Real Coffee pods: the best Nespresso®-Compatible coffee we’ve tasted!

As die-hard fans of original Nespresso® coffee capsules, my husband and I were delighted to taste some free samples from newcomer Real Coffee. This taste test plus our previous ones has led us to choose Real Coffee pods as the best tasting Nespresso®-Compatible capsules we’ve tasted. In addition, Real Coffee offers great value with up to 50% savings, excellent value Pick and Mix Value Packs, and free shipping over just 20£. Many varieties of Real Coffee are Fairtrade and organic, too, so you can do something good whilst drinking a great cup of java!

It was about a month ago that I received an email from Ida at Real Coffee, a small company based in Denmark which has just entered the English market. They focus on sustainability, on organic and Fairtrade coffee and above all, on quality. Ida offered me some free samples to try and my husband and I were delighted to take up the challenge.

We tasted six different varieties and were blown away by the quality of Real Coffee’s coffee. We loved the focus on Fair Trade and quality, and greatly enjoyed their Single-Origin coffees. And did I mention taste? Overall, the taste, body and crema of Real Coffee is better than any of the other Nespresso®-Compatible capsules we have tried, and are a reasonably close match to the taste, body and crema of some of Nespresso®’s own capsules.

Here are our taste-test findings:

General

Packaging 

Real Coffee pods come in square cardboard boxes containing 10 pods each. The boxes are easy to store, easy to reclose, easy to recycle. And the designs on the Single-Origin boxes are beautiful!

Pods or Capsules

Real Coffee pods are made from polyethylene – a plastic material that is often used for food packaging. According to their website, “the production of polyethylene impacts the environment relatively little, and can be easily recycled.” They are the same shape as Nespresso® capsules and are declared to be 100% compatible. We found that most of the Real Coffee pods worked well in our Magimix U & Milk auto-eject Nespresso® machine, with the exception of the Roma espresso pods and the San Marino lungo pods, which occasionally refused to automatically eject. It is worth noting that we did not encounter ejection problems in our mechanical Nespresso® machines. No pods were wasted and we were able to make a good cup of java every time 😉 All other varieties we tried were found to be 100% compatible. 

Freshness guaranteed

I found their STAYS FRESH guarantee quite interesting, mostly because I hadn’t thought of this aspect before. Real Coffee offers at least 8 months guaranteed freshness on delivery so you can order their Value Packs and be confident that you’ll drink a fresh cup of java throughout. 

Body

In our previous taste tests my husband, our friends and I always found that many Nespresso®-Compatible coffee capsules brewed a coffee with very little body, way too watery and no feel of a good brew in your mouth. We were blown away by Real Coffee and the body of all of their brews!

Environmental responsibility

It is heartwarming to read that Real Coffee is very concerned with environmental responsibility. They are striving “to become 100% Fairtrade, with the ultimate goal of an exclusively organic selection of coffees in the near future. Real Coffee currently offers 80% Fairtrade coffee, while three of our coffee varieties are organic. We are also actively working to create a capsule that can be composted.” A compostable capsule? Yes, please! It should also be noted that when pursuing Fairtrade goals, one is dealing with local farmers on a small scale. Issues like weather and harvest come into play and can affect supply levels as well as enhance taste and quality.

Specific

Real Coffee Single Origin Espresso Sumatra (100% Arabica; intensity 6 out of 8; Organic and Fairtrade)

This is my personal favourite of all the Real Coffee coffees we tried. I was initially attracted by the lovely design on the box, so I popped a capsule into my machine without even reading any of the information thereon. A lovely crema developing on the cup set my mouth watering, as did a perfect coffee aroma. One sip of this lovely and smooth coffee and I was won over by the hint of chocolate that lingers on the tongue. Then there’s an intriguing aftertaste of herbs. Single Origin and Fairtrade, too!

Real Coffee Venezia Italian Espresso (80% Arabica, 20% Robusta; intensity 7 out of 8; Fairtrade)

This very full-bodied blend yields an earthy and fruity taste for “a proper coffee” with a good coffee aftertaste. It’s dry but not bitter, and holds it own against some of the more intense Nespresso® coffees.

Real Coffee Roma Italian Espresso (70% Robusta, 30% Arabica; intensity 8 out of 8; Fairtrade)

This Robusta-dominated blend tastes like what you get standing at a coffee bar in Rome: a real Italian-style espresso! It is the strongest of the Real Coffee blends we tasted and has loads of body.

Real Coffee Espresso Bologna (100% Arabica; intensity 5 out of 8; Organic and Fairtrade)

A smooth, slightly earthy coffee with a lovely crema. Not too strong so will appeal to a wide range of coffee drinkers.

Real Coffee Single Origin Lungo Colombia (100% Arabica; intensity 5 out of 8; Fairtrade)

This is a lovely wake-up brew, fruity and not too strong yet full of body. Intriguing hazelnut aftertones. Single origin in a gorgeous box!

Real Coffee Lungo San Marino (100% Arabica; intensity 5 out of 8; Organic and Fairtrade)

San Marino is pleasant and full-bodied with a great toasty flavour; a delicious example of Real Coffee’s Organic, Fairtrade policy. 

Don’t hesitate to read my previous Nespresso®-Compatible capsule reviews and see what I think about some of the other offerings out there. While I remain loyal to the original Nespresso® coffees, I put Real Coffee Nespresso®-Compatible coffee pods right up there in 2nd place and am very happy to drink its coffee.  I hope that you, too, will try Real Coffee and appreciate its excellent value, great body and taste as well as its sense of environmental responsibility.

Enjoy that cup of java and do something good while drinking it!

Please like & share: