Refillable Coffee Capsules Stainless Steel Reusable Nespresso Pods Compatible with Nespresso Original Line Machines (2 Cups + 100 Lids)

-- Update #2 -- 2021/5/7 --Interesting...it seems that Amazon has removed their "Comments" section where people can ask the reviewers questions. 😢 That's a shame -- I'd mentioned that I was coming back at some point with an additional update and well, here I am!So, without further ado: the next step in the review process was to purchase some "fresh" beans, grind, and try them in the RECAFIMIL capsules, which I've done. With one caveat.I had hoped to drop into a Peet's (or something similar) and buy some great, REALLY fresh beans, but I flaked out and grabbed a cannister of ultra-cheap, not-recently-roasted beans from Trader Joes. Medium roast (as I've read many times that US French and Dark Roast are ridiculously charred, and I tend to agree).Step 1: Grind the beans.This actually took quite a few iterations. I have a $100ish Capresso burr grinder, and after much trial and error, found a grind setting that worked. Worked, as in: didn't completely prevent water from flowing through during brewing.But HERE is an interesting mystery (too bad you can't COMMENT on it 😡): looking at the grinds that worked, I'd call them somewhere near "drip" size -- fairly large and coarse. Which is weird because I noted before that we started off filling the capsules with Cafe Bustelo's ESPRESSO grind, which, well...looks like espresso. Not quite Turkish but still in the "powdery" range. So huh, what's up with that?My first-round guess is that BECAUSE I started with "fresh" whole beans, there was enough oil in them after grinding that if I ground them too fine (or, it turns out, used EVEN A BIT OF FORCE to pack them into the capsule), the brew process resulted in a teeny stream with less than 50% of a cup. Perhaps, in contrast, the "old" pre-ground Bustelo is so dry that the capsule tolerates a much finer grind and a much firmer tamp?So, two important lessons learned:1. With whole beans that may have some oil, you need to grind them pretty coarse2. After grinding, LIGHTLY FILL the capsules -- DO NOT PRESS or tamp (which is weird because we have the stupid mini-me stainless-steel tamper and when using pre-ground Bustelo, we tamp the 💩 out of that capsule -- I mean, seriously, my wife almost stabbed me with a steak-knife when I tried to mansplain to her how hard she needed to tamp -- because that's a thing that guys instinctively know how to do. 🤷🏼‍♂️)Step 2: Fill the capsule.As noted, the process that worked for us was LIGHTLY filling the capsule, with little to no pressure on the grinds.Step 3: Apply sticker.I haven't tried the stainless-steel lids (that RECAFIMIL so graciously provided) with freshly-ground beans, but might at some point. Who knows -- with coarsely ground beans it might work better?Step 4: Brew coffee and drink.(FWIW we have the Creatista and I tend to brew a Lungo at the notch between the bottom and middle)So, the $64,000 question is: does using freshly-ground beans improve the espresso? And the answer is yes, absolutely. There are two things that stand out, over our prior use of pre-ground Cafe Bustelo.1. Aroma. The shot actually smells like espresso, not a strong cup of percolator coffee. I can only imagine that's the oil in action. Drinking the cup, there is also a taste that somehow seems "deeper" or more complex than what we got with the Bustelo.2. Crema. Significantly more crema than what the Bustelo produced (which remember, comes in tins and bricks and sits on shelves for weeks or months). Also no surprise here as what IS crema? It's the oil, which has been "whipped up" and aerosolized during the brewing process (thanks, water vapor and pressure). So basically, it's coffee bean oil "whipped cream." 😏 Which sounds pretty gross when you say it that way.I'll wrap up by coming back to my 10-point scale below, which put our prior process (Bustelo + sticker lid) at a 5 to 6. In that case, factoring in the aroma and crema, I'd say using fresh beans and a sticker gets the cup up to the 7-8 range, which is where we were at with store-bought Don Francisco nespresso knock-off capsules.In fact, there seems to be some capsule-by-capsule variation in how the ground beans perform -- on a good day, they might even make it to 9, and on others, it's a struggle to get to 4. I can't explain why there would be variation -- our process is consistent. But you can almost immediately tell by watching the brew stream: if it goes clear within the first few seconds, you can tell for sure that you're getting a watery cup. If on the other hand there is some "resistance" (you can hear the machine laboring a bit more, and the stream is thinner, but stronger in color), the extraction tends to be better. My guess there is that "fast" brews means a large "channel" has formed in the capsule and therefore not hitting the grinds, and "slow" brews have more disperse water, which extracts better. Unfortunately we're not packing the grind with our new process (my "guy" knowledge is no longer an advantage), so it's a soggy mess when the stickers come off. No way to post-mortem the grinds to see how the water flowed.-- Update #1 -- 2020/12/18 --As promised, I'm back with my first performance impressions, and it's a good news, bad news sorta thing.Good news: the capsules perform exactly the same as the "alternative" brand ones we have WITH STICKERS ON THEM. Let me elaborate by offering a kind of ad hoc quality scale:10 = Nespresso capsules (whichever roast/flavor you love)7-8 = Good 3rd party capsules (I'm liking the Don Francisco's)6 = Cafe moka5-6 = Foil lid on a "stainless" capsule (we fill with Cafe Bustelo)4 = Cafe Americano (sorry, diluting an espresso is a crime in my book)1 = Drip coffeeSo on this scale the new stainless capsules score a 5 or so when sealed with a sticker. Why? Crema is OK but underwhelming and aroma/taste is only a little better than a strong cup of filtered coffee. I'm super-curious how that score will improve with freshly-roasted and ground beans but that taste-test is for another day.Bad news. Espresso brewed with the metal lids is pretty awful. Almost no crema. Watery coffee that hardly registers near drip. So I'll give it a 2-3 on the 10-point scale while there are a bunch of open questions, including whether freshly roasted/ground will help, experimenting with tamping pressure, ground size, etc. But it's clear from watching the flow with the metal lids that something is off: first the flow is clear brown (no crema) and then it becomes slow and watery. Pretty poor first impression.-- Original Review --We have two of these capsules from an alternative seller, and my wife was like "get some more." So I went back online, and found these for a few dollars less than the first pair we bought. Box arrived in 2 days, I opened it, and what a wonderful surprise: there was the brush, the scoop, the two capsules as I expected, the many sheets of stickers, and then something I DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE:Both of the capsules were packed with matching fitted solid lids. 😱Anyway, haven't used them yet -- and wondering if there was a shipping error??? -- but the lids are constructed very well, the fit is clean and tight, and I'm really looking forward to using them tomorrow morning. I promise to post back -- no, seriously, I mean it -- once I've tried them and have a chance to compare the surprise lids with the good ole' sticker method.

Works perfectly

A litter expenses for just one

I used this pod which was refilled with Costco's Kirkland finely ground coffee (exactly 5 grams) and sealed with the provided aluminum sticker on my Breville Creatista. The result was better than expected, I got a thicker crema, better taste than the Nespresso Ispirazione variety pack. Highly recommended!

I’m getting used to it.

Muy pequeño.

I’m so happy I found these reusable pods. What a big money saver and I am able to use my flavored coffees I can’t find in the nespresso pods.

Easy to fill, use and clean.