The longer style of coffee that is Nespresso’s Vertuo is getting machines with milk control and a choice of automatic or manual.
There are a few different choices when it comes to coffee pod systems, but they are by and large not always created equal. The original coffee pod that is the Nespresso pod may well be the most known, but it’s not the only variety, with different pod systems able to do different things.
Most coffee pod systems are made for short coffees or short coffees that can be extended with extra water, but some are made for bigger cups.
That’s largely what Nespresso’s Vertuo range was built for, offering pods of varying sizes to make coffees big and small, covering the small espresso and a larger “mug” size. Coffee mugs tend to handle more than the 50ml an espresso is known for, and while a lungo can see you add more water to take a longer style of coffee, it isn’t quite the over-200ml that a mug has been built for.
Vertuo was made primarily for that, covering a coffee mug’s 200-300ml with a specifically designed 230ml “mug” variety of its pods, but up until now, mixing the milk has largely been your job. You could just pour milk straight in, or you could grab the Nespresso Aeroccino, an optional external milk frother that whirred milk around using a magnetic wand and aimed to give you textured milk in seconds. The idea worked best with dairy milk, often struggling with alternatives like almond.
This month, however, Nespresso is updating its range with some of the learnings from its original Nespresso pod range, as it brings in milk texturing technology to the Vertuo range.
Forget about the optional extra that is the Aeroccino, it seems, as Nespresso readies its Lattissima and Creatista for the world of Vertuo.
The new models are similar to their siblings that take the regular Nespresso pods, but with a focus on the larger Vertuo, which uses a laser to read a barcode on the lip of each pod, which is encoded with the information to tell the machine how to prepare each pod.
In the Vertuo Lattissima, that now includes a milk function thanks in part to a milk carafe section which can be removed from the unit and filled, and even stored in the fridge when it’s not in use.
Built by Delonghi, the Lattissima is basically having the milk frother and warmer built into the same unit, allowing you to prep either a cappuccino or latte macchiato alongside the regular espresso and longer black varieties, making coffee with milk in roughly less than a minute.
Like the smaller Vertuo Pop, it will talk to Bluetooth and WiFi for software updates, though unlike that compact variant, it will also handle the large coffee pour-over style Nespresso makes as an optional extra.
On the other side, there’s a more creative variant for folks who like to froth their own milk and make their own latte art, among other things.
The Breville-made Nespresso Vertuo Creatista is built for this, and is another variation on the theme. Rather than include the carafe for automatic milk texturing, it comes with a Breville steam wand like from the company’s other more manual coffee machines. It’s a similar idea, but you’ll froth your own milk in a jug and make your own latte art.
Both take the Vertuo pods, but one aims to get quick milk-based coffee out in a pinch, while the other lets you serve it yourself.
Like its Lattissima sibling, however, the Vertuo Creatista supports Bluetooth and WiFi for software updates, but not for automatic coffee.
They’ll both be priced a little higher than the standard Nespresso Vertuo machines in Australia, with the Vertuo Lattissima set for a recommended retail price of $749, while the Vertuo Creatista is priced at $1099 locally.
Both are available in Australia now from Nespresso stores and at the online equivalent.
