A couple of weekends ago Vee and I were in town for brunch at Baker and Spice, it was a lovely sunny day so we decided to have a lazy mooch around the shops too. Not wanting to spend too much money, I decided to pop into Steamer Trading Brighton as I had a £7.99 voucher that had been kicking around in the bottom of my purse for the last couple of months. I thought I’d go and buy myself a pretty mug or maybe a colander in some garish neon coloured plastic – you know stuff I’m talking about! Anyway, as Vee and I cannot be trusted to just spend a £7.99 voucher, of course we ended up spending more! Instead we walked out with a brand new sparkly coffee machine…..specifically the Magimix Nespresso Citiz and Milk, and we haven’t looked back since.
Anyway, impulse purchase aside. I wanted to share this little story on my blog as I feel I…(a) got a fantastic deal on my coffee machine (which I’ll chat through in a moment) and (b) as a coffee lover (and slight coffee snob) I’ve been really impressed with our machine, I just wanted to talk about it!
Lastly, I should probably point out – this is in no way a collaborative post or sponsored in anyway, I genuinely bought this coffee machine with my own money and have been so impressed I wanted to share my thoughts with you.
Kitchen Stylin’
After a small debacle over the colour, we went for the machine in cream, which I think looks really stylish and is a neutral colour that will go with any kitchen style, the machine also comes in black, red or titanium too.
Using the Nespresso Citiz
I have found the machine really easy to use, it’s a great all-rounder machine for making all sizes of drinks from espressos, to americanos and lattes, all at the touch of a button. You literally just add water, drop the capsule in the top and press the button. The machine takes 30-45 seconds to heat the water so it’s really quick. The machine actually has all these clever intuitive functions built in, like it can remember what size coffee you like by your previous cup choices and such like, there are also pre-set cup sizes to make short or long cups too.
If you are buying a coffee machine, I’m guessing you want to go for the whole ‘posh coffee’ experience, so buying a machine with a milk heater and ‘frother’ is essential. With this in mind we chose the Citiz with Milk for ease of heating and whisking the milk too. I found out Nespresso machines brew coffee at the optimal drinking temperature, so if you pour in cold milk you can often end up with lukewarm coffee, heating the milk to the right temperature (and of course adding some froth) is definitely recommended.
With the milk frother, this again is simple with a one-touch button to press, the only downside with it is that you need to wash the milk compartment thoroughly between cups as you can burn the milk for the next one – but that takes a few seconds so it’s not too difficult really.
I’ve been having so much fun getting creative with my frothed milk, I’ve even had a go at some latte art, although so far I’ve only mastered squiggles and blobs, but hey I’m sure even the top baristas had to start somewhere?
Discovering new coffee flavours of ALL varieties!
One of the main things that has impressed me has been the huge variety of Nespresso capsules that accompany the machines. Whatever your tastes are, you will find something you love; whether thats delicate, smooth and creamy tastes to rich and intense, they have a whole spectrum with the intensities and flavours clearly marked out. Nespresso also have created flavoured capsules in Ciocattino (chocolate), Caramelito and Vanilio. I’ve actually found buying the pods the most overwhelmingly confusing part of owning a coffee machine as there is literally so much choice. In the end, I decided for our first order to go for the Discovery Pack, which is 150 pods in their most popular blends so we can try them all and work out which one is best. I even had a weird dream where I created a spreadsheet to score each flavour on, I’m actually dreaming about coffee now, ha!
What’s the Deal?
Firstly we bought the Magimix Nespresso Citiz and Milk which is usually priced at £200.00, but Steamer Trading currently have sale on, bringing the price down to £149.99. With this, when you join the Nespresso Club (which sounds so exclusive you actually think George Clooney is going to pop up and make the coffee for you) you get £60 worth of coffee capsules for your new machine too. Amazing, right? Oh, and I did get the £7.99 off the total from my voucher too, just in case you were wondering…(love a bargain).
Just when I thought we’d had all the ‘free stuff’ we could get with our machine, we also got set a lovely set of two glass cups with metallic saucers too,with our first order of capsules. They are just the perfect size. Nespresso might not be the cheapest, but they do spoil you, thats for sure.
So, thats my first impressions on our Nespresso machine – I’m currently enjoying trying a different flavour coffee every morning and you never know, I may even create that spreadsheet one day…… Or, I might just have another cup of coffee.
Pin for later:
Gahhh, I want one of these so bad but I just don’t have the space in the kitchen for one! Oh no. I need my own place so I can get one.
Corinne x
When I first got my nespresso machine I wanted to try every different flavor out there. The discovery pack was a great way to do this!