At a thousand pounds pax, you would think these restaurants could at least afford a Slayer or 2, one for normal and the other for decaffeinated. :)

I stand by my views on Nespresso, having been to the boutique and having tried other Nespresso capsules. Thin, extremely watered down, not the likes of an espresso, made from freshly roasted beans ground on demand, and made by not only a good machine with adequate temperature stability but also an equally capable barista behind it.

Our coffee meetup group, CGSG (Coffee Greens Singapore) purchases specialty coffee beans on a regular basis. And our purchases sometimes include coffees that have won Cup of Excellence awards, or a certain Panamanian coffee that wins Specialty Coffee of the Year many times over. Though I have yet to subject myself through a cupping experiment like Aldo Coffee’s CoE vs Maxwell House (that’s an idea!), I daresay I and on behalf of the rest of the group who left their comments above yours, do possess adequate ability to differentiate good coffees more so than the average local coffee drinker.

“From the [sic] standpoint of freshness,…”

We all have, at some point in time, been in your shoes, before our eyes were opened up wide by freshly roasted coffee. Coffee so fresh that it needed at least 2 more days of rest. Do yourself a favour. If you really do appreciate good coffee, drop by Suntec City this week(end) for the Singapore National Barista Championship. I’m quite sure you’ll be able to taste some good coffee and maybe this will open up your eyes some.

It’s used by more than 18 of the best 50 gourmet restaurants in the world.
That serves at a thousand stirling pounds a head.

If you actually appreciate and did intensive coffee tasting, you will realise Nespresso is more than it meets the eye.
Is the best you can actually get.
I’m not joking or bloating the words.
Just a matter of whether you are able to differentiate and tell what’s a good gourmet coffee.
If you are a local coffee drinker, then most probably you will not understand what’s good coffee since good coffee was never in existence here.

From the point stand of freshness, the ingenuity, the ease of use, the technology and the quality of their grand cruz. They are 5 stars in all fields.

But imho, nespresso is such a convenient way for getting coffee that it pushes more toward the “coffee as a utility” notion. The coffee it serves may consistenly hit 60% of the worst Steve Cairns/Brewtus shot,(Which I personally think makes nespresso slightly better tasting than chained Coffee outlets.) but it leaves little room for the variances in the coffee we may accidently find when we are bothering with the french/aero press :)

And to Steve’s defense, I do not think that he will ever get a nespresso machine. The only reason why he would be drinking nespresso consistently is that its free for him courtesy of his company. (Does this absolve me from being banned from salsa dips? I promise to bring the chips:D )