We were the hosts for the Kassensturz broadcast on SRF aired on August 21, 2018, which focused on capsule coffee. Together with Patrick Zbinden, we led the sensory panel and ensured the quality of the testing process. It is always exciting to see what makes it into a short segment after a long day of filming. In my opinion, however, some key points were well conveyed. The tasting was diverse (to the test as a PDF).
Capsule in the test
Coffee from a capsule can taste bad, good, or very good. We tasted some good coffee drinks during the test as well. Nevertheless, it is important to note: strictly speaking, coffee from a capsule is not an espresso. The concentration of dissolved coffee particles makes capsule coffee more similar to a café crème than an espresso.
In our test, we use a refractometer to measure a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of 3.67% for the capsule coffee. This is not surprising, considering the use of "only" 5.5 grams of coffee. Naturally, you cannot extract as much from 5.5 g as you can from 7–9 g in an espresso from a portafilter machine. If the coffee from the capsule is then drawn "long," as recommended on many packages (40 ml), the concentration can hardly be strong.
With espresso, we regularly measure results between 7 and 9.5 TDS. This is, of course, reflected in the texture of the drink and the intensity of the flavors.
Strength as a differentiator
From my point of view, coffee drinks should first be categorized based on the concentration of dissolved particles in relation to water.
The equipment used to brew the drink can then be considered secondarily. This perspective makes sense because, even today, espresso-like drinks can be brewed using a portafilter machine just as well as a high-quality fully automatic piston machine.
In a filter coffee course, we brewed an espresso and then adjusted it to the strength of a filter coffee by adding water. After filtering out the solid particles that pass through the metal sieve of a portafilter, the drink was very similar to filter coffee brewed with a manual filter.
For the record
The tasting was conducted blindly. The participants did not know which capsules were available for selection. I myself had no influence on the selection of the coffees.
I would have found it interesting to taste even more coffees, also to put the results into perspective with international specialty capsules or even Beluga from Café Royal.
Without the waste issue
The environmental factor of capsules was not addressed in the segment. Naturally, we look very critically at any waste generated in connection with brewing coffee. After all, you can make really great coffee quite easily yourself, from filter coffee to espresso.
