Among the best alternatives to the 'Nespresso' system, is the 'Caffitaly' system. Caffitaly was invented by the Italian espresso machine company Gaggia some years ago. It features plastic capsules with an alumininum lid.
Benefits of the Caffitaly system
In my opinion, there are several advantages of choosing the Caffitaly system over other systems:
- Each capsule contains eight grams of coffee (most others have five grams)
- An open system, not tied to a single company
- There are several companies producing capsules, among them Chicco d'Oro, Cagliari, Bewley's, Löfbergs Lila and Tchibo.
- Same goes for machines: More and more companies are producing Caffitaly compatible machines
- You can use capsules with coffee, tea, milk and hot chocolate in the same machine.
Ease of use
The process of using the capsules is really simple.
First, you choose the coffee you want to use.
Put the capsule into the machine and close the lid. When you close the machine, the lid and the bottom of the capsule is punctured, letting the water flow through.
Brew your coffee.
Open the lid and remove the used capsule. Some machines do this automatically and disposes them in a special container.
As you can see, there's a hole made in the capsule top:
As well as in the bottom:
Enjoy the coffee :)
All in all, I find the Caffitaly capsule system to be both flexible and easy to use. And not to forget: The coffee produced is great tasting. I've had people visiting my office who where amazed by the quality of the coffee.
I use a regular espresso machine with a grinder at home, but for my office, I prefer a capsule machine. It saves time, is clean and simple, and the coffee tastes great.