee.
Capsule coffee is to seal the ground coffee powder in a small capsule, and extract espresso by using extremely strong water vapor under high pressure.
This concept, in the 1970s, was the pioneer of the times, but due to Nestle’s wrong market positioning (commercial use coffee), it was unknown in the following decades; until the last decade, Nestle changed its strategy to focus on non-professional The domestic market of high level has only slowly opened up the situation.
Then you know the story. Nespresso, with one machine in hand, has no worries about coffee… and other major coffee manufacturers, such as Lavazza, Illy, Mars, and Green Mountain, have seen the sweetness and started to develop their own capsule coffee systems.
However, it is worth noting that the relationship between different brands of capsule machines is like Apple and Android, Canon and Nikon. If you buy an Apple mobile phone, you will not be able to carry the Android system. If you buy a Canon SLR, you will not go there Buy a Nikon head and come back to play…
Yes, what I want is that if you buy someone’s machine, you have to use that company’s capsules. Although they are all capsules, they are not compatible with each other~
How does a capsule become coffee?
The coffee capsule is literally translated from the English Capsule. When making capsules, coffee beans are specially treated and ground into coffee powder, which is sealed in aluminum capsules. The exquisite capsules are also injected with non-toxic inert gas (such as nitrogen) to extend the shelf life and re-sterilize.
Oops, that sounds a lot like potato chips! No wonder the shelf life can be as long as one year.
The working principle of the traditional Italian machine, to put it bluntly, is to use pressure to extract extremely high-concentration coffee. Capsule machines are no exception.
In fact, looking at so many models, the functions are similar, roughly composed of the following components:
internal:
Booster pump: generate 9~12 atmospheric pressure, quickly extract the flavor of coffee
Heating element: In order to reduce the size, most capsule machines use a thermo-block to heat hot water, and there may be a 4 to 5 degree fluctuation in the temperature
external:
Electronic control board: control water volume, control temperature
Brewing area: evenly pours hot water into the capsules, after extraction, there is space to store used capsules
Milk froth: Capsule machines with this function are usually more expensive, and the machine will be slightly larger. The milk froth produced is not too dense, and the temperature of the milk cannot be controlled.
Capsules are hard and can retain their original form at high temperatures. The working principle of the capsule machine is to inject high-pressure and high-temperature water vapor into the capsule, so that the coffee will extract the rich espresso with crema under the action of pressure, and retain the flavor and aroma of the coffee itself to a large extent.
Why do we drink capsule coffee?
Looking at the coffee that Penguin has written for so long, there are four elements to get a good cup of coffee: water temperature, water volume, grind size of coffee powder, and freshness of coffee powder. Let’s not talk about people’s problems…
The birth of capsule coffee solved the above problems at one time. One-click service, super fast startup, super fast heating speed, and it’s not bad to drink!
So, besides convenience and peace of mind, is there any other reason?
Capsule coffee, probably one of the most consistent types of coffee. When designing the product, the capsule machine has set a fixed water temperature and water output, and the production of the capsule itself also follows streamlining and standardization.
In addition to coffee, many capsule machines can also drink tea and other beverages, which is a blessing for lazy people.
And…it has a good appearance, looks trendy! It doesn’t take up much space, even if it doesn’t need to be placed at home as a decoration…
Finally, the price is gratifying. The price of the capsule machine itself is much cheaper than that of a fully automatic coffee machine.
So, are there any disadvantages to capsule coffee machines?
1｜Not fresh enough
Although many capsule coffee manufacturers will use “freshness” as a selling point, it depends on who they are comparing with…Compared with beans, the freshness of coffee powder is of course not as good as freshly ground.
Once the coffee is ground into powder, the oxidation rate will be very fast. Even if it is sealed, the residual oxygen will still be severely oxidized, resulting in bad flavor. Of course, there are several ways to delay the oxidation rate: nitrogen flushing, or deoxidizer.
Large factories, such as Illy and Nespresso, are packaged and produced in a “full nitrogen” environment, so the decay of flavor can be slightly slowed down. Nespresso does a good job at this point, because it is a single capsule “sealed” package, so each capsule is in a low-oxygen state, and the decay rate is relatively slow; Illy is filled with nitrogen, so once the can is opened, it is useless The finished capsules will start to oxidize, so illy’s capsules must be used up quickly. …
As for K-cup, since there is no patent protection (it is an open platform, and it is hoped that other brands will use its capsule machine system), there will be many different OEM factories to produce capsules with different standards… Think about it You know, the quality varies greatly.
2｜The other side of standardization
The capsule machine can basically be used without thinking. It minimizes human influence factors, its water temperature and water volume are constant, and will not be adjusted for different capsules…
Also, it doesn’t make nice milk froth!
To drink milk coffee such as latte and cappuccino, it is a technical job to have beautiful and fine milk foam. But no matter what brand of capsule machine, it is basically impossible to produce dense milk foam! But for the sake of its convenience, please be patient.
3｜Capsule machines are not compatible with each other
Except for the K-cup capsule system, all capsule systems are closed-loop business models. In other words, if you buy this machine, you can only use the capsules produced by this manufacturer forcibly, unless you change the machine!
Another point, which is also the most important point, is that due to the compatibility of various systems, the choice of capsules itself is limited, and the breadth and richness of flavors will also be weaker.
Bought a capsule machine, just the beginning
Because capsules are the consumables that will continue to burn money in the future!
Therefore, whether you can buy capsules with a good taste is the most important thing!
Post time: Jun-25-2023
