Which coffee tastes best? Who can distinguish between good and bad coffee? And who can tell whether an espresso tastes like nutmeg or cloves? At Eurobike, we put a €5,000 La Marzocco espresso machine up against a Nespresso and a Moccamaster. The takeaway from our blind tasting? Taste is all in your head and involves all the senses.
This article is part of our Coffee Special, where we present all the tested products, exciting insights, and valuable perspectives around the topic of coffee. Curious? Then click here!
Nearly all major bike manufacturers visited us at the 41 headquarters in Leonberg to showcase their latest bikes and to geek out over the newest components – all of this while sipping on really good coffee. Some might say that they all swing by just to pay tribute to our Faema E61 espresso machine. At well over 60, our boiler-tank receptionist is a true caffeine icon and infallible ice-breaker, starting off the most exciting conversations while hissing in the background and blurting out delicious espresso.
But what is it that makes our barista-style machine so charming? Is it its timeless elegance, which evokes memories of better days in a small backstreet café? Is it the legendary brew group that extracts the grounds evenly and spits out a fine, well-balanced coffee with rich crema? And why are our visitors so enthusiastic about the coffee, regardless of whether we switch out the beans, adjust the grind settings from time to time, or play around with different pressures depending on our mood? In other words, are we dazzled by the chrome shine and the legendary performance of the Faema E61?
Blind Tasting at Eurobike: Eyes closed, mouth open.
To find out, we decided to have a blind tasting. With a brand-new “La Marzocco Linea Mini R” lying around in the office for a product test and EUROBIKE just around the corner, we had all the prerequisites for an epic coffee showdown: our booth became a living room, creative loft, gallery, campground, classic car garage, and, last but not least, a specialty coffeehouse all in one. Amidst e-bike motors and cargo bikes, our coffee mecca was born. Our stand quickly became the most popular spot at the show – with some visitors dropping by several times per day!
Ahead of EUROBIKE, we invited our readers and industry professionals to join our coffee blind tasting on visitor days. We had everyone, from casual drinkers to caffeine junkies and and high-profile espresso connoisseurs. Some drink coffee just to stay alive, while others want to deepen their knowledge of the perfect crema. The tasting procedure was simple but revealing: between gargling and slurping, swirling and stirring, smelling and sniffing, each step brought us closer to understanding the nuances of taste.
But how do you taste coffee? Coffee sommeliers use the coffee aroma wheel to identify over 36 different nuances – from fruity to nutty, spicy and earthy. In total, coffee can contain up to 1,200 different aroma components. But let’s be honest: most of us struggle already when it comes to the bitterness of coffee. In our non-scientific tasting, we focused on mouthfeel and broader flavor categories like sour, sweet, floral, chocolatey, etc. A score sheet with 15 different criteria gave true sommeliers the chance to test their skills, while everyone else had an opportunity to broaden their horizons.
The contenders: David vs. Goliath
The three coffee machines in our blind tasting couldn’t have been more different: the Moccamaster KBG Select, the DeLonghi Nespresso machine, and the La Marzocco Linea Mini R. Espresso vs. filter vs. capsule. Yes, we know: barista experts might roll their eyes in horror, and this test was far from scientific. But we’re not doing this for the ultra-specialists; we’re doing it for regular coffee lovers – just like us.
Now it’s time to add the water and beans: we brought along 50 liters of Volvic and 20 kilograms of coffee beans from our office. All three machines were supplied with Volvic, and the beans of choice were, of course, the same ones we feed into ourFaema E61 back at the office: our editor Benedikt Schmidt’s parents own a roastery, and the crema coffee from Schmidt Bakery sparked lively and overwhelmingly positive discussions.
La Marzocco Linea Mini R – The Italian Dream
A handcrafted, Italian dual-boiler espresso machine – every barista’s wet dream! Despite having a few compromises, the € 5,000 La Marzocco Linea Mini R already showed its impressive capabilities in our hot-or-not test. However, in our blind tasting, it ended up dividing the test group.
While some testers were truly impressed by the quality of the espresso made with the La Marzocco Linea Mini R, others preferred the coffee from the competing machines. The espresso had a roasted, intense flavor, with a very dark, murky brown color and pronounced notes of acidity, bitterness, and sweetness. While some testers recognized the potential of the La Marzocco machine, others criticized our barista skills – for some, the coffee was simply too intense, with the acidic and bitter flavors being too dominant or unfamiliar. What did we learn from this? The best machine can’t make up for a lack of basic knowledge: it’s not foolproof, and our rather average experience with espresso machines contributed to the outcome. Shame on us.
Moccamaster KBG Select – Scandinavian Simplicity
The Moccamaster KBG Select is a stylish coffee brewer from the Netherlands, which is extremely simple and intuitive to use: pour the coffee grounds in the top, fill the water tank, and place your carafe underneath – the machine takes care of the rest. However, as straightforward as the setup is, our testers rated the coffee’s taste just as basic.
The coffee from the Moccamaster KBG Select was easily identified by our test fans due to its watery consistency and lack of crema . While many described the taste as slightly sweet and overall pleasant, it didn’t leave a lasting impression. Of course, the difference is clear when – like us – you decide to compare espresso with filter coffee. Nevertheless, we were quite satisfied, from the simple operation to the overall pleasant taste experience.
A little tip for every filter coffee fan: Freshly ground coffee preserves the aromas and can noticeably improve the flavor.
Nespresso DeLonghi capsule machine – Swiss Precision
Our biggest surprise in the blind tasting? Our old, long-retired DeLonghi capsule machine, which we used with Nespresso capsules. But how does Nestlé’s meticulously calibrated coffee compare to real specialty coffee? The capsule machine impressively demonstrates how easy it can be to make coffee – the next caffeine kick is just a button press away. The shocking result of our blind tasting: Nespresso capsule coffee received the highest approval from our testing community. Why? Keep reading!
The moment of truth
Over 100 test forms, heated debates, puzzled expressions and confused faces – and right in the middle, a few real coffee connoisseurs. What did we learn from our blind tasting? Here’s our key takeaway: taste is more than just a matter of personal preference.
70% of the participants preferred coffee from our old Nespresso DeLonghi machine. No way! Or maybe…
Why does the wine we enjoy with a plate of handmade pasta in a small, charming Tuscan restaurant taste so much better than the same wine we brought home? Or why do wine newcomers often prefer lighter, sweeter wines, while tannin veterans tend to look for more complex flavors and dry wines?
Coffee is like wine: a science unto itself. The deeper you dive into it and learn to recognize and name the flavor notes, the clearer the flavor profiles become. We’re no different from most blind tasters, and you’re probably neither – at least if we’re honest with ourselves! Our coffee taste buds are underdeveloped or not developed at all, and we struggle to identify what we’re actually tasting. At best, we can say whether we like a variety or not – and maybe give a few reasons to back our claim. But it’s not always clear whether we’re able to detect the fruity nuances of berries and citrus, the floral hints of jasmine, or the sweet notes of caramel and honey. The chocolatey and nutty notes that make some coffee so enticing, or the subtle spicy hints of cinnamon and nutmeg that make other cups special, often remain vague. And while we might perceive the earthy or woody nuances reminiscent of tobacco or cedar, we often lack the vocabulary and experience to truly identify and appreciate them.
So what is the enjoyment of coffee if it’s not just a matter of taste? It’s about the experience – and as you can read in the company profile of espresso machine tuner rb.crafts, the eye drinks with you. We notice this every day in our office when guests rave about the coffee from our three-group Faema espresso machine. The same phenomenon occurred at EUROBIKE, where all our visitors swooned over the coffee from our La Marzocco. When you see such a top-tier espresso machine, the immediate (and often premature) conclusion is: Wow – this coffee must be awesome. If we had served coffee from our old Nespresso machine, no one would have said that! Yet ironically, 70% of our blind tasters found that very coffee to be tastier!
Homework: Nespressoblind tasting
Back at the office, we wanted to dig deeper: How good is Nespresso coffee really? The interesting part: When you start exploring Nespresso coffee and conduct a blind comparison between different capsules and refillable capsules with freshly ground coffee, a whole new world opens up.
“Coffee loses 60% of its aroma in the first 20 minutes,” says rb.crafts founder Robert. The solution for capsule coffee? With refillable Nespresso capsules, you can use freshly ground coffee and unlock new flavour dimensions – transforming what is typically mass-produced into something akin to specialty coffee. Even with a DeLonghi capsule machine, you suddenly have a vast playground for experimenting, tasting, and tinkering. The takeaway: Classic Nespresso capsules taste familiar and therefore make a very good impression at first. But when you taste them side by side with freshly ground coffee, the differences are striking: while capsules with fresh grounds reveal new nuances, coffee from standard capsules tastes pretty dull. So, here’s our tuning tip: grind your coffee from scratch and fill your own capsules.
Preparing coffee is just as much an art as tasting, and the deeper you dive into it, the faster you discover a fascinating world of senses that you can continuously refine. And with experience, your taste evolves too. The good news: the DeLonghi capsule machine proves that you don’t always need the most expensive, elaborate methods to enjoy a specialty coffee. Its simplicity and the consistent quality make it an attractive option for anyone who wants to prepare their coffee quickly and easily.
Conclusions
Here are three things we learned.First: taste is not just a matter of personal preference; it’s also shaped by storytelling and experiences – just like how wine tastes better under the Tuscan sun in the company of friends than it does alone at home. Second: in our blind tasting, Nespresso coffee outperformed that from a € 5,000 espresso machine, both for us and many other coffee lovers. Thankfully, we don’t drink coffee blindly; we celebrate its preparation with all our senses – and lo and behold, the coffee suddenly tastes better. Third: unlike the Nespresso machine, an espresso machine is indeed a step in the right direction, but it’s only half the battle – you have to learn how to get the best out of it. And that’s an exciting, never-ending journey!
Words: Jan Fock, Robin Schmitt Photos: Antonia Feder, Robin Schmitt
