I’ve always wanted a coffee machine. For the past four years, I have asked my closest friends and family to get me one, either for Christmas or my birthday. No one ever seems to listen.
Some say it’s because coffee is bad for me and they won’t assist me in making bad life decisions. The others say coffee is an expensive habit and I should rather use that money for better things and they always have near-heart attacks when I mention how much I have spent on good coffee. Haters.
So when Nespresso contacted me in March, asking if I was interested in reviewing one of their latest machines, I didn’t need to think twice.
The Nespresso Creatista gives you the ability to easily create personalised café-style quality coffees at home.
The machine itself is beautiful. The design is very high-end and it’s clearly for fans of the brand who want more than just the usual espresso machine.
It makes sense that it’s co-designed by Breville, who are market leaders in coffee machines.
Light-weight, you can travel with it when going on holiday.
With 8 coffee settings you can set your ideal milk temperature, the amount of coffee you want from the capsule and how much froth you want with your milk. It’s also very easy to clean and the milk wand uses steam to purge any milk remnants so it stays clean.
Using the machine for the past two weeks has been interesting - there were times where I made better coffee with my plunger than I did with the machine. That’s when I realised that choosing the right coffee capsule for the different type of coffee was important.
For my breakfast espressos I chose the Arpeggio and Capriccio capsules. For the milk-based coffees like lattes and cappuccinos, I went with decaf capsules (Arpeggio Decaf and Volluto Decaf), which were my after-work beverages. I also enjoyed the Ristretto range.
The Nespresso Creatista gives you the ability to easily create personalised café-style quality coffees at home.
Operating the machine was a breeze after a few days. The only tricky thing was making sure that the water hardness was correct. It did take me some time to figure out how to make the various coffees, but when I eventually did, I could do it with my eyes closed.
Verdict: Buy the machine if you are really a fan of the brand and love their coffee capsules. It retails at about R7 500 at most stores, online and at Nespresso outlets.