Rosetta in pods - here's why!

If you've been around for the last little while, you'll know that Rosetta has introduced a capsule or pod. 

The decision to produce pods is not one we've taken lightly — in fact, we've resisted the many opportunities we've had to do so over the last decade.

However, we're confident that the quality we are currently achieving makes a move worthwhile, and we thought we'd let you into the process!

A little background (and data)

Nespresso branded pods aim to help you replicate a traditional (continental) cafe espresso experience in the comfort of your home. Do they succeed? For the most part, yes - exceptionally well.

How so? An Italian cafe espresso has a pretty clear definition — 7g of coffee is used to produce about 25-30 ml of espresso. This espresso will have a strength of about 5% (that is, 5% of the beverage you drink will be composed of dissolved coffee solids, the other 95% is water). Dark or Intense Nespresso pods will produce pretty similar metrics - using slightly less coffee (say 5.5 - 6g per pod).

As the Nespresso market has grown hugely, the market for specialty coffee has grown too — and with it an appreciation for unique, lighter roasted coffees with a flavour profile less dominated by roasty, smokey notes and caramelised sugars — the compounds that are developed in darkly roasted coffees. Nespresso itself has acknowledged this developing market segment by launching its lightly roasted pods such as the 'Barista Creation' range. 

These pods produce a far less intense - and technically weaker - beverage (at about 3% strength). Is this product reproducing a cafe experience well? For coffee + milk drinkers, Nespresso recommends adding 60ml of milk to a 25ml pod brew. This ratio will produce a very milky, mild result - akin to a very mild 'single shot cappuccino' that are still popular beverage choices in some markets.

Now to Rosetta... 

Because we roast coffee lightly, and because of the mechanics and limitations of the pod system, our recommended pod recipe will also produce a beverage strength of approximately 3% when using the short (ristretto) button to produce 25 - 30mls of coffee.

For the best Rosetta-cafe-imitating experience, we recommend drinking this black. When adding hot water to dilute this by about 50%, you will achieve a beverage strength somewhere between our cafe Americano and batch brew filter coffee. If, however, you do like your coffee with milk, we suggest you use a few pods to have enough extracted coffee to balance out the milk.

Remember that we use 17+ grams of coffee in our cafes to produce a single beverage. A pod can't make a beverage of the same strength. However, our feeling is that the pod beverage has a place in the market - it is still incredibly convenient and consistent and gives customers the ability to have a range of different coffees to appreciate with absolute ease - something we are very passionate about.

Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions on how to maximise your capsule coffee experience - but a good place to start is with the recommendations above!