Gourmesso versus Nespresso: the great caffeine showdown.

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(fancy on left. my brand on right.)

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. This post is born from caffeine-addicted curiosity and the result of a gift from a friend.

Once upon a time I gave up coffee.

My coffee maker died (pour some grounds out for the fallen homie) and, with all that was *already* happening to disrupt my sleep/wake me early, I chose not to replace it.

I quickly got out of the habit of my morning cup and moved along with my day without giving the missing brown, life-giving liquid a second thought.

Until I did.

Until I realized I sorely missed my morning pages & coffee routine and admitted I preferred something other than hot water and ACV to launch my day.

Long story longer, I grew paralyzed with regards to which machine to buy.

I knew I was Cheap Mr. Coffee Carla (inexpensive & had a timer so java was waiting when I woke) and yet I fell down the Amazon-hole of exploring my options.

After months of boring friends to tears a brief decision-making process I ended up here.

Nespresso machine

I was thrilled by my new machine.

I couldn’t wait to use it.

I was horrified by the cost of coffee-capsules (alas my “boring my friends to tears” process forgot to include thinking ahead to capsules).

I knew there had to be options (ones which didn’t include refilling capsules. I know it’s earth friendly. I know given their tiny size more grounds would end up on floor than inside).

I found an option: Gourmesso.
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Gourmesso on left. Nespresso on right.

I wanted coffee. I didn’t care about taste. I commenced ordering (in massive deeply discounted quantities). I was jittery happy.

I didn’t thing about the difference between my “drink” and real Nespresso until I did a kindness for a friend and, by way of a thank you, she bestowed upon me sleeves of Nespresso capsules.

(perhaps caffeine is my love language!)

  • I panicked (would I prefer these? would I become penniless as I transformed into Fancy Caffeine Carla?!).

I did a taste-test.

gourmesso

To my surprise (even though the photos aren’t fab) the two looked visually the same as they cascaded out of my Nespresso hot-water house.

I’d assumed, due to the cost disparity, the Gourmesso would look watery and the Nespresso more robust.

Nope.

Nespresso

Nespresso

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Gourmesso

Next, I sniffed each tiny cup of loveliness.

I’d not planned to make this part of the showdown, but when I drank the Nespresso brand I was struck by the aroma.

It smelled phenomenal. Its scent was rich and dark. I thought myself crazy for noticing.

And then I drank my usual.

There wasn’t any aroma. I *guess* it smelled like coffee, but it didn’t possess the bold, “I am caffeine feel me energize you!” aroma of Nespresso brand.

Who’s the winner?

Mainly, mostly, first and foremost it is I who won as I have a coffee-maker again and generous friends who enable my addiction.

After that, however, it’s a toss-up.

Perhaps Nespresso nudged my beloved knock-off out of #1 by a nose (pun intended), but overall they were the same.

Will I switch to Nespresso brand?

Never. I love coffee. I love saving money.

Gourmesso comes in different flavors (and tea capsules) and I save approximately per order.

Do I miss my cheap Mr. Coffee?

I do.

When it comes down to it all of this ties back into loosening my attachment to my self-definition (I love cheap coffee ready when I wake! I love making eggs in my coffee maker!).

I love my Gourmesso yet, when this maker dies, I’m definitely returning to my first, basic model love.

And you??

  • Do you treasure your morning cup as I do? Do you also treasure cheap coffee over bold, robust java?
  • Have you ever multi-purposed and boiled eggs in your coffee maker?

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Comments

  1. I don’t drink coffee, but I love how your friend knew what to gift you.
    That’s a FRIEND.

  2. I don’t think I could ever try knock off for my coffee.
    Anything else maybe LOL but I need strong coffee!!

  4. I love coffee too. I love how it feels on my tongue and just watching the morning evolve while I drink it. I’ve never boiled eggs with my coffee maker – not sure how to do that 🙂

  6. I am cheap Mr. Coffee pot with expensive coffee. Yes, I can tell the difference in taste and smell of the coffees. As someone who works in the environmental field, I can’t get behind the waste of the little coffee grounds (have not done any research though to support that). But then I abuse my gorgeous expensive coffee – I make a pot at a time, but drink it over 3 days, which means much microwaving. I make it in the cheapest old style coffee maker I could find. Some weeks I waste more than I drink because I forget where I left my cup until the next day (usually IN the microwave.) But when it all comes down to it, I’d drink any coffee with caffeine in it if I didn’t have options LOL.

    • i’m laughing out loud because I am a woman who would never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever lose track of her cup of coffee. It doesn’t leave my grubby little handsuntil it is completed ?

    • I think my comment alignments have gone wonky 🙂 Coffee maker eggs linked below…

  8. The other problem with those tiny expensive capsule pod thingies is that sometimes . . . and by sometimes I mean M-F+S&S . . . . I need to use two (or three) in a row

  10. I love coffee. I don’t really care where it comes from so much. I do care about taste but not in a “I am a coffee connoisseur” way as much as a “I really don’t like dark and bitter” kind of way. I need it to be very easy to access as I’m clumsy and not lucid pre-caffeine. Beyond that, I don’t much care how it gets to me. 🙂

    I love your taste test, though, and fascinated by the difference in aroma. I’m a Keurig gal at the moment and haven’t paid attention but this makes me realize I don’t notice the coffee aroma when it’s brewing. I think I miss that!

    • Wellllll I will confess to having tried your fave Valerie a number of times because, for some reason, I wanted to love it. In comparison to my Gourmesso it just tasted super watery. That said, I like my coffee black and bitter like my ??

  11. You are very funny, lady! I seriously couldn’t survive without my morning java either.

  12. I do love coffee. What it tastes like is more important to me than the price (that said, it doesn’t have to be expensive to taste good; I do look for fair trade brands though).

    I require a stainless steel carafe because I am clumsy.

    Considering a Nespresso as I have done this more than once: Fill water reservoir, add coffee, turn on machine without putting carafe back in the coffee maker, walk away…come back 10 minutes later to coffee all over the kitchen. Mornings and I do not mix. Hence the requirement for caffeine.

    • OOH I FORGOT ABOUT ALL THE CARAFES I USED TO BREAK!!!! (again shouting). And the coffee all over the counter for that same reason! You are my coffee spirit animal. You need a Nespresso…

  13. Hah! My first Nespresso experience was in a hotel room in London. I drove housekeeping crazy with my requests for MORE PODS PLEASE. I drink coffee a pot at a time!

  14. I quit caffeine about 20 years ago and only drink decaf.I will never give up my decaf. I love coffee smell, coffee taste, coffee flavor, coffee…! I spend the most on coffee beans per pound then any other grocery.
    Eggs in coffee maker, nope!

  15. My husband and I used to have an Italian Ice and Coffee shop. We had a commercial espresso machine. When we closed the store, we kept the machine and had it installed in our home. (It has its own water line.) Each morning my husband makes me a delicious and perfect cup of coffee. I am addicted. I can’t leave home. Vacations? Why bother? The coffee is never as good. When this machine goes, I’m burying it in the backyard and giving it a proper send off as one who has served well. Then I may have to join a 12-step program to get past my coffee habit. Or not… I could just get a new machine…

    • So, do you need an live in sister wife for the summer? I make great….company? pb&j? 🙂

  16. We have a Nespersso but the pods are smaller, rounder like little flying saucers. All that being said. I never heard of Gourmesso. Also I LOVE my Nespresso but the cost has made coffee a luxury and not something I drink every day. I think it equals to 50 cents a pod ( or is it $1?) I can’t remember. Anyways, its way more cost effective than Starbucks but still pretty pricey and the fact that I can’t drive to the store and buy pods but instead have to order online, is a pain but the coffee is amazing:)

    • AHHH THAT ONLINE THING AS WELL (she shouts). That’s another reason I will eventually return to the Mr. Coffee…

  17. Drinking my Mr Coffee brewed Folgers as I read blogs this morning. In a giant mug with a splash of chocolate soy milk.

    When you said you gave up coffee, I was like, who are you? Glad you came back from the dark side.

  18. we have a cute little machine just like yours – it sits next to my kettle and makes lovely cups of coffee when I feel like spending an extra few minutes – I’m not that fussed on my coffee though – mild and hot and I’m happy.

    • Ahh see? There’s the problem 🙂 IM BITTER AND BLACK (insert joke here about like my <3)

  19. I am full on Lorelai Victoria Gilmore when it comes to my love of and addiction to coffee. I think when our current Keurig dies, we’ll go French press. It seems easy, and then I can buy whatever coffee I want. I’m too cheap for pods. We don’t even use them now, but instead do the fill-your-own thing.

  22. Alas, I gave up coffee years ago (the caffeine made me too jittery, and even decaf did a number on my acid reflux). But I LOVE the aroma (Hubs brews a locally roasted brand called Wicked Joe on his trusty Mr. Coffee each morning), so I live vicariously through him.

  23. I have never been a coffee drinker, I will take a cup tea any day. My husband has his beloved Keurig and spends a fortune on Starbuck’s k-Cups, I miss his simple coffee days.

    • you know what? Im kinda with you. I most definitely will return to filters and Mr Java 🙂 when my Nespresso dies. I miss the days of running out of filters and using paper towels instead 🙂

  24. Eggs in the coffee maker? Hilarious. I’m a tea drinker and need it during my morning pages with the same passion you have for coffee. Cheaper tea bags stink…it’s a fact so I pay the higher price. BTW we have an old Mr Coffee…my husband loves it!

  25. I certainly need my morning coffee. I currently use a Keurig, which was given to me (yes, in exchange for my honest review 🙂 ). I do like the convenience, and I can buy the pods for a pretty good price a Costco. But there’s the rub. Those pods, marching out and littering the world. I did buy a little refillable pod, but so far I’m not impressed. I too may go back to my Mr. Coffee, or to my French Press, which is my husbands first choice.

    I guess all that says is that as long as it has caffeine in it I can be satisfied.

    • Im now thinking I may try refillables too. THEY ARE SO SO SO TINY for the Nespresso but I shall find a tiny scooper and at least spare the earth THAT trash as well…

  26. That Nepresso has funny commercials BUT I always think the Hollywood & stars when I see it PLUS there is a store at a fancy mall here & well, it is soooooooooooooo Newport Beach here. I just can’t! 🙂

  27. I have a Nespresso but barely use it because I like to drink espresso straight and theirs always tastes watery and weird to me. The past 6-8 months though I’ve switched to tea for some reason, with an occasional espresso thrown in there. It’s all decaf too and I really just like the smell/taste/experience.

    • YES!! I can never give up the habit of it all long term, but I can jettison the caffeine for a while (and then I always return too :)). I love the bitter which is totally why I’d thought the Nespresso would be far better.

  28. Where i come from in south Louisiana, coffee is a religion. It’s not morning without coffee. Give me Community Dark Roast in my Mr. Coffee style coffee maker, and make it strong, and serve it black like the swamp mud and hot like the bayou in July!

  30. I simply adore Nespresso. I wonder if they have Gourmesso here…
    Yes, it’s price, but from all the brands I have access to here in Belgium, it’s still the best.
    Needless to say that nothing beats Brazilian (Italian and Mexican) coffee, though. However, Nespresso is worth the investment. 😛

    My name is Debbie and I’m addicted to coffee.

  31. I went full decaf about 12 years ago, but that doesn’t stop me from drinking a pot of decaf a day! I have never been able to make the leap to pods, both because of how many trips to the dang Keurig I’d have to make to get my daily quota, and because of the waste (we are a cloth napkin, velcro reusable lunch bag kinda family)

    And I’m like you Carla – I NEVER lose track of my coffee cup. I’m convinced it’s my spirit totem…

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