This should be titled "34 minutes of James Hoffman roasting coffee"

TL;DW: His three favorites were Ethiopia, Colombia, and Tokyo. Honorable mention to Ristretto Decaf, which was surprisingly better than regular Ristretto. Zimbabwe and Shanghai had some complexity and were interesting, but he didn’t really like them. Most either didn’t have much character (not offensive, but boring) or were overly roasty and bitter. His three least favorites were probably India, Palermo, and Cocoa Truffle. Edit: This was meant to help those who don’t have time to watch the video, but want to know the results. I’m not implying that the video is too long or that you shouldn’t watch it. It’s absolutely worth a watch to see his reactions and rants if you have time.

Respect for speaking honestly about how evil Nestlé is right at the beginning.

would have loved if he'd combined all the excess coffee in one big bowl and reviewed THAT

Timestamps for my fellow coffee/Hoffman addicts: ESPRESSO 2:01 - Cosi 2:29 - Chiaro 3:03 - Capriccio 3:34 - Volluto 4:00 - Volluto (decaf) 4:25 - Corto 5:02 - Scuro SINGLE ORIGIN 5:28 - Nicaragua 6:11 - Indonesia 6:49 - Ethiopia 7:42 - Colombia 8:31 - India 9:41 - La Cumplida REVIVING ORIGINS 11:02 - DRC 11:55 - Zimbabwe 13:09 - Uganda WORLD EXPLORATION SERIES 14:19 - Cape Town Envivo Lungo 15:09 - Tokyo Vivalto Lungo 16:03 - Shanghai Lungo 17:02 - Stockholm Fortissio Lungo 17:42 - Vienna Linizio Lungo 18:25 - Buenas Aires Lungo ISPIRAZIONE ITALIANA SERIES 20:52 - Venezia 21:32 - Firenze Arpeggio 22:31 - Napoli 23:40 - Roma 24:17 - Palermo 25:35 - Genova 26:05 - Ristretto 26:49 - Ristretto (decaf) LIMITED EDITION 27:41 - Novecento 28:34 - Millennio BARISTA CREATION FLAVOURS 30:08 - Vanilla Eclair 30:50 - Caramel Crème Brulée 31:24 - Cocoa Truffle 32:25 - Conclusion

James: “I’m worried I might say good things about a horrible company” Me, 30 minutes later: “oh you needn’t have worried, mate”

It's really strange you mentioned Ethiopean single origin being a great gateway into more complex coffees. I used to drink a lot of nespresso, and I once just randomly tried an Ethiopean single origin at a cafe here in Melbourne and it's opened my eyes to a wider world of taste.

I barely drink coffee. But watching James just makes me want to try various coffees.

Didn't think we'd be getting a horror-themed episode for Halloween, but here we are. Thanks James!

I really appreciate you acknowledging the fact that Nestle is a horrible company right at the beginning, James! Cudos.

As a Nespresso drinker I really appreciate this video more than you can imagine. I find most reviews are incredibly biased and overhyped. As a disabled person I need a way to get my caffeine fast & without much thought, especially in the morning when my pain is quite high. That’s why I’m with Nespresso, there’s much better coffee out there, but it does make my life more manageable. Nespresso feels more like medicine to get my body going. It’s the hidden small coffee shop gems around the city I go occasionally to truly savour a really coffee. But after watching some of your other series I may try to replicate that at home on my good days. Anyway I think Nespresso needs more unbiased reviews like these out there. Their machines do meet a need but I think we as a society are forgetting what god coffee is. And I don’t think you have to worry about it promoting them in a positive light 😅. Would you consider reviewing their vertuo or limited edition pods? Thanks for another fantastic video!

In the conclusion section, it would be nice to see a final list of all pods ranged by complexity! (for those who somehow still want to order Nespresso pods).

15:00 I can confirm we are indeed "sophisticated and naturally sweet", and it's about time someone appreciated us for that 😂😂

My biggest aha moment was realising that I was paying 70€/kg... I'd never buy a packet of coffee at that price but for some reason, I was totally ok with buying these cute colour pops of mediocre coffee for an absolute fortune. It blew my mind...

I live in York County, Pennsylvania, USA, one of our native sons is Bob Hoffman of YORK BARBELL fame. I remember, decades ago, he was featured in our local newspaper and he mentioned that he only drank coffee once in his life, in the trenches of WWI, and I thought, no wonder he never drank it again, it most likely tasted like swill.

I love this video because although it looks proffesional it gives me vibe of "your friend visited you and is roasting (hehe, get it?) your coffe machine but it's so eloquent you let him pass" and i absolutely love it

This is probably the only man who can roast coffee by saying "it tastes like coffee" so eloquently and yet simplisticly.

"Boss, should we rinse out these cereal vats before we process the coffee?" "Nah, it'll be fine"

As he drank more and more espressos his speech got faster😂 very informative and entertaining video, thank you!

You, sir, belong to the rare few people on the Internet with a form of influence that is very transparent and carries genuine passion and friendliness instead of being a biased salesman. Subscribed! Please continue doing what you do!

Imagine 500 years into the future. James Hoffmann could have been remembered as one of the greatest coffee experts in history. But they'll find only this video, and he will be remembered as "that guy who drank all the Nespresso".

I would love to see a secondary channel made: "James tastes things that he doesn't like and is slightly offended by". It would provide the most joy and entertainment of any form of media out there.

well done. glad to hear nice description on Ethiopia and Velluto decafe capsules they are my in my cupboard regularly, but my everyday morning pod is the Cosi, perfect light cereal😂 taste for breakfast

1:59 Cosi 2:29 Chairo 3:03 Capriccio 3:33 Volluto 4:01 Volluto Decaf 4:25 Corto 5:04 Scuro 5:28 Nicaragua 6:12 Indonesia 6:50 Ethopia 7:42 Colombia 8:31 India 9:43 La Cumplida 11:04 Drc 11:55 Zimbabwe 13:09 Uganda 14:20 Cape Town 15:09 Tokyo 16:03 Shanghai 17:03 Stockholm 17:41 Vienna 18:25 Buenos Aires 20:51 Venezia 21:31 Firenzie Arpeggio 22:00 Firenzie Arpeggio Decaf 22:32 Napoli 23:40 Roma 24:17 Palermo 25:34 Genova 26:05 Ristretto 26:50 Ristretto Decaf 27:42 Novecento 28:32 Milennio 30:08 Vanilla Eclair 30:50 Caramel Creme Brulee 31:24 Cocoa Truffle Edit: fixed spellings

Nestle makes cereal, I imagine writing cereal and making each coffee taste like cereal is part of some grand scheme to get you to buy some cereal :D Speaking of Cereal, gotta buy some Cereal. Cereously

Well that's every nespresso capsule for the ORIGINAL size you could buy... time for round 2 with the Vertuo Plus capsules! Completely different flavours ;)

My previous job used to have a Nespresso machine and those flavoured coffees were my guilty pleasure.

Just had to come back to this video, if only for the "oh no.." to the Indian pod. Laughing way harder than what one would expect. But the subtle, very British, kind, yet unwavering brutality of the slow "no", from the almost gasping and inwards breathing- and the tone and volume just turned down to the absolute. Almost like feeling the cold grip of death and knowing you are about to die; ".. oh no..". Just great to watch

Them: "You just haven't tried the right pod yet" James:

You can absolutely see James getting more caffeinated throughout the video. He increases his talking speed by 1-2% after each one.

Just found your channel and I have to say: what a great and honest content. Looking forward enjoying the rest of your videos.

I just discovered a love for coffee a couple of weeks ago and have really been enjoying your videos. I thoroughly appreciate your viewpoint on how different people have different tastes and that you found a way to end that in a positive way saying that anyone who loves nespresso has a wonderful journey ahead of them. I've considered trying it but I don't want to waste the money on it when I could be putting that towards a more proper espresso machine. Especially after this video.

I’m gonna start introducing myself as a “sophisticated and naturally sweet” coffee lover from Japan…😂

“Did you just give tasting notes to the nation of Japan” wasn’t a quote I expected to hear today tbh “The Japanese taste of sweetness and ginger” is a power move tho tbh

"this tastes more of coffee from somewhere." I always get my coffee from somewhere. I find that they produce some of the coffees of all time, and those coffees always have a flavour and aroma of something, especially when brewed in some way. I tried looking nowhere for coffee, but for some reason I was never able to find any when I did that.

We had one of these nespresso machines at my old work and I anxiously waited the whole video for you to get to the chocolate one which was of course last! I couldn’t believe how bad it was myself, even with cream and sugar it just tastes like arse

You can see him slowly losing his sanity for us. Mad respect for this guy

James the end of this video, “why is everything vibrating??”

I used to work at a Nespresso boutique and I completely agree with you about the cereal notes. It's such a bland flavor and they use it way too often. They were extremely popular though, especially with the older customers. Customers knew what they liked and were afraid to experiment with new flavors. They would get a "varied" bunch of all cereal notes (cosi, capriccio, etc.) and in my mind I would call them the "safe flavors". I asked a young woman what notes she liked and she said cereal, and I was very surprised. Something I really liked about working there was finding out how much you can learn about a person through the type of coffee they liked, and you would start predicting their order immediately after hearing their second sleeve, you start noticing the pattern. I also agree with the roast. Even when it had an intensity level of 6 or 7, people would sample it and say it's strong and I would agree. I quickly got tired of the strong coffee. I understand that a lot of people love the intensity and it's the reason why they love Nespresso. A lot of our customers would often say that they can't do Keurig or Starbucks coffee anymore.

I enjoyed watching this way too much. I feel like British humour only can truly capture the horror of the “bitter, bitter aftertaste”. It was also very informative in that now I know it isn’t just me and I don’t have to keep wasting money trying to figure out what capsule is right for me. Cheers!

James's little laugh and the "idiot" in the end is so heartwarming wholesome🥺

this is uncanny. I was literally thinking, “damn I could use a new James Hoffman video right now”, and then guess what I see when I look down on my phone. Thanks for such an amazing channel :)

One thing we have to admire about Nespresso is their branding and identity. Pods & Sleeves Graphic designs are just marvelous.

My favorite......'ohhhhh I smell you'....(takes a sip) finishes like a hard shot of whiskey 😂😂 22:57

Finally the sequel to your Tom Scott video: "I like coffee - can Nestlé change that?"

I started my coffee journey with Nespresso as it seemed quick and easy. Having moved on from there, I feel like someone has given me the keys to a whole new world of fun. The coffees I'm drinking now are light years better, but I still think Nespresso has it's place. I gave my machine to a friend who loves it as it is so convenient. And yes, I'm taking a selection of coffees I've discovered to him next time we meet so perhaps he gets to step out into the brave new world too 😊

This was great to watch, thank you! I am a Nespresso user, but I don't buy their pods. I took it as a kind of challenge to taste my way around lots (lots) of compatible pods, and I've settled on L'Or. They're half the price, more so when on sale, and to my unrefined coffee palate, equally as serviceable. The pods are just so damn easy. But sometimes I whip out my moka pot, french press, or a single cup filter pour over.

The rational thing to do for Nespresso is to make 4-5 basic blends, and then "tweak" those blends to create the appearance of 36 different blends. Coffee (or tea) blending is a very difficult art, the taste of the raw material changes every year (just like wine) but in this kind of products the consumer expects absolute consistency of flavour. This means that coffee and tea producers have to carefully and painstakingly modify each year the blend so that it reverts to the original design. Also, they have to deliver the same taste all over the world where they sell the same "model". This requires finding suppliers who can deliver hugely large quantities of uniform coffees. A specialty producer can play with much more freedom because he doesn't need to maintain consistency through astronomic production volumes. Nestlé has problems that small producers will never have. Hence, they will probably focus on a few basic blends, and they aim at obtaining the greatest possible consistency for the few basic blends. Then they work on tweaking the basic blends, this time the consistency problem is somehow inferior because each blend is sold in relatively smaller, but still impressively huge, volumes. One might actually suspect - or be certain - that when they take out of the market, or of a certain market, a certain blend it is because they could not get hold of sufficient quantities of raw material to replicate that blend. In one word: a company selling the same blend to hundreds of millions of clients faces difficulties that are unimaginable to a small producer. On the other hand, they can spend huge sums in marketing and give people the illusion that they are choosing from an impressive palette of different tastes of superior quality, when they are only glorifying a very mediocre product range based on a few mediocre basic blends and, from a production standpoint, they couldn't do any better at all as hard as they would try. My conclusion is: people in the marketing department of Nestlé know their job very well. No wine producer ever managed to sell wine in the many tenths of billions of litres for each label, all over the world, claiming that they are selling a catalogue of 40 different and very fine wines. Nestlé is doing just that. If one thinks well about it, it's marvellous, a testament to the power of marketing.

Timestamps of moments that cracked me up: 5:58 "character: kind of a five but a disappointed five. No, I'm revising that back down to a four." 6:45 "Have an opinion!" 11:27 "I will stop rolling my eyes... maybe" 15:06 "WhY diD I sIP tHAt again!" 15:13" the best accidental national compliment I've seen in a while (...) Are you saying that the Japanese are sophisticated and naturally sweet? Did you gave tasting notes to the nation of Japan?" 17:03 "it is making me think of the syndrome more than the city right now.." (the laughter after tasting it) 18:48 "I don't think coffee should taste like cereal" (You would think that was a given but... we don't know anymore) 22:59 "Ohhh I smell you" (Catching the Robusta in there) 24:39 "OH THAT'S THE ONE" 🤢 31:45 (laughs because it is comically terrible)

Me: "Experts are humans too. They just know more than we do but they're still perfectly normal human being." James talking to a coffee pod: "Have an opinion!"

We use Nespresso compatible pods here (plus pourover + aero press) and once you find a cheaper, better, more sustainable alternative to Nespresso official ones it’s not so bad. We use ‘pod and parcel’ here in AU and they pretty good (imo)!

I enjoy your videos, especially these ones on Nespresso. I have both the classic (in office) and the vertuo (at home) and my wife and I both enjoy our coffee. I do love the Kazaar and enjoy it daily, so I guess our taste preference is different. Thank you for doing this taste (read: torture) test and sharing your take on each pod! I found your videos really informative and enjoyable!

"what's the roasting level?" well I don't know about Nespresso but James' roasting game is on point in this video!

"A five, but a disappointed five." - Oh, James, you silly sausage. You do crack me up sometimes.

James I love the way you explained the flavors.

Another fantastic review from James! Do enjoy your style and presentation throughout. Would be interesting to see a review on the current Vertuo pod range if time/cost ever permits, and how if at all Nespresso has improved the coffee experience.

19 minutes in and James is getting so animated. Is he going to survive this torture.

I'm 20 seconds in and had to pause to say "What an intro, the visuals and the audio are exceptional!"

I’m new in the coffee world, so I chose Cosi as its low in intensity. I only drink iced lattes and I think it works very well in the combination with milk and cream.

It was funny to see your delivery get slightly quicker and more manic towards the end of the first tasting session. Great video, thanks!

"That's not even a good Spinal Tap reference" was actually a really good Spinal Tap reference.

I love watching James' rants as he gets increasingly caffeinated ❤️

I loveeee the quality of these videos. Simply amazing

I drank nespresso for convenience in university and I always wondered if the extreme bitterness was just a characteristic of espresso. I usually drink drip or moka now because that bitterness is just a bit much but maybe I need to revisit straight espresso in lighter roasts.

James, for those wedded to their Nespresso machines it might be worthwhile you trying some self-fill pods for them that are on the market. This might give users a chance of getting a better coffee experience as well as preventing a lot of pods ending up on landfill. You could test how well they work in the machine, and what kinds of coffee would work well with the inherent limitations of the Nespresso machine.

"I will stop rolling my eyes... maybe." "Cereal. Hooray!"

Love your view in the conclusion, makes me so excited for the future

Tokyo lungo and the ristretto are the most interesting pods for me. Tried all the pods a few years back and settled on those two as my gotos from nespresso.

"It feels a bit like it's aiming to be kind of inoffensively coffee, and as a result I am offended."

"I'm just cross enough" what a very refined expression of disgust.

My experience with these machines is really only in hotel rooms and I honestly am pretty excited to see them because the old-fashioned tiny coffee machines tend to grab onto coffee residue flavour all over the plastic filter holder no matter how thoroughly you wash them. I'm not taking my own set-up everywhere unless I'm camping (I travel heavy as it is), but sometimes I'll take Korean sachet three-in-ones with me if I can boil water. Yes, I really can appreciate good coffee even though I am able to drink some pretty sketchy cups in various situations. Anyway, thanks for putting yourself through all that - it made for a really entertaining video.

Really appreciate your open approach to tasting. You don't hide what you don't like, but say what's nice and what you like. Very good personal quality is saying "It's not for me" instead of "It's not good". Love your content and approach.

This truly highlights everything we enjoy about you the most: your knowledge of coffee (and making it interesting for us) and your humor. Cheers to your continued success.

James is like coffee Jesus, allowing himself to be tortured, and sacrificing himself for the benefit of the world.

The main reason I switched from Capsuel to a manual Espresso Machine is a bit challenging but as Im staying In Bali plenty of coffee beans to try from all the main Island of Indonesia and there is plenty of choices. Interesting blends with South American coffees are available.

Thanks for your -pain- efforts, this helps me know which ones I should try next.

I really want that opening shot of James drinking and the nespresso pods falling on his face as a poster

For me, coffee pods are like microwave/ ready meals. It's quicker, sometimes more convenient, and is usually just fine but making from scratch is always better.

Oh my, I laughed sooo hard! My daughter often calls her nespresso coffee pod experience like drinking dirt water. I agree with you and am happy to say that you liked the same pod (Tokyo) as me. I'm hooked on the nespresso pod ease of use (original essence machine) and am definitely going to find nespresso compatible pods that offer more real quality coffee taste experiences. Thank you for your great reviews and know that you certainly keep us entertained and informed.

In my home town in Mexico we don´t have many coffee shops, the few are expensive and not very good. So I found very convenient to have a Nespresso and I use it with my favorite coffee and a re-usable cup. To me it is very very convenient and I can make it to my taste.

Can you break open your top three pods and brew them like a weird coffee person would? It'd be interesting to see if that might taste better

Nespresso was actually my gateway to 'proper coffee' - got me into espresso-based coffee and then made me want more flavor, so got a grinder and a machine and started watching @James Hoffman!

I've never bought into the Nespresso thing. Some because of the ethical stance, but mostly because I enjoy the experience of deciding how I'm going to brew ground coffee to try and get the most out of it and I can compost the pucks, thanks James for suffering so we don't have to.

I am a very basic coffee drinker, from this video the take I get is to have a try of the Ethiopia pod as that seemed to be the most pleasing. The rest, I'll stick with my basic Kenco Smooth Instant and experiment as I continue to view your reviews and ideas.

Please also test some of the third party pods! Every office worker that only gets a Nespresso machine provided will thank you.

We've been using Nespresso machines and pods for a number of years now. Having watched this video we decided to branch out and try some compatible pods. So far Roar Gill and Moving Beans have been up there, but with so many to choose from and not knowing which are deemed 'great tasting' its difficult to know which ones to try. Would love to see James review some different brands of compatible pods, preferably compostable ones.

Great job, well done. I love my Nespresso machines and pods for the convenience it gives me. My favorite pod is "Paris" which probably didn't exist when you did this video. Absolutely agree with you on the different Pods you tasted.

Nespresso have a _really_ fancy coffee shop here in SF, with _extremely_ attentive baristas, it all reads as _incredibly_ high-end, and then you get the coffee and you're like... it tastes like a Nespresso pod. The cognitive dissonance is kind of overwhelming tbh.

I've never had Nespresso but I did have a Starbucks this morning, and it's amazing that no matter where I set my expectations, they always disappoint me.

Dear James Hoffman, you are quickly becoming the Top Gear of coffee, and I'm so here for it.

I am halfway through and if this poor dude is not crying caffeinated tears by the end, he is braver than I will ever be.

I would love to see you do this with Nespresso's vertuo machine and would love to hear your opinion of the full size coffees!

Stages of James' Caffeine decline Round 1 15:07 Addiction Pace quickens 17:12 Incoherence Speech slurs Round 2 22:32 The expected beginning 23:02 "Well Leavened" 23:36 I wouldn't want to take a second sip either 24:34 "This might hurt you" 24:40 Someone call a medic? 26:30 He's back, false alarm The decaf range Definitely helped day 2 31:43 Thank You, James, for trying far too much coffee shop we don't have to

“Distinct cereal notes, that sounds charming” I’m rolling 😂

As a coffee snob who loves good coffee, I’ve found that if I’m in a pinch and just want a decent quick cup, the Nespresso Ethiopia pod is pretty good. Interesting to see James have a similar reaction. That said, I never tried the Tokyo, so maybe I’ll give that a shot next time…

In my opinion, the reason you get a Nespresso is for the simplicity, you turn it on put a capsule in and you get an espresso shot in 10 seconds. I agree that you can get a wildly better shot but the ease of use of a Nespresso is almost unbeatable. Great video though, love watching all that you make.

As a Patreon supporter, you can keep the machine.

35 minutes of james subjecting himself to pain. this is what the fans really crave.

Man... you are the Lockpicking Lawyer, and Project Farm of coffee. Your knowledge, presentation and lack of bias is amazing. You are the youtuber channel I didn't know I needed.

Great video, I also found the Tokyo interesting, but now use compatibles. I would be very interested in your findings on refillables.