Juan Doe says:

We originally had the Keurig and bought this product to replace it. Nothing was wrong with the Keurig but we thought this would be a better product because it is able to create lattes. What a mistake. We have gone through two dolce gustos and they have both broken after a couple months of light use. They both shut down half way through make coffee and never turn back on.
Rating: 1 / 5

D. P. Schroeder says:

Krups did a FINE job in engineering this system: simple to operate and clean up, does its job with finesse, and it has astonishing potential. My only gripes are —

1) Descaling requires a special-order packet from Krups; you can’t just use vinegar as you can with a Keurig Single Serve Gourmet Coffee & Tea Brewing System.

2) Since Krups allied itself with Nescafe, the coffee/espresso type is restricted to the current, very poor, instant-coffee-like offerings from Nescafe.

3) Unlike the Keurig K-Cups system (granted, it’s a coffee-maker rather than a pseudo-espresso machine), you cannot grind your own beans to make the specific blend or purity of flavors you’d personally like — compare this to the possibilities of the Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter.

As for Nescafe, they really blew this great opportunity to work with Krups on their fine machine. As others have said, the machine is only as good as the coffee it makes, and with the limited, often-poor (often almost undrinkable) offerings from Nescafe, the best beverage you can make in this machine essentially tastes like instant coffee with powdered milk.

I STRONGLY urge Krups to use its leverage to license its coffee capsule technology to finer coffee manufacturers as Keurig has done, and I invite Nescafe to step up to the plate and make coffee of a quality on par with the Krups system they’ve been contracted to package grounds for. I see a dim and short future for this machine unless either (or preferably both) options are explored and realized.
Rating: 3 / 5

TropicalMinnesota says:

This is easy to use with little chance of getting hurt by the hot water. You put the capsules in the machine and turn the lever until the correct amount of beverage comes out. We are working on finding out what the correct amount is for the various flavors. An instruction book is included, but since neither our coffee cups nor the included ones have any measurement markings, having the book tell us to add, say 4 oz. of water, is not an exact science. I would prefer the machine do the measuring for us.

Some beverages use 2 capsules; one of milk and one of flavor. The milk ones do not appear to be interchangeable as they are labeled for each flavor (latte, etc.) and presumably contain different amounts of milk powder. I would greatly prefer the flavors combined and a set amount of water added by the machine. I know that then pretty latte pictures would be impossible to make, but there wouldn’t be the over and under dilution issue that we experienced.

We have tried all of the included flavors and have not been impressed. They have all tasted like convenience store instant coffees. We expected much, much more. We will use the machine occasionally and try new flavors as they come out, but this wins more stars for design and function than the coffees’ tastes.

Rating: 3 / 5