Delonghi Nespress Coffee Maker EN95W

"What a fantastic coffee!" The shouts of joy rang through my house on Christmas eve and once again I had come up with the perfect present. I had written down my wish list for a coffee maker and it went something like this:

1.) Easy to work
2.) Consistent results with no mucking around
3.) Small enough to fit on my bench
4.) Able to make a half dozen coffee's in a couple of minutes.

In the past we have had all sorts of espresso machines and they all have the same drawback - an awful amount of work for very little consistency. That is why we have given them all away to good homes - there was nothing wrong with them, they were just to hard to use, too time consuming and most of all, to big, cumbersome and just too much effort.

The Nespresso system gets you over all that with a pretty simple design philosophy. At the heart of the system there is the capsule of coffee. Over a dozen different flavours are locked up in these little colour-coded capsules and they have the right amount of coffee for a single shot of espresso. Plop on a capsule, pull a lever, push a button, coffee comes out. Simple pimple. Make ten in a row and they will be the same.

I will admit that it is probably possible to make a better coffee with a manual machine. In fact, I was lucky enough to have some personal training with Paul Bassett, a world champion barista from Australia who had some great advice and was clearly a master of his game, but as much as one might like to swagger, he plays in an entirely different league to me.

I live in New Zealand and while the range of the Nespresso machines is limited, I choose to go with the Delonghi EN95W with the aerochinno attachement because it meets my criteria for size, ease of use and is also one of the automated machines. And as a bonus it has the aerochinno unit. More on this wonderous gadget later.

The EN95W (W means white) is an automatic machine so it has two buttons with different sized cups on them. The machine has two preset level of 40mls and 110 mls. For the coffee purists out there the 110mls will probably be scaring you but dont worry. In the Nespresso capsule range there are 3 varieties that have more coffee in the pod and are designed for exactly this style of cup. These are generally refered to as the Lungo range.

When switching on the unit for the first time, it takes approximately 45 seconds to ehat up and the very first time you use of the machine or if it has been unused for a while, it takes six pumps to prime it. After that you just open the chute, plop in a capsule, pull down the lever and push the button. The creme is strong and rich and thick and supports sugar for about 10 seconds. Easy peasy.

The aerochinno is a godsend for the flat whites and the latte crowds. The unit comes with a cordless base and two different milk fluffers. Pressed into the side of the jug are two different markers for levels of milk. The unit has a big button on the side and with a simple press will present in either 50 or 90 seconds the appropriate style milk and whats more, warmed perfectly, ready for pouring. No mess, no fuss, no puddling around with spouts of steam trying to get the bubbles just right. Whoa to go, 90 seconds max.

To me, this machine and the whole system is a godsend. I recommend splashing out the extra fifty bucks for the automatic model with the aerochinno but at $349 the system is still a bargain. In fact, send an email and as a retailer, I am sure I could come up with a bargain. For more information see the Nespresso website and have a look for yourself.