Quote Originally Posted by skmark View Post
Advice required - I've been gradually progressing along the better coffee route coming from Aeropress, to Alessi 9090 Moka pot. I've always fancied a coffee machine but as the only person in the house who drinks coffee it's never been a particularly popular discussion with the missus. However, of late that has been changing.

Now realistically I'm never going to be weighing my specially imported beans, selecting the best grind of the day on my expensive grinder before embarking on setting up my huge barista style machine for a short science experiment to get myself a cup of coffee. If I was single I might actually go down this particular path but I know that if I did so now then I would probably end up single anyway.

I had therefore always thought that at some point a Sage Barista Bean to Cup machine might grace our worktops. However, recent discussions have suggested that my wife would like to be able to make her friends a cup of nice coffee.......that's not going to happen with any Sage type machine trust me. Now my fall-back thoughts had always gone down the Sage Bambino Plus type route as an acceptably 'small' machine that would still produce the goods. I've never been much of a fan of 'pod' type machines, but.......

If I was to consider a 'pod' type machine..........what would the TZ collective recommend as being able to give me a lovely brew and yet be simplistic enough for my wife to operate???

I had a Sage Nespresso Creatista Plus machine for a number of years which I loved, it has choice and simplicity within it's menu functions, and is very easy to operate once you have stored your preferences.
I have now replaced it with a Grind One machine and Milk Frother, which I think is an even better machine (reviews confirm it is a highly rated machine in tests) and is as simple as a pod coffee machine can be. The Grind One has a very small footprint and is a very good looking machine, so your wife will likely approve. https://grind.co.uk/products/grind-machine


These would be my two recommendations for a good quality and simple to use pod machine, both produce very good results, Grind just edging it to the top spot for me based on pressure, consistency, simplicity and looks.