Nespresso here I come!

I'm just a teensie weensie bit excited. And I know this is a bit sad but if you only knew the love affair that I have with coffee then you would know that the slow and painful death of my beloved Gaggia machine has been a daily sadness for me.

This is what it would look like new today...


It has served me well with fresh, frothy lattes virtually every morning for the past 5 years. It is a kitchen gadget that I cannot live without unlike the ice-cream maker, the pasta maker and the sandwich maker, this is a prince among kitchen gadgets.

But it has reached the end of it's life. It drips like an old man's nose on a freezing morning. It has bad athsma. It lacks froth (well don't we all in the morning but it's not supposed to). I come home to a brimming splash tray. It's a sad and pitiful sight indeed.

So I decided that as I didn't make up my mind as to what I wanted for my birthday then a new coffee machine was as welcome a present as any. But I hadn't realised the sheer size of the choice I was going to have to make! Did I want a machine that ground the beans before making the coffee? Did I want an industrial strength machine more suitable for an office but that would say that, in coffee terms, I had arrived?

Did I want an external or an internal milk frother? Colour? Bright and bold, or sleek and black?

How much did I have to spend to not miss out?

Even with the glories of the internet I was confused. So I went to John Lewis where I knew I could talk to a middle aged woman just like myself who would UNDERSTAND.

And I did. She swiftly disregarded about two thirds of the machines after I told her what I wanted.
This was her suggestion...

How gorgeous is that? The Nespresso Citiz with Milk by Magimix is beautiful and uses those little capsules which keeps coffee fresh. Now it isn't as cheap as using ground coffee in bags at around 29p a cup but this is one of my few vices and I think I am worth 29p per morning.
And I get to try out a smorgasboard of different types of coffee which come with the machine so I know what to order in bulk. I am so excited I can't wait for it to arrive and please excuse my blogging if it becomes a little 'wired' - it's just a caffeine high!

PS. It's arrived and I can see why it is the coffee of choice for The Fat Duck in Bray and Sketch in Mayfair - good enough for Heston Blumenthal is definitely good enough for me and the coffees provided are absolutely divine!