tassimo review

Our Tassimo Review may contain affiliate links

Are you wondering which Tassimo machine to buy? Or whether a Tassimo is right for your home? 

Today I want to share our honest review of the Tassimo coffee machine, which we’ve been trialling for the last month.

You can find out more about the Tassimo Vivy model here. 

To start with let’s be clear: I love coffee. I almost bit their hands off when the people at Tassimo offered me a coffee machine to review. And the idea of Tassimo seems like a perfect fit for us. I’m a big fan of coffee. I’m quite lazy in the kitchen. And since I live with just Flea (who doesn’t drink coffee) making a whole pot of coffee is impractical.

So a Tassimo should be perfect for my morning cup of coffee.

Tassimo Review: First Impressions

The Tassimo model we were sent retails for around £90. When you unpack the machine, you have to feed water through the tank five times to clean it.

The machine is much smaller than our regular coffee machine, which means it doesn’t take up too much room on the counter, and it’s easily hidden away in a cupboard if you want to do that.

The instructions were very simple, and we worked everything out and were set up in less than an hour.

How to Use Tassimo Pods

Once set up, the Tassimo is simple enough to use. You buy a box of coffee discs, called T-Discs, which are inserted into the machine with a bar-code facing up. The machine reads the barcode, and delivers the right amount of water, at the right temperature, for perfect coffee, every time.

The machine is nice and compact with relatively few buttons (simplicity is good, in our world). And £90 is a pretty great price for a coffee machine. Our previous machine, which brewed fresh coffee from loose beans, cost more than £300.

How Much do Tassimo Pods Cost?

At first glance, a Tassimo looks like great value. If you’re spending £5 a time on coffee from a local shop, even using Tassimo once a day means the machine will have paid for itself within a few months.

But the downside if you’ll need to buy the pods or discs. The price of the pods has fallen dramatically over the years, and you can now buy packs of 80 coffee discs for under £20 on Amazon, or 80 hot chocolates for £33. This makes the disks a lot cheaper than a brew from your local coffee shop.

What We Loved About Tassimo

I loved that the Tassimo is small, easy and convenient.

The discs or pods are widely available, and in so many flavours that you are spoiled for choice. As someone who works from home, it’s lovely sometimes to just have a little treat in the middle of the day without going out, or spending a lot of money. Each cup of coffee takes around 90 seconds to make, meaning this is just as fast as boiling the kettle.

And what’s not to love about a coffee machine that uses pods, and minimises the mess to clean up after? The Tassimo is so easy to keep clean.

Downsides of the Tassimo

That said, overall, I wasn’t sold on the Tassimo. My main concerns were:

  • Set up was slow – flushing the machine out five times took almost a full day. Yes, I’m impatient.
  • The Tassimo probably takes around 90 seconds to make a cup of coffee – no longer than boiling the kettle for a cup of instant.
  • The coffee itself is okay. Not amazing, but not dreadful. You may want to try a few different pods to get the ones you like best. 
  • Tassimo is very wasteful – I never realised that when you make a cup of coffee in a Tassimo, the coffee grounds are encased in a rigid plastic disc about twice the size of a teabag. And that disc goes straight in the bin. If you make two cups of coffee, twice a day, that’s 28 discs in the rubbish every week. It would be 56 if you opt for some of the latte or cappuccino discs, since the milk for those drinks comes in an entirely separate pod.
  • Tassimo isn’t great at making coffee for groups of people. Because of the amount of time to make each cup, if you’re making coffee for a group of people after dinner, say, the first cup could be sitting around for 10 minutes before the last cup is ready.
  • Too many of the Tassimo cappuccino and coffee pods we tried came sweetened. For anyone who drinks their coffee without sugar, it instantly renders anything made in the Tassimo undrinkable. So people like me end up making coffee in the Tassimo using a “black coffee” pod, then adding regular cold milk. It’s not quite the same as brewing up a fresh cappuccino. I had a quick look on the Tesco website and can’t see any drinks with unsweetened milk as an option – although I assume it has to be available  somewhere.

tassimo review

How to Recycle Tassimo Pods

If you want to recycle your Tassimo pods, you can. Tassimo has created a network of “TerraCycle” locations, where you can drop off bags of used Tassimo pods. The pods and wrapping materials are cleaned, melted into hard plastic and remoulded into new products. These products can be bought via TerraCycle.

As to how sustainable this is, I’m not sure. After all, you’re still using plastic unnecessarily, and realistically, how many Tassimo customers are going to make the effort to take their coffee pods to the nearest Tassimo recycling point? Our closest recycling option for Tassimo pods is an HOUR away by car – I’m willing to bet that nobody in my town is making that effort.

If you do want to use this type of coffee machine, the best option is to buy a Nespresso machine and use compostable coffee pods. I’ve not been able to find any compostible pods for the Tassimo, but if you do know of one, please let me know!

Tassimo Review: Our Overall Verdict

So, what’s the verdict? While it’s not for us, I think the Tassimo could be a good option if you occasionally make one or two coffees at a time, and if you drink sweetened drinks, or black coffee. I know people who rave about the taste of the coffee from the Tassimo, so while it might not be to my personal taste, it could be perfect for you.

I think the Nespresso is a more eco-friendly option, since it’s possible to get pods that can easily be composted, at home.

But for us, the best option has been to use our regular espresso machine, with ESE pods. These are paper-based pods, a bit like teabags. This means you get the convenience of a Tassimo, but with your favourite coffee, hot frothy milk AND a clean conscience.

I hope you found our Tassimo review helpful! Have you tried a Tassimo? What did you think?