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Mountain KitchenDaddy Got Coffee’s video Nespresso Should Have Made This is about the Line1 from Milton Coffee Co., a small team of twelve based in Milton, Georgia. The title says it well. It takes the same OriginalLine capsules as a Nespresso, but it’s built like a much more expensive machine.
What it is
- Capsules: Nespresso OriginalLine and compatibles. It does not take Vertuo pods.
- Build: metal panels and solid machined switches and lever. Everything the coffee touches on its way to the cup (pod filter, pass-through and spout) is SUS304 stainless steel. It weighs 21 lbs.
- Brewing: a pre-infusion step before each shot, and an automatic rinse of the filter plate after
- Controls: three switches for a single, a double and hot water. You can program the volume for each.
- Capacity: a 2L water tank, two to three times the size of most, and a used-pod bin that holds 12
- Extras: a heated cup tray, an adjustable tray that fits cups up to 20oz, dimmable LED lighting and automatic shut-off
- Size: 6in wide, 16in deep and 11.5in tall (15.8in with the lever up)
- Warranty: limited lifetime for the original owner, plus a 45-day trial with a refund
Milton doesn’t publish the pump pressure or brew temperature. It just says the machine controls pressure, temperature and timing.
The pods are the real story
Most people’s idea of pod coffee is the Nespresso sleeve from the grocery store. It’s fine. It’s also roasted dark and months old by the time you drink it. The OriginalLine format is an open standard now, and some very good roasters pack their coffee in it. Put one of those in a well-built machine and the cup is a different thing.
Some worth trying:
- Intelligentsia — the Chicago roaster’s espresso blends in capsule form. Milton lists them as working with the Line1.
- Savage Coffees — another roaster Milton names as compatible
- Peet’s — easy to find in US grocery stores. A step up from Nespresso without trying hard.
- Colonna Coffee — a UK specialty roaster with light-roast and rare single-origin capsules. These are some of the best pods you can buy. They ship from the UK, so plan ahead.
- Origin Coffee — also UK, with single-origin and blend capsules from a well-respected roaster
- Roastworks — speciality-grade coffee sealed in oxygen-free aluminium capsules
Milton also sells its own boxes from a rotating set of roasters. Its pods are plastic-free (aluminium or plant-based compostable), and the machine comes with three boxes to start.
Expect to pay a little more per pod than Nespresso’s own, often $1–1.50 a shot. That’s still far less than a coffee shop drink.
The price
$475 is a lot for a pod machine. A basic Nespresso Essenza is about a third of that and takes the same capsules. What you get for the extra is the metal build, the stainless path, pre-infusion, the big tank and a lifetime warranty. If you want to control every shot, the MORNING Machine takes the same pods and lets you set temperature and pressure profiles. It costs about $660 and is a bit hard to get in the USA.
A $475 semi-automatic machine plus a grinder will make better espresso than any pod, if you’re willing to learn to dial it in. Most people aren’t, and that’s fine.
The verdict
If convenience is one of the most important things to you, this is the machine. Press a switch, and in under a minute you have a shot of specialty coffee that’s better than what most coffee shops will hand you. There’s no grinding, no tamping, no cleanup beyond emptying the pod bin. At $5–6 a coffee-shop drink, it pays for itself within a few months of skipped trips.
Just don’t buy it and fill it with the grocery-store sleeves. The machine is only half of it. Spend the money on good pods.