Magimix 11290 Nespresso CitiZ M190

I've just recently bought a new Nespresso coffee machine, my old Nespresso coffee machine had basically given up. It was about 2 years old, and had seen some serious use, I figure that we did get our moneys worth as we bought the cheapest Nespresso machine available at the time.

This time around I knew how how much use it would get, so I knew that it was worth the money, and I wanted a to choose a fancyer sleeker model to fit in with all of my cream Kitchen appliances. I thought that I would have a lot to choose from as we were willing to spend more money this time, unfortunately the stumbling block was the colour - cream. I wanted cream as I have cream Kitchen Aid products; the stand mixer, blender and food processor, and cream Dualit products; the toaster and kettle. Being solely set on cream just actually left us with one choice - this one - the Citiz Magimix M190.

It isn't actually advertised as cream, it's advertised as 60's white, but is basically cream. It is a slightly different shade of cream to my other appliances, but the Dualit cream and the Kitchen Aid cream are different anyway. So although all of the creams are different they do all work together.

We bought this from John Lewis, it was £149.99, but it did come with £40.00 worth of credit to spend on Nespresso capsules, so I guess that you could say that it was £109.99! That's what I told my husband anyway!

This particular Nespresso machine is made by Magimix. As with all Nespresso machines you can only use Nespresso capsules in it. The machine itself came with a starter set of 16 different Nespresso capsules, one of each variety that they sell. This is a good set if you've never tried the coffee before as it enables you to figure out which ones you like before you buy them, as the boxes of capsules to buy come in packets of 10. I actually like the stronger capsules, my favourite is Arpeggio, the purple capsule.

The Citix M190 is a very tall and sleek machine, our previous machine was short and fat! The cream finish is very easy to wipe over and keep clean. It also looks more expensive than our previous one, it has classier accents such as a metal spout and a metal capsule holder whereas on our other machine these were plastic. I think that the style of this particular machine is quite a retro look, and this fits into my kitchen perfectly. Overall looks wise I'm more than happy with this.

The Citiz M190 holds 1 litre of water in the slim removeable water tank at the back. I always use bottled water as I think that it makes for a better tasting espresso, and also I've been told that your machine will need less cleaning if you stick to bottled water.

To make your espresso you basically ensure that there is water in the water tank, and switch on the machine (the red power button next to the capsule holder), the green cup button (on the other side of the capsule holder) will then begin to flash. Once the green cup button is lit up as opposed to flashing then the machine is ready to use, this just takes a minute or so from turning the machine on.
Drop a coffee capsule in the capsule holder, just lift the holder up and drop the capsule into the space, when you push the capsule holder back down it locks the capsule into place and pierces it to enable the hot water to flow through the capsule and create your espresso.
Press the green cup button and the your espresso is poured out.
To dispose of the used coffee capsule just lift the capsule holder up and it will release the used capsule into the used capsule container inside the machine.

The used capsule container has a maximum capacity of 10 capsules, and I empty mine every couple of days. It's simple to empty, you just pull out the folding drip tray and this will be hiding the container, you then just pull out the basket within and dispose of the capsules.

The Citiz M190 enables you to use larger cups or glasses as well as smaller espressso cups. If you are using the smaller espresso cups then you would place your cup on the shelf half way up the machine, which then folds up if you want to use larger cups which you would then place on the bottom. Both of the cup shelves have removeable drip trays and you do need to wipe these out often as the spout does drip slightly after the espresso has been poured. You do also need to ensure that you have wiped the drip tray out on the folding tray before you push it up to use a larger cup, otherwise the espresso dregs are going to leak out and down the front of the machine.

This is an easy to use machine, and it produces a perfect espresso every single time. All of the espressos have the creamy 'crema' layer on the top, and have that gorgeous freshly brewed coffee aroma. They are perfect to drink on their own or to make a perfect coffee shop equivalent latte or cappucino. If you want to make a latte or a cappucino then you really need to use the more intense espressos, the milder ones won't really cut it, it's just like drinking hot milk! My favourite capsules are Arpeggio (the purple) for a latte or a cappucino, however for an espresso I prefer Livanto (the bronze).

The capsules are not neccesarily cheap, they are between 30-40 pence per capsule depending on the flavour, however if you compare that to what you would pay in a coffee shop for an espresso or a latte then it is a considerable saving. They are definately taste wise on a par with a coffee shop offering, and so long as you are not drinking an excessive quantity then I don't really think that the cost is a huge issue.