All About E.S.E. Espresso Pods

What are Espresso Pods?

Espresso pods, or, Easy Serving Espresso (E.S.E.) espresso pods, are paper pouches filled with espresso-ground coffee and made to the Easy Serving Espresso consortium standard. The single-serving espresso pod is 45mm in diameter and contains approximately 7 grams of ground, roasted coffee. Espresso pods are produced by all the large roasters in Italy and even many of the smaller boutique roasters offer their product in pod form.

What machines cannot use E.S.E. Espresso Pods?

Espresso machines using proprietary capsules, such as Nespresso, Tassimo, Lavazza Espresso Point, Lavazza Blue, illy iperEspresso, Bennoti, or Comobar 2000 machines cannot use E.S.E. espresso pods. With those machines you are generally limited to the offerings of the company that makes the machine.

Single-serving coffee makers, such as the Senseo or Melita One-One cannot use E.S.E. espresso pods, even though they look very similar to the pods used by those machines. They do not fit. Coffee pods for those machines are much larger in diameter, contain more coffee, and the coffee is loose in the pod — it is not compressed as in an E.S.E. pod. Note: Espresso cannot be made from drip coffee makers.

There are other espresso machines that for one reason or another cannot use pods, but the great majority of "normal" espresso machines can successfully use pods.

What machines can use Espresso Pods?

Almost all non-capsule home espresso machines will work with E.S.E. pods. Many machines are designed specifically to be used with pods, such as the FrancisFrancis! and Breville brands. These machines, designed for use with pods, will produce better results than a machine that can simply use pods. Lastly, there are machines that use only pods and cannot use manually tamped ground coffee. These produce the best results from espresso pods. We review some machines in this issue of The PODcast.

Most commercial espresso machines can use espresso pods in the single-shot filter basket. Many machines come with special filter basket for use with pods.

What are the advantages of Espresso Pods?

Espresso pods make it much easier to get a great cup of espresso. The use of pods allows users without barista (bar tender) skills to get excellent results. Admittedly, the results are generally not quite as good as that produced from a trained and experienced barista using high quality equipment and fresh beans — but do you have a trained barista in your kitchen? And then there's the cleaning issue. If you have never used a grinder and manually tamped your shots, you have no idea how messy it can be. The use of espresso pods just cuts that right out. Espresso pods are clean and neat with very little to clean up. You just use them and then toss into the trash.

Because the coffee is pre-ground and pre-measured, an expensive grinder is not needed, nor is the skill required to operate it. The pod is simply placed into the machine and tamping is not required.

For restaurants, espresso pods allow them to serve their customers excellent espresso drinks without the need to keep trained personnel on hand. In the our experience, most restaurants with an espresso machine serve undrinkable espresso because they simply do not have the trained staff to operate the machine properly. The use of pods greatly improves the quality of the espresso served to the restaurant's customers while reducing the maintenance and cost of providing it.

What are the drawbacks of Espresso Pods?

The drawback of the espresso pod is simply that the very, very best espresso can only be made by the skilled hands of a trained and experienced barista. Fresh beans, a clean, well maintained grinder set to grind just for the espresso machine being used, the proper tamping pressure and technique, a high quality espresso machine, and the skill and experience with the coffee/grinder/machine combination will result in the best espresso possible — a rare luxury. Pods offer what might be considered a B+ cup of espresso at a fraction of the effort. Note: Most people have never had anything over a C+ cup of espresso.