Second Nespresso Design Contest Winners - CoffeeLuxury Celebrated

"Untitled" the winner of the Second Nespresso Design Competition looks more like
a nightlight than an espresso machine.

Nespresso always have the most amazing designs for their single serve coffee machines. Recently they held an awards ceremony for their second design contest in Milan. In total 4 winners were announced, including:

• First place was awarded to Brice Genre and Hanika Perez of the Université Toulouse Le Mirail in France for their creative design, ”Untitled," which is an incredibly original coffee maker resembling a thermosensitive work of art that gradually changes appearance thanks to the heat of the water. Renowned designer Giulio Cappellini from Italy presented the €12,000 cash prize to the two students
• The second-place award went to Andreas Diefenbach from Staatliche Akademie Der Bildenden Künste in Germany. His design was entitled, "Pearl,” a round coffee-maker with a luxurious design.
• Millete Balazs and Telekes Tamas from MOME - Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Hungary, was the third-place winner with their in-flight coffee machine, "Enjoy It While Flying."
• The Special mention was awarded to Francois Saudubray from EID in France for his "SOPRANO" design. An ingenious system of covers, each with a colour that is association with a particular Nespresso Grand Cru, makes it possible to preserve the aroma of coffee while recognizing one's cup.

Check out the interactive feature at Nespresso Design Contest Winners, and the full set of winner pictures after the jump.

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Typical Dutch Stuff - Get European Coffee Pods

We've always been a big fan of Typical Dutch Stuff. They carry almost any coffee pod you can't get in the US for the Senseo, and other single serve coffee pod machines. All the pods they offer have the same diameter (62mm). This means you can safely use any of these coffee pods in your Senseo, Bunn My Cafe, Melitta One:One, simplehuman, Krups 1010 , GPOD, Home Cafe, Cuisinart SS-1 Cup-O-Matic, Melitta MES5B Javapod, and other single serve coffee pod makers.

They also add flavors on a regular basis, so check back often.

At Typical Dutch Stuff

More Bosch Tassimo Videos from France

A few more new videos (all in French, of course) of the new Bosch Tassimo machine. These videos showcase some of the new buttons and lights of the Bosch Tassimo.

From SH:

The first video is a promotional clip from the Bosch Project Director where he describes how the machine is sleeker, how it'll be available in 4 colors which he describes in English (still can't figure out why he doesn't just say "rouge" "noir" and "argenté" instead of black, red & silver), he goes over some of the new features such as the lights for water refil & descaling. He also notes how the new machine will be available on France retail shelves in April 2008. He noted the goal of the project was to introduce a new Tassimo which was much more modernized & design-oriented to fit into contemporary settings/decor. I'm guessing that's why they decided to get rid of the see-through window on the top of the T-Disc chamber... because they thought it wasn't "sleek enough" or perhaps detracted from the machine's overall design?? You also get a good view of what size mugs/cups can fit on the cup stand.

The second video is one of the French bloggers testing an espresso in the machine at the brunch event last month in Paris.

Read more from our earlier Bosch Tassimo posts...

More Tassimo from Bosch Sightings - Pictures and Video

SH from Canada is at it again with even more interesting thoughts on the new Tassimo designed and created by Bosch. He's noticed a Flickr gallery of photos taken by one of the bloggers at the Tassimo Bosch brunch event.

The blogger's name is Cyril Attias and he has a ton of pictures:

One picture has piqued his curiosity....

From SH: Notice anything missing? No water run-off spout! Unless the spout has been moved further below so that it's covered by the cup stand, I'll take a wild guess that maybe this new Tassimo no longer leaks water. Remember, this is all just pure speculation on my behalf. Also interesting, water reservoir is the width of the machine (explains how they made it 2L) and it appears there's holes integrated into the lid so that you can fill water while the lid is still on.

Continue reading: "More Tassimo from Bosch Sightings - Pictures and Video"

Tassimo Bosch Videos from France

We've got a couple of videos for you appearing on YouTube about the Tassimo Bosch single serve coffee maker. We're not sure how informative either of these videos are, but they do give you a great impression for how much the french do love their Tassimo coffee, espresso, and hot beverages.

The first video is more polished and definitely a promo. The second video is a slideshow of the different bloggers or press that attended the unveiling event in Paris.

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Bosch Tassimo France Website is Live - Tassimo Bosch Features Detailed

SH from Canada has written in and provided a rather extensive translation of the new Tassimo designed by Bosch web site in France. The Bosch's France-based Tassimo website is now LIVE. It also appears no other Bosch Tassimo websites are online yet, and there's lots of juicy tidbits of the Bosch Tassimo features below.

Here's what SH had to say with a translation of the site from French to English:

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Europe: MyCafé Coffee Pod Brewer

The MyCafé's 2008 model has landed and it's made with German precision. The new MC-08 coffee maker is uses coffee pods, and has a stepless adjustment for cup size. The watertank holds 1,3L, and it features an automatic power turn-off in 1hour. We're sure there's even more features, but the majority of the site is in Finnish. We'll be receiving one of these to review when they make a 120volt version next year for North America.

At MyCafé

Europe: Tchibo Cafissimo Single Serve Coffee Machine

We recently heard about this Tchibo Cafissimo single serve coffee machine only out in Europe at the Single Serve Coffee Forums. It looks like is uses an espresso/coffee capsule system much like the Lavazza Blue. You can make cappuccinos, lattes, and other single serve coffee drinks, along with just straight up coffee.

The name Cafissimo stands for simple and delicious coffee enjoyment. Tchibo presents flavourful Espresso, Caffè Crema, freshly brewed filter coffee and much more. Its unique “3-points-for-enjoyment system” puts all sorts of specialties at your fingertips – always made with the perfect amount of pressure. The practical milk foamer lets you whip up a quick and easy Latte Macchiato or Cappuccino in no time. We wish you a fun, thoroughly enjoyable coffee experience!

At Product Page and Tchibo Cafissimo

Europe: Chocomel - Hot Chocolate for Senseo

Hot chocolate or hot cocoa is all the rage for these days for single serve coffee machines. We're really excited to see some innovation in the non-coffee hot beverage space, but just wish these innovations would come to US shores first. Chocomel, a very popular chocolate drink in Europe, is heading to Senseo. The kit for Senseo will include a special holder to use in Senseo when making a cup of Chocomel. We'll let you know if we can get one of these to try out.

Via Molblog

Europe: Café Invento Single Serve Coffee Pod Maker

Thanks to reader Matthew T., we've just found out about the new Café Invento Single Serve Coffee Pod Maker only available in Europe. You can make one or two delicious cups of coffee with a crema like layer, and the machine does this by using a Multiple podholders, for one or two coffee- or teapods. It has a large removable watertank, for approx. 10 cups of coffee.

The Café Invento Single Serve Coffee Pod Maker also features the Tasteselector, allowing you to select your personal coffee taste - be it light, medium, or darker cups of coffee. Best of all - it has an auto-shut off that powers the machine down after approx. 2 hours. Very green.

The really interesting thing about this new unique coffee pod maker - it features a unique material to make cleaning it up a breeze called Protact. Protact has a synthetic layer which is easy to clean and leaves no fingerprints. Developed by Corus, the synthetic layers have a smooth and silky finish. Inventum is the first in the world to use this material in a product or single serve coffee maker.

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Europe: The WMF 1 Design Object Single Serve Coffee Maker

We're not sure how we missed this single serve coffee maker, but Gizmodo found it recently and it looks pretty amazing. The WMF 1 is a coffee pad/pod-based single-serve coffee machine, which integrates a cup into its minimalist cubic design that's not much bigger than a couple of books. The almost Apple like design can be livened up with your choice of four colors for the lining. After dumping in the water and pressing a button, it only takes a minute to brew your coffee.

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Review: Senseo Presso Espresso Kit for Senseo Standard Editions

A new "espresso" coffee pod holder and special espresso coffee pods.

We must get 10+ reader write ins each month asking if you can use espresso pods with your Senseo single serve coffee pod brewer - the answer is - you can't. Espresso pods are much smaller - usually 44 mm compared to a 60mm coffee pod, and just don't fit the Senseo coffee pod holder. What you can do is order the Senseo Espresso Starter on ebay that's only out in Europe, and get a pretty good shot of espresso on the cheap.

The kit has two new items for your Senseo Standard editions. A new espresso coffee pod holder that uses standard sized Senseo coffee pods called "presso", and a new darker blend and finer grind Senseo espresso coffee pod.

Note: This kit will only work in your Senseo Standard editions. So if you have a new Senseo Deluxe or Senseo Supreme here in the US - don't order this kit. The espresso coffee pod holder will not fit in your machine if you don't have a Senseo Standard edition.

Continue reading: "Review: Senseo Presso Espresso Kit for Senseo Standard Editions"

Presso Espresso Maker - Science Meets Espresso

We just came upon the Presso Espresso maker when doing a bit of research on an upcoming review for the Senseo Presso kit we just acquired from an ebay seller. The presso looks more like a juice machine than an espresso maker, but from the video and materials we've found it looks like it makes a pretty solid espresso. From what we can see you fill the top chamber, put in some espresso ground coffee, and then press down. Bam - a shot of perfect espresso. The only way to buy right now seems to be from Australia at just over $600 AU, and that includes a grinder and other items.

Continue reading: "Presso Espresso Maker - Science Meets Espresso"

Porsche Designed Nespresso Espresso Machine

Only available right now in Europe, the NESPRESSO Siemens by Porsche Design is a pretty stellar design for an espresso machine. You can create your own Espresso, Lungo, Macchiato, Cappuccino in this Porsche designed Nespresso machine. Though the style is different, the NESPRESSO Siemens by Porsche Design looks like it might have the guts of the Nespresso Romeo available here in the US. We loved the Romeo when we reviewed it, and we hope the NESPRESSO Siemens by Porsche Design makes it to US shores for a better design alternative.

NESPRESSO Siemens by Porsche Design Features:

• High-pressure pump (19 bar)
• Thermoblock heating element
• Automatic cup volume control (Espresso, Lungo, Macchiato, Cappuccino)
• Automatic insertion and ejection of capsule
• Digital display in 8 languages
• New steam pipe with integrated Cappuccino - Caffelatte function
• Automatic cool down after steam function usage
• Aluminium condenser to avoid steam emission during cool down
• Collection container for used capsules (10-12 capsules)
• Inbuilt electronic warning sound, which indicates when the collection container for used capsules is full
• Inbuilt electronic warning sound, which indicates when the water tank requires refilling
• Adjustment for water hardness and descaling warning signal (based on water hardness)
• Cup warming plate in aluminium
• Removable water tank: 1.2 l capacity

At At NESPRESSO Siemens by Porsche Design and Nespresso Siemens Porsche Mini-Site