Coffee: price, taste, pollution… The pros and cons of bean and pod machines

Raphaël is very proud of his new coffee maker. Finished the pods, it went to the grain machine. “You put your grain in the bin, and then you have several options on the machine which allow you to make short coffees, long coffees”, he explains in the report to see above. An innovation that delights him, but which comes at a cost: 400 euros. “It’s a little expensive, compared to the capsule coffee machine, but in the long term, I think it’s easy to find.”he assures. Is our coffee lover right? Is it really economical?

These machines, capable of directly grinding coffee beans, are a hit. But what are they worth compared to pod machines? First observation, the price. Bean coffee makers, the stars of the shelves, are on average three times more expensive. “We have a range which has become very wide, around 350 euros”, explains Catherine Meyrand, responsible for household appliances at the Auchan hypermarket in Bordeaux (Gironde).

However, sales of coffee beans have jumped 20% in the space of a year, as grinder machines are increasingly accessible. “It was still a budget in the past. The second big expectation of our customers is at the ecological level. All these capsules which clutter us and which pollute the planet, with the grinder, the coffee grounds, you put it in your garden or in your flower pots”argue the person responsible.

If you want to make a good espresso, you must avoid the pod which is ground very long in advance.

Arthur Audibert, roaster in Bordeaux

These machines are therefore more expensive to purchase, but what about on a daily basis? Let's take a bean machine for 300 euros and a pod coffee maker for 90 euros. A cup of pod coffee costs 30 cents. While for coffee beans, count 15. Result, if you drink two coffees a day, the pods will be more expensive than coffee beans after two years of use.

The central question remains, taste. Arthur Audibert, roaster in Bordeaux, agreed to taste three coffees from different methods: ground, beans and pods. For filtered ground coffee, nothing to report. “I find that a coffee like that can be pleasant in the morning”he said. But for stronger coffees, this expert is unanimous, “it’s without hesitation the grain”. “If you want to make a good espresso, you must avoid the pod which is ground very long in advance”, he warns.

• Read also

  Is it recommended to drink more than three cups of coffee every day? A nutritionist's answer

These machines are so popular that on the Internet, YouTube channels specialize. Comparisons, tutorials, they have thousands of views. Philippe performs in a fully equipped studio. His company Maxicoffee benefits from this, it also sells coffee machines. “As soon as a machine is released on the market, we make its video. But then, we will be able to sell hundreds, even thousands of machines of the same type. A consumer will buy their machine once every five or seven years and then, he will buy coffee every day and what interests us is to keep this consumer. explains Lionel Galut, general director of Maxicoffe. And it works. On its e-commerce site, the group has sold 500,000 machines in five years. This is 10% of the market in France.