The wastefulness of coffee capsules has never sat well with me (more than 28,000 go into landfill every minute), but neither does paying £4 for a coffee in a café.
So I was keen to try Coffee B, a new machine which uses little round balls of compressed coffee. These are encased in a micro-thin, plant-based protective layer instead of an aluminium pod (which requires industrial processes to recycle or compost).
They look like protein balls and can be put straight into your home compost or food waste bin after use. But has it earned a permanent spot on my kitchen countertop? Here’s my verdict.
CoffeeB cosmos machine
CoffeeB
★★★★☆
It’s easy to set up – it took me 10 minutes – and mess-free. There is a little see-through holder on top which holds nine balls: spin it around, release a ball, depress the lever, press go, and the coffee will drip out into your mug – choose either short or long.
It heats up almost instantly, and the coffee is creamy and quite gentle-tasting – I normally take a double shot so it wasn’t quite the rocket fuel I’m used to, but perhaps that’s a good thing. You can stop the water flowing at any point during the process to adapt to your own taste. The machine itself is pretty sleek and compact, with no wasted bulk.
There is a good “founders” offer on at the moment – £199 for the Cosmos machine (normally £229) and 90 balls (normally £41.69). That averages out at about 42p per cup, which is a similar cost to Nespresso and Grind.
- Energy class: A+
- Pump pressure: 19 bar
- Dimensions: 165mm x 274mm x 383mm