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Nespresso CitiZ by Krups

£149 from John Lewis
including free delivery

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The first thing I noticed is that it does what coffee should – keep you awake – I had two shots late afternoon and it was twelve hours later before I could get to sleep, not what I wanted but in future I will keep my Nespresso hits till the morning.

It is 36x18x28cm and you will need another 10cm of clearance on the 28cm to allow the top to open to pop the coffee pod in. The 36x18cm figure is an elongated oval shape well actually two long straights and two curves at the end.

The water container on the back stays within the footprint and will take two pints of water when filled up completely. This is easy to remove to allow filling and also being clear Perspex easy to see the remaining water level.

The front has two drip trays one for the cup part way up and one at the base useful for when you empty the inbuilt drawer of discarded pods.

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The pod goes in the top and it cannot be inserted wrongly. Also on the top are two buttons (initially flashing) when power is applied these change to solid green when the water is heated. I have read several people saying that the Dolce Gusto does not heat the water enough to me anyway this is not as hot as it is drinkable immediately.

Certainly the time between pressing the on button till the two lights on top turn solid green is a lot longer than with the Dolce Gusto in my tests it was well over a minute for the Nespresso to allow you to dispense your drink.

Of course in a busy environment it would probably be left switched on but to me anyway this is another tick in favour of the Dolce Gusto. I see certain machines have a milk unit and even the ability to both heat and froth it up.

The unit I was sent is just ideal for those who love black coffee it came with a set of pods for both normal and decaffeinated. The pod is placed in the machine and shutting the lid drills 25 holes in the top when the water goes through the pod the coffee is transferred down the spout to the cup, unlike the Dolce Gusto the amount is regulated and should you want it weaker you need to press one of the buttons again where if left unchecked it would dispense another full measure but pressing the other button will then cut the flow of water off.  

Lift the pod lid again and the empty – but still warm – pod is emptied into a storage box inside the unit, remove the upper drip tray and the box with disguarded pods comes out as well allowing you to tip them straight into the rubbish then a quick rinse of the tray and the Perspex box and its clean and ready for the next batch of action.

The instructions were a sheet in several languages where if you have any queries it takes a while to find the answer.

Trying not to be too anti a black coffee machine I sum up by saying the coffee tasted good and certainly did keep you alert, even perhaps longer than you may wish. This to me a white coffee drinker does nothing to deter me from Dolce Gusto. The Fire Engine Red and Chrome of the unit would make it look very trendy in the correct environment.

I found the Nespresso KN700640 available from John Lewis for £149 and they offer free delivery:

http://www.johnlewis.com/230855909/Product.aspx

http://www.nespresso.com/uk/en/product/citizandmilk-coffee-machine-krups-xn7006-fire-engine-red