Refillable capsules, honestly

I have used refillable capsules for long enough to be fair to them, and long enough to stop.

What they genuinely fix

The economics are not close. A capsule holds 5 g and costs 35 to 50 cents, which is 70 to 100 euros a kilo. Beans you would actually want are 25 to 40. Refilling turns an expensive habit into an ordinary one within a few weeks of buying the capsule.

And the bin stops filling with aluminium. Whatever you think of capsule recycling schemes, not producing the waste beats sorting it.

What they give back to you

A job. Every morning you now grind, dose into a small cup, tamp it with a small tamper, sit a lid on it, and load it. Then you clean it.

That is ninety seconds, and ninety seconds is precisely what the machine was sold to save. A capsule machine’s argument is not that the coffee is excellent, it is that you get coffee without participating. Refilling removes the argument.

Where it actually falls down

Without a grinder it does not work. Pre-ground coffee is too coarse for the tiny bed in a capsule, so the water races through and you get hot brown liquid. You need a grinder that holds a fine setting, which is a real purchase.

The dose is still 5 or 6 g. You cannot outgrow the format. Whatever you put in, you are making a small, thin drink under a pressure the machine chose.

Consistency is harder than on a real machine. A tiny bed is unforgiving, the lid seals imperfectly, and channels are invisible until you taste them.

The conclusion I keep arriving at

If you do not own a grinder, buy better compatibles and enjoy the machine for what it is.

If you do own a grinder, you are one portafilter machine away from espresso that is not limited to 6 g, and the money spent on refillables and good beans would have got you most of the way there. That is the honest version of the advice, even though it sounds like an upsell.

The exception, and it is a real one: an office, a holiday flat, a household where one person wants espresso and nobody else will learn a machine. There, refillables are the best compromise available, and they are worth every one of those ninety seconds.