Nespresso-compatible pods

Cliffage

Anyone tried them? Are they any good?
Wife wants to stop buying Nestle for ethical reasons, but my concerns were:

1. Who's to say knock-off pods are more ethical? I believe the Nespresso ones are fair trade at least
2. They might taste crap
3. Many of them aren't much cheaper

Any thoughts?

maxwell smart

I've tried them.

Although Nestle have indeed done some things that would make people shudder, I would imagine this can be said about just almost every multi national company of that size. Doesn't make it right, but it is very hard to completely avoid all companies who have done bad stuff.

Regarding the Pods:
1. Don't think Nespresso is Fair Trade, they are Rainforest Alliance certified. Think the whole Fair Trade thing has been totally discredited anyway. (Not to say that the Rainforest Alliance is any better).
2. Taste is much inferior.
3. Don't think they are much cheaper at all.

Also, I have heard that using the compatible capsules can invalidate your warranty. The plastic ones supposedly can melt in the machine. Have seen some refillable ones, but really, would you be arsed doing that?

Cliffage

Thanks for that, pretty much what I was thinking.
Which ones did you try?

youngblood

Bought some compatible ones,
Only one strength as it was a daily deal offer

Noticed a few of them getting stuck in the machine and needed to be pushed through

Coffee was good but was afraid id feck up machine using em any longer!

fiddlechic

I'm finding it hard to ignore compatible pods when some are 10c cheaper than nespresso's own!

I tried caffe.com though a groupon deal. They came foil wrapped in packs of 5, and there was quite a strong smell of coffee from their outside that wore away - presumably they're not as well sealed.
The coffee was actually OK - I used the "intenso" flavour. No pods got stuck or anything like that.
From a quick browse of a few of the website, they all seem to be foil wrapped.

Nespresso has a big advantage here of having well sealed pods.

Any one know of any well sealed compatible pods?

Cliffage

Just to update, I got some Cafépod ones on Amazon. They were £10 Stg for 40 pods - not that much cheaper but I needed to buy something to qualify for free delivery.
I got the Espresso Intense ones. They definitely don't taste as good as Nespresso. Also, while they fit in the machine just fine, the flow through them isn't great and you struggle to get much of a shot from them.

So I wouldn't recommend them

circular flexing

I used compatible ones from justapod.ie (when they were around) and they were awful. Ended up with grinds in my cup which never happens with Nespresso capsules.

fiddlechic

Likewise caffee.com occasionally had some grains.
Consensus appears to be - suck it up and buy nespresso!