Pay Less for Posh Coffee, save £130 on Nespresso…

Some people drink coffee. Comes in a jar, add hot water. Other people
drink (sh)ambrosia from the gods, served in a paper cup with your name
scribbled on in marker pen, and charged accordingly. However for those
who like to drink coffee at home, but still pay many times the price for
it, we have some good news for Nespresso owners.

Nespresso is, of course, not just a coffee machine that needs feeding
with moderately expensive coffee pods. Nespresso is a lifestyle. Anyone
who’s anyone knows that Nespresso drinkers run into George Clooney all
the time. However, part of the reason that Nespresso pods are so
(relatively) expensive compared with stuff in a jar is the difficulty
(for other manufacturers) in making generic pods to fit the machine.

But all that is about to change. A recent court case in France has
meant that Nespresso have accepted court directions to provide more
information about their coffee machines that will allow other coffee
makers to manufacture their own pods to fit the dimensions of the
machine. Nespresso will also remove wording from the guarantee that
suggested the guarantee might be invalidated if non-Nespresso pods were
used in the machine. Good news.

But, despite the current difficulty in manufacture, there are
actually a number of non-Nespresso alternative coffee pods available on
the market. This could mean that you can pretend you are posh ish, while
not having to pay to be so.

A Nespresso cup costs around 30p on average, but many alternatives
are not vastly cheaper, coming in at 27-28p a cup. Waitrose are
currently selling Cafepod pods at £2 for 10, which works out at 20p
each, but this price is due to go back up to £2.75 on October 1.
However, following their French compatriots, our German neighbours could
be dashing to the rescue, as Lidl’s Bellarom pods are a bargain 18p
each. 18p! That would save a three-cups-a-day drinker £130 a year. And 
it’ll still be better than Mellow Birds.

Of course, not everyone sees it like this, with Cafepod founder Peter
Grainger telling the Telegraph that he thinks punters would be put off
by “very low prices”. He said: “My gut feeling? Coffee is a bit like
wine. There is a perception of quality being related to price. People do
want to feel like they are getting value for money. But they are also
conscious of quality. Would they want to pay £1 for a box of 10? Somehow
I doubt it.”

So there you have it. Even before the ruling takes effect you could
save £130 on your (overpriced) coffee, and this saving could get even
bigger in the months to come. Or you could continue to pay premium
prices for premium pods and look posh in your house. On your own.
Waiting for George to show up…

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