Dolce Gusto Coffee Maker

The Bottom Line

A single-serve coffee maker that can quickly brew up coffee, latte or cappuccino right at home. Capsules make for easy and mess-free use.

Pros

• Fast
• Easy to use
• Produces a rich crema with each cup

Cons

• Can only be used with capsules

Description

• Comes in black, red or white
• Produces 15 bars of pressure
• Operates with capsules for regular coffee, latte, machiatto, cappuccino, espresso and chococino.
• Coffee or milk capsules can be purchased online
• Machines and capsules can be purchased at Macy's stores, or Bed Bath and Beyond.
• Costs around $150

Guide Review - Dolce Gusto Coffee Maker

The Dolce Gusto has a very retro look about it, with a round water canister in the back and a big chrome lever on the top. It's a single-serve coffee maker, meaning you brew up one cup at a time rather than a pot.

It's very easy to use, though it's not as automatic as some other machines where you just push a button. With the Dolce Gusto, you start the brewing process with the lever, and have to manually turn it off when you are happy with the amount brewed. It does offer you greater flexibility and control over how you make your drinks though.

Using the Dolce Gusto is simple. Place a capsule in the holder and lock it in place, move the lever to the "hot" setting and pressurized hot water is produced almost immediately. There is a cold water setting as well, to be used with their iced cappuccino capsules. When you've brewed enough coffee, you put the lever back and remove the capsule. If you are making a drink like a cappuccino or a latte, you then pop in a milk capsule and top off your cup with some rich steamed milk. Much faster and easier than a drip coffee maker.

The capsules are colour-coded for your convenience, though the ingredients in them may be identical. I noticed, for example, that the latte milk capsule is the same as the chococino milk capsule. I found the coffee was very bold and well-flavoured, and the milk was nice and foamy. Overall, the Dolce Gusto was an impressive coffee maker that produced some great drinks quickly and without any fuss.

You can see photos of the Dolce Gusto in action, over in the preparation section.

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