Bosch Tassimo T20

For the last month I have been looking at coffee machines weighing up the prices and their capabilities as well as how much all the capsules or pods cost (which are inserted into the machine to get your chosen drink). It is a very important factor to weigh up the pros and cons of these since the capsules are ridiculously expensive so although you buy the coffee machine whatever company you have bought it from they will have a regular income from you for the future since you cannot use the coffee machine without the product to put into it for your drink.

Well the main brands I looked into were Nespresso by Krups, Bosch Tassimo and Nescafé Dolce Gusto. These are the most popular, recent brands of coffee machines that are around at the moment at affordable prices. Out of all of these I thought I had decided to go for the Nescafé Dolce Gusto because I liked the design of the machine and it was quite reasonable in price. However, I went to look at the pod/capsule prices for the chosen drinks on their website and Amazon and the prices were truly ridiculous so I then opted against this one. I then opted against Nespresso because the machines were just slightly over what I wanted to pay for a coffee machine. So then after my deliberation I went for the Bosch Tassimo as the make that I would buy. However, for the first time in my life I did not rush into buying it. I left it a few days whilst I decided whether to buy one or wait until Christmas and get my parents to buy one for me. But then like magic a couple of days later I received an email from Sainsbury’s. They had 25% of Bosch Tassimo selected coffee machines plus 6000 Nectar points (Sainsbury’s loyalty points programme) free when you buy one (this is the equivalent to £30.00). This made my chosen coffee machine the Tassimo T20 at £75.00. So of course I couldn’t resist this amazing offer when I had seen this same Tassimo machine in Tesco the previous day for £125.00. This offer is valid until December 2010 but whether you have to be sent the exclusive email for the additional Nectar points I do not know or it could be found in the Nectar website in your personal login under exclusive Nectar offers as long as you have a nectar card.

The postage for the machine was free which was another bonus but you could pay an additional P&P fee for next day delivery. I opted for the free delivery which was for around 5 working days to be delivered but I received it 2 days after ordering it.

It can also be bought on the Tassimo website for £99.99 or in Argos for £89.99.
So far so good... now to whether the machine looked like what it did on the website.

When I received the Tassimo T20

I carefully opened the box not wanting to damage the packaging in case I had to send it back for any reason. I was very impressed that the machine looked just as good as the picture on the Sainsbury’s website. It is white in colour and is actually called coconut white. It has a sleek finish to the white too. However one point that was misleading about the machine was that it mentioned that you could interchange the colour of the middle of the machine where the cup is put into the holder (I have shown a photo of some coloured ones). I expected to receive these different colours to interchange however, I found out that you had to buy them additionally at £14.99 off the Tassimo website. However to my delight one of the leaflets that came with the machine said that if you register your Tassimo machine on the Tassimo website you will receive an exclusive voucher code to use online for £20.00. Then all you would have to pay for is P&P which is £4.50 or you could spend £30.00 and get free P&P which is worth doing. So with that £20.00 you could put this to buying another coffee machine, one of the interchangeable colours or the pods/capsules of your chosen drink which Tassimo call T-Disc varieties (Tassimo coffee pods) to put into the machine. I ended up spending this £20.00 on numerous different T-Disc varieties because they retail between £1.99 for Twinings fruit tea to up to £4.29 for the more extravagant Carte Noire Latte Macchiato Caramel so they can be quite pricey. This means I will be stocked up with them for a long time. Plus when I receive my 6000 Nectar points I have another £30.00 to go towards the T-Disc varieties to buy at Sainsbury’s.

The Actual Machine’s Capabilities

The Tassimo T20 is the cheapest machine currently sold by Tassimo on their website. It is very smart looking and takes up very little room on the kitchen work surface. The instructions manual was extremely easy to follow and explains everything step by step. It is a good idea to read through this since it will make a lot more sense. I tried to go into using it without reading through this and got stuck so had to read it. It explains how to clean the system out before your first use as well which is obviously very important (I have explained this process later on in the review).

1. The first interesting function of the machine is with its unique bar-code technology. Each T-Disc has a bar code on it which the machine reads when you input the T-Disc. From this barcode it reads what to produce from the machine and at what temperature. For example, if it is a milk T-Disc you are popping into the machine it knows not to add any hot water to it.
2. It has a clever one button operation making it very easy to operate. The way that you touch the button customises the strength of drink if it is a coffee containing drink. If you press the button with one finger this gives a smaller drink which is stronger in taste. Alternatively if you press the button with two fingers it produces a larger quantity of drink (due to added water) that is less strong. However even pressing it with two fingers I find it quite strong. So I tried pressing it again and it made it weaker again which was perfect for me. This button operation also lights up in green to show that it is working or about to work and is ready. When it is on an orange light it is on standby.
3. It has a very easily removable water tank which you simply fill up to the line that says ‘max’. The light ‘fill up’ icon at the front of the machine flashes red when water is low so you know you need to fill it up again.
4. There is another light up ‘descaling’ icon that flashes when descaling is required. This means that it needs a thorough clean. It is very easy to clean the machine, simply remove the water tank and prepare a descaling solution which is thoroughly explained. A specific descaling agent is provided by Bosch which can be ordered from a customer services number. Then reattach the water tank with the descaling water agent in. Then take out of the back of the machine a T-Disc specifically used for cleaning. It is stored in a small compartment at the back of the machine which I have taken a photograph of. This is inserted into the front of the machine where you would normally put the T-Disc for your drink. Open the compartment for this, but the cleaning T-Disc in it so it can read its bar code. Clamp the holdall down. Put a cup under the machine. Then press start and the descaling process begins. It pumps the descaling solution through the machine. Note that descaling is not required to wash the machine every time after use. To quickly wash the machine after use just fill the tank with clean water, put the cleaning T-Disc in the holdall and press start and it just pumps hot water out through the machine and then empty the cup of the water.
5. It has a removable cup stand that can be positioned in two different places for different cup sizes or it can be removed for very tall latte glasses. The inside of the cup holdall can be removed very easily to give it a quick clean too. The cup holdall has ample space in it to hold a large amount of liquid in case you make a mistake with the machine for example, perhaps press the button before putting your cup under it.
6. It has a low energy consumption since the machine only heats water on demand and it instantly switches off this heat once the button is switched off.
7. It is supposed to be silent whilst it works but that is complete rubbish, whenever I put it on I am scared I am waking up my housemates if it is early in the morning or late at night... I find it extremely noisy especially as it warms up.

How to Prepare a Drink

Simply plug in the machine, switch the on button on, and put a mug under the dispenser. Then open the lever at the top of the machine, pop the T-Disc in, most drinks like lattes, cappuccinos and hot chocolates contain milk T-Discs too. So depending on the drink either the milk T-Disc or the Coffee or chocolate T-Disc goes in first by putting the bar-code downwards. Then click the lever down (which pierces the T-Discs) and click start. It takes around 20 seconds before it actually pours out the contents with the hot water or as the milk is by itself. But I think this is extremely quick since you do not wait for the machine to heat up it does it on demand. Then once the T-Disc has finished dispersing its contents into the cup, wait until it has stopped dripping and the green light turns off and the orange standby light comes back on (this ensures that you do not burn yourself by opening the lever too early when it is still steaming hot). Then open the lever and remove the T-Disc. Then either your drink is prepared or add the second T-Disc if the drink requires it like the milk T-Disc or other T-Disc. Then do the same with this one and remove the T-Disc once completed. Then turn the machine off. Each time I start the machine up again I give it a quick clean through as I mentioned earlier by just inserting the cleaner T-Disc and allowing it to work through the machine as hot water.

This entire process honestly takes less time than waiting for a kettle to boil and the results are so much better than anything you could make with water out of a kettle. I love the amount of froth on the drinks which you can never get from making your own drink unless using a special frother. However the only disappointment I found was that although I was using a very large mug (as shown in a photograph) only a small amount of drink is made up from the T-Discs. My large mug was not even filled half way. So to overcome this problem you could either insert more T-Discs (but this would cost a lot of money for one drink) or warm some extra milk (but this would take a lot of time which the coffee machine is supposed to reduce in the first place). So for me I put up with the problem and since I do not drink a lot anyway it is not an issue but others may be shocked by this for the price of the T-Discs.

The other thing that was rather confusing for making the drink but it then becomes very simply after making your first drink. But when I bought some of the Tassimo T-Discs I wondered with the ones that came with milk discs too which I put in first for example, the milk disc or espresso disc first. The only instructions for this is on the box of the T-Discs when bought (which I have added a photo of). The photo I have added shows the milk plus espresso, so I assumed the milk goes in first. To be honest it probably does not matter in what order the T-Discs are put into the machine, but it may make a difference aesthetically when presenting the drink. For example, if the milk is supposed to be floating on top of the drink rather than underneath.

Different Types of Drinks and Prices of the T-Discs – Examples Not The Entire Range (Or else I will be reviewing forever!)

• Kenco – Medium Roast coffee – 16 drinks = £3.29
• Kenco – Pure Colombian
• House Blend Starbucks coffee – 8 drinks = £2.19
• Kenco – Caffé Crema (rich coffee with a layer of cream on top) – 16 drinks = £3.29
• Milka Hot Chocolate – 8 drinks - £3.49
• Carte Noire – Cappuccino – 8 drinks - £3.29
• Carte Noire – Latte Macchiato - 8 drinks - £4.29
• Twinings English Breakfast tea – 16 drinks - £3.29
• Twinings Earl Grey – 8 drinks - £1.99
• Twinings Fruits of the Forest tea – 8 drinks - £1.99

There are also some speciality drinks such as:

• Carte Noire Tiramisu – tiramisu flavoured coffee – 8 drinks - £3.99
• Carte Noire Crème Brûlée – surprise surprise it is Crème Brûlée flavoured coffee – 8 drinks - £3.99

Some Background History to Bosch Tassimo Coffee Machines

The Tassimo hot drinks system was first introduced in France in 2004, this originally was manufactured through group distributed by Braun (a German consumer company) up until 2008 when Braun pulled out of distributing Tassimo and other home appliances. This is when Bosch took over manufacturing Tassimo hot drinks systems. The Tassimo machines will only take the T-Discs. There are currently four types of Tassimo machines, mine was the cheapest type the T20. The more advanced types contain additional features such as, Brita Maxtra Water Filtration system, Light up LCD display and cup-stand light. But since using mine I do not see the need for these additional features unless you have the money to splash out for it or of course if you are bought it as a present.

Overall

One of the main things about this coffee machine that I love is how quick it is, how it looks and how it self cleans. However, as I said the main disappointment is the lack of drink that is produced per cup, it does make a bit of a mockery out of what is being paid for these T-Discs but I suppose that is where the company is making huge amounts of money. The variety of the T-Discs are amazing though there is a huge range, however the entire range is not supplied at most supermarkets just a few, for example, my local Tesco only had 4 different types of T-Discs. However, they can all be purchased online.

Despite the few flaws with the Tassimo I would highly recommend this coffee machine, for £75.00 I am extremely impressed!